I'm another devastated Pernox user who is sooooo unhappy to find my beloved cleanser GONE !!!! It's the ONLY product that kept my oily, adult acne under control and clear! I'm so upset!
Fortunately I've been having good results with "Alba Botanica Face & Body Scrub." Haven't been using it very long, but pleased so far.
I CAN NOT BELIEVE Pernox is gone. I am devastated! I've been using for 10 years and have been so thankful I ever discovered it. I feared this day might come. What can we do? I ordered the YuBe skin polish and it's okay, but nothing like pernox. Like many others have said, it's not just about acne; I think it's kept my skin looking young. I am almost 40 and people think I'm 30. I don't use any other products besides a basic lotion.
There are so many disappointed people. Is there a movement to protest or anything? I want to help!!! I just feel like someone would want to make this if it's so popular that it's selling for $400 on amazon!
I'm going to look for contact info, but if you have any tips, let me know. Let's get it back!!
Okay team! I just emailed the following letter to 6 different departments. I might not make a difference, but if we all made our voices heard, would that matter? It could! I'm trying at least. It took me about 10 minutes.
Here is the contact info: http://www.ranbaxy.com/contact-us/ (I sent emails to 6 different departments and tweaked the content slightly for each one.)
Here is my letter. (Sorry if saying we would pay more is bad form, but I would pay 2x what I was if it would just return!)
Hello Ranbaxy,
I am writing to you about the best acne cure and youth serum I've ever found. Pernox. Currently, the remaining bottles are selling for hundreds of dollars which could mean a very lucrative rebrand campaign with a higher price. There is money in this product and popularity. It works!
First, it's not about just me. Everyone who uses this product LOVES it. It's selling for $400 and more on eBay right now! With better marketing, it could sell like crazy. Nothing compares for acne prevention. True prevention! I don't treat my pimples, I just never get any with pernox. What product can claim that?
Also, I genuinely think this product keeps skin young, and that isn't even mentioned on the label. I and others look young beyond our years and Pernox is the not common product. Even with a job spent sitting in the sun, my skin is young. People will flock if they know this! Who doesn't want to look young?
So, in short, please consider the popularity of this product. Rather than trying to find products that work well and spending money on testing, why not rebrand Pernox? With a cult following like it has, it's doing a better job than anything else on the market. Rebrand and reap the benefits! Plus, loyal customers are so upset, they will pay more for the same product if it returns. Profits await you!
I am going to miss pernox. I have been using it for 20 years. I found a substitute you may want to try. Not the same, but it does a good job and won't cause break outs. It is Burts Bees Pore refining acne wash. It lacks sulfer and not as much grit. You could mix in a small amount of flower of sulfer powder (Amazon). Hope this gets you by for now.
For everyone (myself included) who is freaking out over the discontinuation of Pernox ... I doubt that contacting the manufacturer of the product will result in any degree of success. The problem is not with the manufacturer, but with the microbeads. They are being banned from the products which contain them.
Researchers warn that the microbeads, which are not biodegradable, are ingested by fish and other animals, potentially ending up in the food chain. The tiny plastic orbs have already been found in California waters and in the Pacific Ocean.
The bill, which would impose civil penalties, isn't as far reaching as New York's, which would ban not just the sale, but also the manufacture of products containing plastic particles 5 millimeters or smaller in diameter.
Major cosmetic companies, including Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson, have already pledged to phase out the use of the plastic microbeads from their products.
"We are discontinuing our limited use of micro plastic beads as scrub materials in personal care products as soon as alternatives are qualified," said Mandy Wagner, a Procter & Gamble spokeswoman. "In addition, we have decided not to introduce micro plastic beads into any new product category."
I too am so upset about the discontinuing of Pernox. I have used it for 45 years and it worked like magic. I am now seeing a dermatologist to try and get something to work as well as the Pernox did over all these years. She started me on Neutrogena oil free acne wash (salicylic acid) and Avar (sulfa 2%) which did not work at all. I am now trying Effaclar by La Roche Posay Wash and then putting on the lotion which comes in the Duo pack. Seems to be better at cutting the oil but too soon to know if it will stop the blemishes.
