Ziana : Clindamycin (1.2%) and Tretinoin (.025%) Gel

I am 25 years old and have always had acne. At age 12 I started proactive and that was able to keep my acne to a minimum but still I was never completely clear. My acne was never horrible, but I always had 1-3 active zits along my chin/ jawline (sometimes cystic) and a few on my temples and forehead. After I got new insurance that didn't require a refer to go to a derm I finally decided to see one. He prescribed me Aczone in the am and Ziana in the pm. I was very cautious at first--I started using a gentle cleanser and bought cereve pm moisturizer since I had read reviews that my skin would get extremely dry. The first couple nights my skin got a bit red and itchy from Ziana but after night 3 that totally stopped. I also didn't find that it made my skin sticky or oily at ALL. However the cerave pm moisturizer DID, so after about 2 weeks I discontinued use of that and did not need a night moisturizer. There was a purging stage---weeks 2-4 I saw an increase in active acne in my hot spots (chin and jawline) with 2 cystic zits. But even though I had about 4-5 active zits, they would disappear quickly before others would pop up. Of course any purge is going to suck but i promise if you stick to it you will be so happy. It took about a month for everything to totally clear up, and now I am 2 months in and my face has been PERFECT. I have not seen even one zit for an entire month. My face is so clear that I don't need any makeup at all. My hyper pigmentation from past acne is slowly fading but that will require a bit more time. I am so happy with the results of these 2 products! Also, just FYI I do not have sensitive skin so all of that redness/dryness/pealing/ sun sensitivity did not happen to me at all. If anything my skin is actually perfectly hydrated since the proactive was drying out certain spots, now those are gone!

I am 22 years old and have been dealing with pretty much every kind of acne for years. I have tried everything you can buy in the store and nothing really worked (I read that a lot of drugstore acne products put stuff in that makes you break out so you keep buying their products). When my face is broken out, I don't want to leave the house and I am constantly thinking about my skin to where I feel absolutely depressed about it. So I saw a dermatologist and he put me on clindamycin (probably not great spelling) lotion in the day, adapalene cream at night, and doxycyline for a month to help with the initial breakouts they sometimes cause. It worked fantastic for me for like a year and a half and then my skin randomly started breaking out again really bad. I went back to see my dermatologist and he put me on a bunch of stuff that didn't work and I was dealing with even worse skin for a long time without solution. He finally put me on ziana a month ago for the nighttime, onexton for the day, and ampicillin tablets. Since I was trying to avoid accutane (which was my next option), he also recommended that I change my birth control to one that helps acne so I switched to yaz immediately. The first week was pretty bad because the onexton hurt (it burned, itched, made my face red) and the ziana made my face flakey and dry when I woke up in the morning. My doctor told me that these products can take up to 4 months to be effective and that they oftentimes make your skin a lot worse before it can get better (it has to bring up all the acne and bacteria up to the surface to get rid of it which takes time). I broke out pretty badly the first week and the beginning of the second, on top of that my face was flakey so I couldn't really wear makeup and I was just bummed (even though I knew that's how some of these treatments work and it's probably a sign that it's working). I've had a few side effects that were not unbearable and also went away as my body and skin got used to the medications. I was expecting that I would have to deal with it for months. Honestly, with the exception of accutane, I have been on every pill and and cream there is. By the end of week two and miraculously it was crystal clear. I never thought i would ever be someone to not wear makeup, and I have been (even on dates! That is how clear it is). It's still a little dry, but I started using a really gentle moisturizer (4 dollar ponds) with both the ziana & onexton and also using a lot less of the product. When I first got the onexton, I put a lot on because I wanted to make sure it "really worked" and that was such a mistake because it was VERY painful. I have been using a pea sized amount with moisturizer of both and it works better that way. When I was having my initial breakout, I would desperately read these reviews to have hope and I made a pact with god that if my acne clears up, I will share my experience to help others who are going through the horrible issues acne causes. My advice: don't use too much, don't exfoliate (ziana is an exfoliant and that's why there is flakey skin at first. It also makes your skin super thin so you can't pick and have to be very gentle), be careful in the sun, avoid any other harsh products, and hang in there! You might have an initial breakout, you might not. Either way, it depends on the person when your skin clears up and if you give up before 4 months, you could miss out on a chance to see the progress, my breakout was so bad that I wanted to stop and I read these encouraging posts and figured that I was going to have acne either way (if I was off the medicine or if I was on it) so I might as well suffer through breakouts while I'm treating it and it's worked for me. If you give up before a few months, you haven't even let the medicine do it's job yet and there isn't a single acne perscription that says if can get rid of your acne before 4 months (otherwise I would have tried it). Don't believe me? Ask your doctor. Don't give up, bug your doctor and ask a million questions. As soon as one didn't work, I got another, and kept going until I got something that works for me. I hope everyone finds what they're looking for and hangs in there :]

18 Female, have had acne all my life but it was always a few zits, nothing too bad. In the past few months I broke out a lot due to stress. Ok so my dermatologist prescribed this to me and advised me to use it before going to bed. It's been a month since I have been using it and honestly it hasn't done anything good for me. But overall Ziana just gets sticky and annoying to sleep with, and I have to wash my pillow case very often because of this. Ziana also makes your skin extremely oily, if you wear makeup you can't use this product because your face will be so shiny. Makes me feel gross! In the 2nd week I broke out A LOT, and I had to go back to one of my old regime's of salicylic acid 2% for a few days and I got cleared up (My skin is too dry for constant salicylic acid). I am going to ask my dermatologist to give me something else because this product is just a very water based gel that is not strong enough for me.

