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It may not dissolve if it's truly oil free, but usually there's enough emulsifiers there to dissolve it.
How hard did you try to mix it? It will usually take a couple of minutes to go in. Sometimes screwing on the lid tight and shaking it hard will get it. Also leaving it to stand will often improve it.
If all else fails, adding a tiny smudge of a detergent, shampoo or cleanser and shaking it will get it to go in, but it's not as good for your skin if you add that.
For those of use who don't live in Europe and can't get the Ibuprofen gel people here are raving about, I found the solution! I bought Ibuprofen fast release gel capsules, I pierced one and squeezed the gel out. Then I mixed it with my oil-free moisturizer and applied to my horrible painful cyst. It is GONE now - in 6 hours!!! Completely gone! I cannot believe it - before I tried everything, BP 10%, SA, Retin A (that is more effective than the rest). Well the Ibuprofen ROCKS!!! So don't worry that you cannot find the gel here - use the gel from the capsule - it's even more potent. Be careful though, it may burn your skin so make sure to mix it with moisturizer.
And as a side note, for girls (not for guys) there is one miracle pill that works wonders (I missed it a few days that's why I got that nasty cyst). It's called Aldactone. Or Spironolactone. It blocks the male hormone receptors so you don't break out AT ALL!!! But you have to have a dermatologist prescribe it. I swear I have never been happier - I am 30 and finally have perfect skin! NOTE!!! That pill you cannot take if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant! It will damage the fetus...
yo, I've just joined the board, been reading this thread with particular interest. I've been using BP on and off for a few weeks but not getting on with it as well as I'd hoped for so I'm giving this a go. I remember years ago I had some on-the-spot gel from boots that had tea tree oil that seemed to work really well so I'm quite optimistic.
From what i've read it seems that most people are mixing the TTO with their moisturiser. I've yet to find an adequate moisturiser so i'm wondering what the best way for me to apply the TTO would be...
ive bought a small bottle of the 100% stuff from boots... could i just dilute it to 10% with water and apply to my face with cotton pads?
could I continue to do this or am I likely to find that I definitely need to moisturise? in which case- which moisturiser is recommended?
many thanks in advance
TTO is an oily substance that doesn't dissolve very well in water in my experience, but YMMV.
Also the topical ibuprofen is quite drying because it has alcohol in it, but if you add moisturiser then it's fine.
Moisturiser already has emulsifiers in it, so TTO will usually go in if you mix it carefully or shake it hard.
But you don't have to put the TTO in the moisturiser, you could use a separate TTO product, just make sure that moisturiser is the last thing you use, don't wait after putting the topical ibuprofen.
thanks very much for the reply.
I've just given it a go with water, i guestimated 5%, its made a sort of cloudy solution (suspension? my chemistry is rusty lol) and it smells fairly potent. applied it with a cotton wool pad...i guess we'll see in the morning. the ibuprofen gel has a nice cooling effect.
i'm currently using neutrogena (acne-prone skin) facial bar as a cleanser. it came highly recommended so i imported it all the way from the US lol. its been working ok so far so i'm going to carry on using it for now. I saw that you reckon you don't even need to cleanse when using TTO and ibuprofen but I'd don't want to change too abruptly..I would prefer a smooth transition.
any suggestions for a good moisturiser? or is it purely just a case of trial and error..?
thanks again
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6239884
According to this study, high dose oral ibuprofen alone has only a minor effect on acne. In combination with antibiotics, it's more effective. That is a lot of motrin, though. I can see you getting significant hearing damage after a year of those kinds of doses. How could such small amounts of ibuprofen in the form of a topical that will penetrate into the skin much less than an oral version (I would assume) possibly replace something like BPO, sulfur, and salicylic acid... even if you're already on antibiotics? I can see it possibly being incorporated into a regime, but not supplanting it.
Has anyone had adverse reactions, other than, say, an allergic response directly with ibuprofen?
Also, there's a big "report" (I assume that looks at other research already done) that I don't have access to and am wondering if anyone's read it or a has a journal subscription...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6239884According to this study, high dose oral ibuprofen alone has only a minor effect on acne. In combination with antibiotics, it's more effective. That is a lot of motrin, though. I can see you getting significant hearing damage after a year of those kinds of doses. How could such small amounts of ibuprofen in the form of a topical that will penetrate into the skin much less than an oral version (I would assume) possibly replace something like BPO, sulfur, and salicylic acid... even if you're already on antibiotics? I can see it possibly being incorporated into a regime, but not supplanting it.