Thanks so much for the information about the beads being the problem, it makes more sense of why they would discontinue. I hope people will continue to let us all know if they find something similar to Pernox.
I have been using Pernox for over 45--yes 45 years. Started on recommendation of a Dermatologist. Have lived through 2-3 handoffs/ sales? to other Pharma companies and temporary shortages. At one time several years ago I made an offer to buy the patent, company whatever.I so believed in it. Not one owner has ever marketed the product or advertised it. Proactive is a joke compared to this product.Even at $35 I boght every tube I could find. There is no plastic bead issue period!!!!! It is owned by an mega Indian conglomerate that is more interested in producing generic products that are generating BILLIONS of profit. They cannot be bothered w/ this little fly spec and its distribution... Google the company, all kinds of indictments and criminal ? investigations for untested/ mistested pharmacueticals.. Lots of scandals. They will not respond to the needs of customers and couldn't care less. THey didn't " lose " a factory. It's very simple product to produce. All the ingrediants are listed.........What kind of company would not produce a product in high demand that works perfectly that costs pennies to make and retails for $8-$9 an ounce???The product is 50 years old-- The patent has to be public domain by now------Amazingly, the St Ives apricot scrubs have most of the same ingrediants and only cost $4 for 6ounce tube.......However, nothing washes off quickly and as freshly as Lemon Pernox.....The green Pernox stinks to high heaven and lingers that way..........
I am just sick about Pernox!! I have been using this since I was 13 and I just turned 50! 37 years--longer than any of my personal relationships!!!
I have also got 3 adult children with teenagers who have depended on Pernox for ever!!! I cant feel like my skin is clean without it!
My pharmacy use to carry it for $25 a tube and I would order 10 at a time. Then with time, I had to go online and order it. I order 12 or 15 at a time to hold us all over for several months. I did not know until yesterday when I went to reorder that it was discontinued. It was like a smack in the face!
So now what? I am up for assisting, buying or helping to get a patent on a new identical product. I plan on many more years of needing this and I know my kids, grandkids and great grandkids will be in need as well.
If anyone gets a response, idea or needs help, LET ME KNOW! I can spend my cash on a better plan than to give some price gouging nut, money on ebay! THE COW IS STILL HERE, WE JUST NEED A NEW MILKING PLAN!
I used Pernox twice a day for 47 years since 1967 when my dermatologist gave me a box of 12 sample tubes. It was originally manufactured by Westwood-Squibb in Buffalo before the patent was apparently sold to Ranbaxy. I called Ranbaxy last fall and was told that they discontinued it because they changed their product mix and no longer had a place to manufacture it. I am near running out; I tried a compounding pharmacy and was told that they did not mix facial products; I will try another. I have tried other products but nothing seems to work like Pernox.
Hey everyone,
I posted a while back about a Pernox alternative I found called Yu-Be skin polish that appeared to work pretty well compared with Pernox.
I wanted to report that I recently found something even better. It's called Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Acne Scrub and it's sold at most pharmacies/markets.
After trying a tons of different washes and scrubs containing Sulfur and salicylic acid, I realized that the reason pernox might have worked so well wasn't necessarily due only to it's active ingredients, but to something else in the formula called Tetrasodium EDTA. EDTA makes soap more effective in hard water and is a penetration enhancer, meaning other chemicals such as active ingredients work better to penetrate and clean the skin. I believe this is somewhat evident because no matter how many other products with the same ingredients I've tried, none of them worked anything like pernox. Well, except one. It was a exfoliant called Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant, and guess what? It also contains EDTA.
Anyways, I looked at a massive list of cleansers someone compiled on the forum and chose the Clearisil product mentioned above because it contained both salicylc acid as well as EDTA. I've been using it along with a sulfur ointment to wash my face and I've gotten pretty much the same results as pernox.
