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15 Weeks Of Regimen: No Significant Improvement. Should I Move To Paula's Choice?

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(@casios)

Posted : 05/25/2015 1:12 pm

Hi everyone, I need your expert advice!

I have moderate acne and I have been using Acne.org Regimen for 15 weeks now. I know I have made a mistake in the first week of the regimen, I started too fast with the BP. On the 8th week of the regimen I also started to use AHA at night and it did me a lot of harm than good.

 

I have passed the purging phase and clearing up and breaking out again and clearing up again and so on until now.

 

I seldom wear make up (3 times max a month) and I currently started to use some moisturizer from Paula's Choice with the SPF (because I read that I need to protect my skin from sun especially under acne medication).

 

2 weeks ago I started to use Shiseido Pureness Deep Pore Cleanser because I ran out of Dan's cleanser. It stung and I stopped it. I broke out due to irritation. Now I came back to Dan's and it's okay. But just when I thought it's getting better, I started to break out again!

 

I feel really terrible now because I still haven't cleared up yet. I know some pimples don't last as long as before, but they keep on coming back to my face. I have minimum 2-3 new pimples every week and most of them left some marks :(((

I was wondering whether I did wrong or did anyone have the same experience? Is it because of what I did in the first week? Or the AHA on the 8th week? Or the Shiseido cleanser? Or the sun protection?

 

Plus: My friend suggested me to use toner. Paula Choice offered a set of regimen with toner (and salycilic acid!). I was wondering whether anyone has ever tried it? Does it make your skin worse than Dan's regimen or better?

 

Please share with me your thoughts about this. thanks in advance!

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(@geeking)

Posted : 05/31/2015 4:04 pm

if you feel you need to switch your routine, go for it. If it were me, I'd simplify my routine as much as possible before implementing any new product, and then giving each product a fair amount of time before deciding whether it'll work [3-4 months].

 

how much AHA did you use the 8th week?

the first week using too much BP isn't an ideal start, maybe you want to try again with a small amount and work your way up. I know for me, I started small but increased too quickly and had a lot of redness and basically started over. If I'm frank, though I did follow the directions, I had to make my own modifications for my own sensitivity.

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(@bkubs)

Posted : 06/04/2015 1:12 am

Like the poster above said I would simplify your routine and try adjusting the amount of BP you use. Toners are very gimmicky and are not usually great for acne prone skin anyway. But proactiv has it as part of their routine so it's pushed by a lot of non-dermatologists. I would not recommend one in your case though. Just use a simple cleanser, an appropriate amount of BP for your skin (you will have to experiment with this) and a moisturizer that works well for your skin type that doesn't clog your pores. It sounds like you have very sensitive skin so make sure your moisturizer isn't clogging your pores as many will (even if they say they won't). BP is great at killing bacteria, but not so great at keeping your pores open.

 

As far as using the AHA goes, I can't really tell from your post but are you using this every night? If so you definitely should not. 10% AHA is super strong and using it every night will cause over-exfoliation, making your skin look shiny and making you more susceptible to breakouts due to the sensitivity of the new skin. Use it once every 3 nights max or heavily dilute it if you're using it nightly. AHA is great for keeping your pores clear so it goes really well with BP. AHA opens the pore, BP kills the bacteria.

 

After playing around with your BP dosage if you don't see improvement within 2-3 months, you likely have a more severe case of acne and will require a stronger type of medication like a vitamin A based topical or even Acutane. If your acne is moderate as you say though, playing with your BP dosage and being very careful not to irritate your skin will likely do the trick. Using a ton of different products rarely ever works on acne. The vast majority of people who become clear have very simple routines, much like the acne.org one.

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(@leeleengo)

Posted : 06/27/2015 12:34 am

I think you should give the Acne.org Regimen a fair 3 month chance. It sounds like you've been switching back and forth on a few different products. I do recommend using Salicylic Acid with the Regimen though. The two worked together really well for me. I used the Stridex pads and Clean&Clear spot treatment. I am a firm believer of toner but I didn't use it while I was on the Regimen. I am no longer on the Regimen so I added toner back in my routine. Sunscreen is also a must! So if you think your sunscreen is breaking you out, switch to a different one but just don't drop it in general. I used Olay's All Day Moisturizer with SPF 15. Hope this helps!

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