The total body dose is low, but it's all going right where you need it, the local dose is obviously pretty significant. I mean we're applying a few tens of milligrams to a few grams of skin, whereas normally you would apply a gram or so to a whole 70kg of person. The topical ratio is actually higher.
One other thing about this study, it stopped short; it normally takes a solid 12 weeks for a particular treatment to max out, so you would expect it to give much more than 53% at the end fo the day.
Has anyone had adverse reactions, other than, say, an allergic response to directly associated with ibuprofen?
One guy had an asthma attack after applying the topical. We don't know for sure that it caused it, because he only did it once, it could have been coincidence, but it wasn't worth repeating it to find out because asthma can be serious; the packaging has that as a contraindication anyway.
Also, there's a big "report" (I assume that look at other research already done) that I don't have access to and am wondering if anyone's read it or a has a journal subscription...
Well I can handle IB just fine orally, but it just seems too... I don't know... easy. IB topically seems like borderline snake oil. You would think after all these years there'd be at least one clinical study on it. Isotrentinoin works better orally than topically, and yet with clinical studies of massive doses of IB orally it's not doing much all by itself and has significant side-effects. I guess in combination with antibiotics, topical IB is worth a try.
Lots of people on this site are on topical vitamin A, topicals do work. And it's not snake oil, it has an active ingredient in it that is known to fight acne.
If you're in the UK just get it and try, stop messing about! It's dirt cheap anyway.
Just make sure you stick a decent moisturiser right on top, because the alcohol is a bit drying. Use it as a spot treatment, as soon as you start to get a spot, put it on for a few days, twice a day. It works best with an antibacterial, or if you're on antibiotics, that's fine.
http://www.ajol.info/index.php/tjpr/articl...oad/58928/47244
They found no statistically significant anti-inflammatory effects from any of the ibuprofen topical formulations they tried in this study. So unless there's a study showing they do work that can contradict this, I will hold off on getting some.
There are quite a few studies that did mirror the above study's findings as far as the analgesic effects and plasma levels rising surprisingly with alcohol and propylene glycol in the base, but none of them appear to have tested the anti-inflammatory effects outside of broad generalizations. I will keep looking.
In contrast, there is a massive amount of evidence that 5% and 10% BPO and/or 2-3% Salicylic Acid work REALLY well. There's also a fascinating study on PEG-based higher concentration Sal acid. And for the US$15 to $4 (in bulk) per 50g the non-menthol ibuprofen gel's going for, it's not quite cost-effective in comparison. Unless someone would be willing to send me a tube for cheap, I can't justify buying any yet.
I might try to get a tube directly from a pharmacist or a doctor friend, but that's about it. I'd caution spending too much money on something that's likely just acting as a disinfectant. Maybe try a hand sanitizer on one half of your face with the ibuprofen gel on the other.
Well, the (Sainsburies own make) ibuprofen I use contains propylene glycol, and this research proved that this combination (listed as F3) was not inert and was absorbed and was active over 2.5 hours, as the PG acts as an permeation enhancer.
We also know that ibuprofen pills improve acne; and I'm not using it for any supposed analgesic property anyway.
So I don't understand how you draw your conclusions; you seem to be starting with an assumption and then trying to fit the facts to meet that.
I originally tried tea tree oil on its own, which is a reasonably good antibacterial, but it didn't work particularly well, although it was OK, and then I added ibuprofen once a day, and it improved, then I stopped the ibuprofen, and it got worse, but I thought I was imagining it, but then I went back to the ibuprofen, twice a day, and then it wasn't even arguable, I was seeing things I'd certainly never seen before with BP, my spots were clearing up in days, whereas before they would normally take weeks.
I don't think it's just a disinfectant, but I can't completely discount it. I haven't tried the alcohol/tea tree oil combo though. And I have had success with the ibuprofen pills as well; it's just you need a massive dose.
is the ibruprofen gel much better than benzoyl peroxide as a spot treatment? Or not really?
For me, there's no contest. If I put tea tree oil and ibuprofen on a new spot, it's gone in a few days.