The sulfur ointment can be found on Amazon. It's called: De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment Cream. Mix the two together and scrub away. The scrub also works well on it's on, but I use the sulfur for safe measure. I haven't had a single breakout since using these!
P.S. EDTA is apparently a bad ingredient -- but as a reminder, it was also an ingredient in pernox. See: http://www.bubbleandbee.com/topfivechemicals.html
I too have been using Pernox lemon scrub for over 20 years. I have over active oil glands and pernox was the only thing that helped me. Doctors wanted to give me the toxic accutane. I refused it. God looked after me and steered me to Pernox. I honestly do not know what I will do without it. Please, some one...HELP US ALL and put it back on the market. It is a great product and actually works. Big Pharma...have a heart. Surely some one out there could make it again?
Hey everyone,
I posted a while back about a Pernox alternative I found called Yu-Be skin polish that appeared to work pretty well compared with Pernox.
I wanted to report that I recently found something even better. It's called Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Acne Scrub and it's sold at most pharmacies/markets.
After trying a tons of different washes and scrubs containing Sulfur and salicylic acid, I realized that the reason pernox might have worked so well wasn't necessarily due only to it's active ingredients, but to something else in the formula called Tetrasodium EDTA. EDTA makes soap more effective in hard water and is a penetration enhancer, meaning other chemicals such as active ingredients work better to penetrate and clean the skin. I believe this is somewhat evident because no matter how many other products with the same ingredients I've tried, none of them worked anything like pernox. Well, except one. It was a exfoliant called Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant, and guess what? It also contains EDTA.
Anyways, I looked at a massive list of cleansers someone compiled on the forum and chose the Clearisil product mentioned above because it contained both salicylc acid as well as EDTA. I've been using it along with a sulfur ointment to wash my face and I've gotten pretty much the same results as pernox.
The sulfur ointment can be found on Amazon. It's called: De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment Cream. Mix the two together and scrub away. The scrub also works well on it's on, but I use the sulfur for safe measure. I haven't had a single breakout since using these!
P.S. EDTA is apparently a bad ingredient -- but as a reminder, it was also an ingredient in pernox. See: http://www.bubbleandbee.com/topfivechemicals.html
I noticed in the Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Acne Scrub it lists Disodium EDTA, not Tetrasodium EDTA...is there a difference?
I noticed in the Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Acne Scrub it lists Disodium EDTA, not Tetrasodium EDTA...is there a difference?
Actually I'm not too sure. Pernox only lists EDTA as the ingredient but doesn't specific if it's Tetrasodium EDTA or Disodium EDTA. I originally didn't include Tetrasodium in my description, but went back and added it for the sake of consistency after finding the page I linked at the bottom of my post
From what I read the only major difference between the two is their pH levels, which I believe just means the chemicals they are mixed with need to be a little different for the EDTA to be rendered neutral.
I noticed in the Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Acne Scrub it lists Disodium EDTA, not Tetrasodium EDTA...is there a difference?
Actually I'm not too sure. Pernox only lists EDTA as the ingredient but doesn't specific if it's Tetrasodium EDTA or Disodium EDTA. I originally didn't include Tetrasodium in my description, but went back and added it for the sake of consistency after finding the page I linked at the bottom of my post
From what I read the only major difference between the two is their pH levels, which I believe just means the chemicals they are mixed with need to be a little different for the EDTA to be rendered neutral.
Well thanks, I just ordered both your recommendations. Here's hoping this will work!
Pernox had 3 major attributes that need to be included in any substitute:
1) Pernox rinsed away perfectly clean, leaving no oily residue.
2) Pernox had a "scrubby" quality that allowed it to really get in there and do a proper job.
3) Pernox had Salicylic acid which aided the cleansing, and killed bacteria.
Finding a single product to replace all those qualities will be difficult if not impossible.
