Obagi : Clenziderm M.D. System

I've always had hormonal acne as a teenager but when I turned 21 (life change of moving and starting a new job) I broke out with clusters of cystic acne on my chin, nose, and forehead. Nothing worked for me so I went to a dermatologist and she told me to try obagi. Now if you're starting or thinking about starting it you will need to give it time. It took about 6 weeks til my skin cleared with just little pimples here and there. It totally works you just need to stick with it!! For me - you'll notice you're skin is clearer the first week and then you'll start breaking out a bit. But trust me I stuck with it and my skin is now clear 3 months later. Also it will sting, you're face will peel a lot in the first weeks, and sometimes burn from the cream but it was worth it for clear skin. I also recommend neutrogenas hydra boost hyalauronic acid - it moisturizes your skin and helps with the peeling in the beginning!!

I have suffered with acne for years!!!! I was on antibiotics and when that failed the doctors put me on Accutane for 8 months....it's been 5 years I've been off Accutane and have not had any issues with breaking out like I used to before. I occasionally have one to three minor blemishes once in a while and this product has done the job! this product is not sold in drugstores.....the doctor who has done two fraxel laser treatment for my acne scars his office carries this product. I know that this product is mainly sold at doctors offices....this product isn't cheap at all!!! It's usually around $100-115. I usually get mine at Amazon the cheapest I got it for was around $60. This products is so worth it! It's my go to when ever I feel a blemish coming.

Follow the directions, end acne I'm surprised this isn't as popular. Infections and tenderness at my facial hair follicles are gone, like Kmitch below I started getting acne in my 20's, I've tried all those pharmacy brands and other brands like Urth, Dermalogica, Neostrata, Proactive, Murad, PCA, Vi Derm.

I have never written a review anywhere on the internet before, but I felt compelled to join this website solely to write about this product in the hope that it will help someone out there end their misery. This time, exactly one year ago I was on this website, crying and desperately searching for the next 'miracle cure' after suffering from adult acne for over 6 years. As I write this review today my skin is completely clear and Obagi is the reason I look this way. PLEASE read all of my review, and please ignore the comments people have written in this forum about Obagi making their skin red and sore - it is MEANT to do that, it is part of the process, it is only temporary, and these people clearly have not been guided by an expert through the process. This is my story - I am now 38 years old, (female) and have had mild adult acne on and off since my mid twenties. In my 20's I was prescribed the Dianette contraceptive pill, which fixed my acne, and was great for 8 years - I had perfect skin and no problems. However once I came off the pill my old problems returned, my mother then passed away and my acne accelerated with stress, which became anxiety, and the vicious circle of self loathing and sadness began. For the next 6 years I struggled terribly with acne, I had endless antibiotics, creams, tried all the diets, detoxes, potions lotions.... the same desperate cycle I know so many people reading this are stuck in right now. Nothing worked, and it just never went away. On January 2nd 2014, after searching the internet I snapped and decided to invest in serious professional treatment. I enrolled at the 'Absolute Aesthetics' clinic in Guildford (they also have a London clinic) who specialised in a clinical approach to acne treatment and scarring. At my first meeting they prescribed the Obagi Cleanziderm MD treatment as my first stage. They explained in detail what would happen to me when I started using the products THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. The product comes in three stages, a face wash, a 'therapeutic lotion' and a 'therapeutic moisturizer', the 'therapeutic lotion' is the vital part that contains benzoyl peroxide. WHAT HAPPENS - Basically you wash your face with the face wash, let your skin dry properly (5 mins) then you apply 1-2 tiny pumps of the 'therapeutic lotion' let it sink in, and then end with the moisturizer. What happens next hurts, but is bearable. For the next 2-3 weeks you will have a sore face, I'm being completely honest. You will look like you have sun burn, it is not painful, but your skin will be dry and at times sore. This is your skin getting used to the product, it is NORMAL, it does not damage your face in anyway at all, and is just part of the process. Grit your teeth, go through it, it is nothing in comparison to the reward of the results. Slowly after this period your skin gets used to the products and completely readjusts back to normal with no redness / sore at all, its just like using any other normal product. During the first few weeks I read lots of reviews online of people saying it stopped their acne in 2 weeks, a month etc, and I was forever hopeful it would happen to me, but of course it didn't. But my skin was slowly improving, not much, but a little at a time. The best thing I did was watch a youtube video of a poor girl who had horrific acne who used the Obagi system and it took 140 days, but it did finally stop her acne - so I understood it would take time, and it gave me the hope to carry on. I continued to go back to my clinic every 5 weeks, and they photographed my face and told me the progress was good and to keep going. By month 3 there was a change, my acne was definitely reducing, and by month 4 I had patches, but it was the best it had been in the past few years. At month 5 my acne had stopped. At this point my face had some red marks and scarring so my clinic started using the 'edermastamp' method on my face, which is a process where the skin is lightly wounded all over with surgical needles (takes 30minutes) and then for the next 6 weeks, your skin floods with collagen and elastane (injury repair cells) and its boost cell growth to reduce scars. This was purely cosmetic, it does not fix acne, it is for scar repair and was my own choice. I had 5 treatments 6 weeks apart, and continued using the Obagi system alongside it. It is now December 31st 2014, I have had a year of treatment and my skin is almost completely restored apart from a few tiny scars that can be covered with light make-up. In one year I have stopped my acne after years of struggling. I continue to use Obagi twice a day, it feels absolutely normal, it isn't strong on my skin, and I no longer have any spots. The Obagi system is £95 a box which is expensive, but it is something I was happy to pay to get my life back. When I first started using the system I tended to over use it, because I wanted fast results, I also used it on my back, so I would get through 1 box a month. Now I don't have acne, I use it much more sparingly and don't need to buy new products until around every 2.5 months, so it is much cheaper. You MUST buy the correct Obagi system for you, mine was the 'normal - to dry' system (there is an oily skin version), and you MUST enroll with a dermatologist, or clinic who will prescribe you the correct formula, and who will chart your progress and advise you / help you through this. The internet is full of fakes, or out of date Obagi products - which will obviously mean that the formula wont work for you. It is a prescription strength product - it's like buying medicine from ebay - something you would never do. It's such an issue that Obagi have posted a warning page about it on their website here - [link removed] So that is my epic review, I hope this helps someone I really do. Remember this is long term treatment, it is not an overnight success, and it will be sore and make your skin red at first. But keep going, don't give up, and you will get results in the end. For the first time in years I have got some control back in my life, I wish doctors knew about this treatment instead of forcing pills down our necks, I'm amazed how few people are aware of this product, even dermatologists. So I wanted to write this to help get the word out. Good luck, I hope this helps someone I really do xx

This was probably the worst thing I've tried on my long list of acne solutions! It was recommended by my dermatologist. It made my face so red, flaky, dry, and utterly painful. Horrible experience. I called my dermatologist to explain what was happening and she said that that was normal and to continue with the treatment. That is unacceptable to me.

My dermatologist recommended this because I wouldn't use oral medication anymore due to a bad allergic reaction to Solodyn. It took about 7 months for it to clear me up to the point where I only had two or three active pimples a month. It decreased the swelling immediately and changed the look of my face (in a good way). It is expensive but you don't need much for it to work. Now my skin is almost perfect except for the occasional breakout, which only consists of two to three pimples and when I began using the kit for oily skin I had on average 10-20 active pustules and cysts at a time.

It is one of the strongest doses available without a prescription and it literally burns the skin while killing the acne causing bateria. It left my face so dry, harsh, and left blemish marks where the acne was so I stopped using it.