I'm a female in my mid 20s who has mild acne. I received Ziana from my dermatologist a month or so ago, switching from Finacea, which wasn't doing much for me. It has helped the acne around my mouth and chin so much. I have only had ONE pimple, compared to three or four a month, since using Ziana. That was when I first started using it. I also did not go through the 'purge' my dermatologist warned me about. I use it once each night and put it on after my moisturizer. I also moisturize in the morning. I haven't noticed much of a difference in my 'scars' or pinkish reddish brown spots leftover from previous acne, but hope to. I have also been receiving monthly facials lately, which I think has also helped a lot. I can't wait to continue to use Ziana and see how much more it improves my skin in the future!

I was given this treatment by my dermatologist about 5-6 months ago, and was told that it would for sure make me break out in the beginning, but that that would just be a "purge" and that my skin would clear up. I read mixed reviews, many saying that you just had to wait it out. I have, and still not satisfied. I can't see any significant improvement, and I'm not surprised, as the product doesn't even feel like it's working. Maybe my skin is just tough. When I applied this product the clear gel went on smoothly, but I had no tingling sensation or anything, and usually I look for that as a sign of disinfection. This product feels like absolutely nothing on facial skin, and I haven't been seeing results. Not to mention the INSANE price. :c

My background: One to two zits in high school, nothing ever serious. Started college and I started getting this huge cysts around my chin and on my cheeks (definitely hormonal acne). Ziana showed really great results for me within the first two weeks and my skin was super soft! After that HUGE cysts came up everywhere. I've never be so self conscious in my entire life, I avoided contact and never went out on the weekend. As a college student, my skin should be the least of my worries, but it started to take over my life. My derm said that the cream would bring everything to the surface and I would see results around 3 months. Well, month 3 came around and my skin was the worst it's ever been. I stopped using Ziana and my skin looked better just after ONE day. (Not clear obviously, but the size in my zits went way down) I'm sure this is the miracle drug for some people, but it's just not for me.

I was prescribed Ziana when I was 16 (now I am 21) I had mild to moderate acne and has tried everything under the moon to get rid of it, prescriptions and drug stores. When I started using Ziana when I was 16 I don't remember having any bad purge period, it kept my black heads to a minimum and I would only get occasional pimples. For a short period of time when I was 20 I did not have insurance so when I ran out of Ziana I was SOL. After a few months of being off Ziana I noticed my black heads coming back EVERYWHERE! When I finally got my insurance back again a couple of months ago I decided to go to the dermatologist to get another prescription for ZIana. After using it for a couple of weeks I experience a REALLY BAD purge. I am talking like 10-15 cysts on my face. Every time I got rid of one another 2 would pop up. This occurred because the Ziana was bringing up all of my blackheads to the surface that I had acquired when I was off the Ziana. I am now on my 4th week back on Ziana and I am almost 100% clear!! The number one thing to keep in mind about this product is to BE PATIENT and to not get too worked up over the purge period. It is also important to use the right face wash and lotion. I use CeraVe foaming wash and cetaphil lotion. Hope this helps!

I was prescribed biacna by my dermatologist after i've been on bactrim for 2 weeks and it was smoot sailing after that. as soon as the bactrim kicked in all I had to worry about was the part where my skin gets used to the gel. it took about 2-3 weeks of experimenting on how frequent i should use the biacna(ziana) but after that i used it every night and the redness and the peeling has all subsided. I have stopped taking bactrim for a week now and still no horrible breakouts because of this gel. it is amazing. I hope it continues to show progress because I love my skin now. It is not perfect and have hyperpigmentation but i am getting there. i never really write reviews but this stuff is the real deal. be patient!!!

This is not a miracle gel, but I don't really think any of them are if you really suffer from chronic or severe acne. I have had the worst time getting Tretinoin gels to work for me-- I am the first to say that I think they are more trouble than they are worth, and it's very hard to get past the "initial breakout", which is truly terrible. I found though that in this combination, the Clindamycin helped pimples heal faster and prevented them from getting yucky and more inflamed. I coupled Ziana with Spironolactone because I suffer from hormonal cysts, large pores, and oily skin. I started seeing results from this combination after about 6 weeks. I think that a lot of these gels need time, and they need to be paired with an oral treatment to be really effective. I don't really think there is one stop shopping with acne treatment.

3 week initial breakout. Made pores look huge. Worst part was the greasy look on skin. Could not get the shiny look to go away even after washing it. Didn't feel like it was working. Only positive was that it didn't dry out my skin like everything else. Going back to benzaclin. This is garbage.