Hey guys, my acne is currently being controlled ish with panoxyl (Benzyl peroxide). My question is has anyone who has been on the whole BP stint for over a year noticed premature ageing? I feel like by controlling my appearance now through acne killing I will be damaging it for later life when the wrinkles come and the tones goes to hell because of all the damage done by BP. Am I just being paranoid? Does anyone still look great after years of bp?

Hi -

I don't think BP directly causes premature aging, however, it does make your skin more vulnerable to damage from the things that do directly influence aging, like the sun. That being said, BP is also known to cause irritation and dryness, both of which can make your your skin appear older. I don't think you are necessarily doing damage to your skin by using BP (any more than acne is anyway) but the side effects of BP use are a hard trade-off sometimes.

i've used BP 2.5% (try not to use more than this amount) 5% and 10% are too excessive, 2.5 will get the job done.) for about 3 years now and up until last year i never noticed anything aging wise. Last summer i started to see fine lines on my forehead mostly when editing pictures such as self portraits i was taking. The camera i was using at the time was a nikon d800 (really high amount of megapixels) so some shots kind of scared me when editing them. But As the person above mentioned I feel like BP just makes skin more vulnerable, I am a photographer who has been outside A LOT in the texas heat for the majority of my life so i feel like BP really has played a small part, mostly when i was over using it when i first started at age like 16-17. (i'm 20 now.) Since last summer when i realized "hey, aging happens" i have started using BP less frequently and started moisturizing with a lotion with SPF. Since then my forehead lines actually went away as long as I use moisturizer and sunscreen if out in the sun.

Also to note, I have tried to get off BP about 4-5 months ago and realized i will have to stick with it until i outgrow acne or find what is causing it. I have been experimenting with cutting certain foods out of my diet as well the past few months. It is a long and tedious process. I hate the fact that I have to use BP, it is literally the only chemical I use on my body, that and the moisturizer to counteract the BP. I use all natural plant based body wash, and i don't even use shampoo due to having pretty short hair.

Oh dear the brand I use is ten percent :/

And yes I totally empathise with you, i'm mega in to natural everything, and I resent my skin for only responding to horrible chemicals! But I guess BP on the skin is better than antibiotics forever in the body and certainly Accutane

How often do you guys use BP a week, for maintaining very little acne? I've only been using it a few days would it be best to do one day on one day off and would it still be effective? x

Oh dear the brand I use is ten percent :/

And yes I totally empathise with you, i'm mega in to natural everything, and I resent my skin for only responding to horrible chemicals! But I guess BP on the skin is better than antibiotics forever in the body and certainly Accutane

 

How often do you guys use BP a week, for maintaining very little acne? I've only been using it a few days would it be best to do one day on one day off and would it still be effective? x

when getting it under control use it daily then when your skin starts to smooth out you can probably get away with BP only every other morning or night. Sometimes in the winter when my skin is not near as oily i have used it only 2-3 times a week without any problems.

it still kept your acne away using 2-3 times a week?

it still kept your acne away using 2-3 times a week?

yeah like all winter that worked fine, but currently my forehead has been breaking out pretty bad and like everywhere else on my body simultaneously cleared completely, it's really weird and frustrating. I haven't been on this site since i was about 16-17 years old. BP 2.5% kept me pretty clear for the past 3 years and i never really worried about breakouts or sat alone inside on these forums. Now at 20 i'm having a bad month and have came crawling back to good ol acne.org. haha mostly just to vent and talk about this stuff because i keep all this stuff private for the most part.

I just bought OTC BP 10% a few days ago and now I do notice lines on my cheeks. Are these permanent? If I stop using it will they go away?

I discovered that using BP caused my "laughter lines" to look like scars and my nose and cheeks look scarred over (I'm 16, help). I've stopped using it but within about 4 days I've broken out and my skin has yet to recover from the scars and dryness. But I think the drying effect BP has on the skin does make it look like it has aging effects because it brings out the lines, but I don't want to continue with it because I don't want to risk damaging my skin any further. Perhaps cut down from the 10% to 2.5% because that did do the job for me in the short term! I just wouldn't recommend using it in the long run

So BP does increase your chances of getting wrinkles due to the way the free radicals affect your skin. Higher % can make this worse so I would not advise using over 2.5% as there really isn't any advantage to higher percentages anyway. Simply use a good suncreen if you're ever exposed to the sun and exfoliate with an AHA or BHA weekly. If you do this the aging side effects will be very minimal. Genetics also play a big part in this. Everyone ages differently.