BP never seemed to do that for me. My skin really hated BP though, maybe I'm allergic or something, I tried everything you can think of, but nothing worked.
is the ibruprofen gel much better than benzoyl peroxide as a spot treatment? Or not really?For me, there's no contest. If I put tea tree oil and ibuprofen on a new spot, it's gone in a few days.
BP never seemed to do that for me. My skin really hated BP though, maybe I'm allergic or something, I tried everything you can think of, but nothing worked.
hmm so what percent of tea tree oil do you need and where do you get the iboprofen?
Well, the (Sainsburies own make) ibuprofen I use contains propylene glycol, and this research proved that this combination (listed as F3) was not inert and was absorbed and was active over 2.5 hours, as the PG acts as an permeation enhancer.We also know that ibuprofen pills improve acne; and I'm not using it for any supposed analgesic property anyway.
So I don't understand how you draw your conclusions; you seem to be starting with an assumption and then trying to fit the facts to meet that.
I originally tried tea tree oil on its own, which is a reasonably good antibacterial, but it didn't work particularly well, although it was OK, and then I added ibuprofen once a day, and it improved, then I stopped the ibuprofen, and it got worse, but I thought I was imagining it, but then I went back to the ibuprofen, twice a day, and then it wasn't even arguable, I was seeing things I'd certainly never seen before with BP, my spots were clearing up in days, whereas before they would normally take weeks.
I don't think it's just a disinfectant, but I can't completely discount it. I haven't tried the alcohol/tea tree oil combo though. And I have had success with the ibuprofen pills as well; it's just you need a massive dose.
That last study I put a link to specifically tested anti-inflammatory properties of several different possible ibuprofen topical solutions and found no statistically significant capability to reduce skin inflammation. That's the first study I've found that tested anti-inflammatory capability of topical ibuprofen. So yes, some formulations can penetrate into the skin and multiple studies now, including that one, have found topical ibuprofen to be safe and effective for its analgesic properties skin and joint. But I haven't found a single study that can say the same thing about inflammation or acne. I assumed before that was just an omission and was probable that it might work though seemed, you know, too easy and that some clinician would have figured it out by now and spread the word in a big way. But here is a study that disputes that. There might be reasons why oral ibuprofen works and topical wouldn't. I am surprised I haven't found a single study out of Japan on this, since apparently ibuprofen topical is all the rage for acne there, right?
Any dermatologist reading this, there's a potential useful study issue worth conducting research on and getting funding for. I would think Japan or the UK would be the best place to get financing for it.
Maybe I should send a letter to the UK and Japanese boards for those medical specialties and see if they know of any data I haven't found yet or at least tipping them off to the research "hole" after this informal lit review.
Hi
First time poster, male, still suffering with semi-regular spots at 45 
Typically, have a friend's posh 40th birthday tomorrow and a real deep one has sprung up (or should I say down) on my cheek, about 1cm from my nose, a couple of days ago. Came across this thread cos I've used Ibuprofen before and just googled to see if it should work as it seemed to have helped in the past. Have been using Ibuprofen, may be helping, difficult to tell for sure as it could well be worse without it.
Anyway, main reason for posting is with regards to TTO. I don't use a moisturiser (can't see that changing tbh) so don't think I'll be using the TTO exactly as you do, so just wondered about alternatives. I've tended to use a spot stick with TTO in it, but it's difficult to know what sort of % TTO is in them.
Holland and Barrett (hope it's OK to use shop names, I'm sure I've seem reference to some supermarkets in here) seem to stock a wide range of TTO products, including a spot stick, and also a 15% TTO lotion and also a couple of TTO antiseptic creams (again, no idea of % of TTO). Any thoughts on any of these, or do I really need to get some pure 100% stuff and dilute as best I can? I'm wary of applying it neat (although some here have done so) as I can have reactions to stuff (Quinoderm and toothpaste both caused bad and embarrassing reactions).
Many thanks in advance.
Be careful with those spot sticks because in my experience, they just spread spots around your face!!
Hmmm, I wonder if that's what I've done. 2 more really deep ones appeared although I've now switched to TTO instead of the spot stick. They're further up my cheek, and closer to my nose (sort of where the nose and cheek join just below my eye), and are so bad that my eye is all puffy with a big "bag" under it 😥 . Lymph glands on that side of my face are painful too. Complete nightmare.