I have found a decent cleanser that will rinse away clean with no oily residue, and it is called "good & Clean" from 'alba Botanica'. I found it at Wal-Mart in the natural cosmetic section. I am not a big fan of its fragrance, but I can tolerate it - the ladies will love it. I tried 3 other cleansers that claimed to be 'oil free', but they did not rinse off clean - they leave your face feeling oily.
The "scrubby" part was more difficult. Most facial 'scrubs' employ Aluminum Oxide crystals to obtain some "scrubby" quality, but they either contain too little to be effective, or they use too fine of a grit to be effective on me. You can buy pure Aluminum Oxide crystals online in varying grades and varying grits. Since I am not planning on ingesting it, I don't see a need to pay extra for 'Medical Grade' or 'Cosmetic Grade' or 'MicroDermaBrasion' grade crystals. I bought a jar of Medical Grade 120 grit, and another jar of 90 grit standard grade. The 120 grit is much too fine for acne purposes, but the 90 grit seemed just right. Some of you may want to compromise at 100 grit, but don't bother with anything finer. The world's largest online retailer has multiple grits and grades and sizes to choose from. I mix just a small amount (about the same volume as a dime) in my hand with a little of the cleanser I mentioned before, and I have as close to a Pernox substitute as You will find. Back it up with a finishing wash of the "SAL 3", and you are good to go.
I know this process is more difficult and time consuming than our old product, but Pernox is no longer an option. I am now once again acne free and my face feels like the Pernox days. Note: I always top off this regimen with a coating of PersaGel, just as my old Dermatologist prescribed (PersaGel used to be prescription only, but is now OTC).
Everybody has got different skin so it s not easy to find the right cure. There is lots of things out there, which you can try. Going from antibiotics, through all kinds of heavy chemicals to cortisonic stuff to Vitamins like B12 and others, but I can tell you from direct experience, that most often very pure specific natural soap is working best. I have read here about different ones, but the one which I can guarantee will be working, is one special one that was formally just sold in the eastern mediterranean areas but is now, due to its effective curing of several forms of acne, doing a triumphal march through Europe.
It is called Kirlangic Medical Soap and i m not sure where and if you can get it in the U.S at all !? At least in Europe there are some companies selling this stuff. Try Alibaba or related. Maybe you can get it from there? What makes me furious is that Jim had spent years in agony and pain, with all the so-called specialists telling him to use this, or buy that, when in fact the solution was that f ******* easy.
Big Pharma just wants our money, they, by no means(!) are interested in curing us. Wherefore very pure but specific natural products are in most cases, a thousand times better and cheaper than all the crap pharma industries try selling us. It was eye-opening to see that Kirlangic Medical Soap did in 2 weeks, what all the chemical cremes and medicines tried to do for years but couldn t. Acne is terrible and I love talking to people about these old times, and then looking at Jim today. Hope I was able to help you with this, and that no one has to suffer from acne no more.
Best regards
Stella
I saw a posting on another thread by a Procter & Gamble employee, regarding the discontinuance of Pernox; he stated that P&G sold the patent to Ranbaxy, due to an EPA mandated phase-out of the micro-scrubbing beads in Pernox. Apparently, these beads were being found inside fish and wildlife, and EPA required all companies making products with these to reformulate their products to eliminate these. P&G decided instead to sell the patent to Ranbaxy, with the caveat that Pernox not be sold in the US. However, with the proliferation of individuals selling the product on Ebay and Amazon, this could not be prevented. Ranbaxy was pressured to change their formulation to include the do-nothing, dissolvable beads in most other scrubs, but decided instead to discontinue the product.
Maybe if enough people write Ranbaxy and ask them to reformulate the scrubbing beads, but leave the rest of the formulation as is, they may spend the money to do so and we can get back at least some semblance of the product we all love. I am 60, started using Pernox in my late 20's, and look like I am in my 40's - I attribute this to the now-verboten exfoliating beads. Sadly, I now to expect to age more rapidly without Pernox!