Cheers dude, very helpful, i shal get onto this and let know you how its going.

How many spots would you say you get daily/weekly now?

How many did you get before using this?

Cheers dude, very helpful, i shal get onto this and let know you how its going.

How many spots would you say you get daily/weekly now?

How many did you get before using this?

Two or three every week or two; they last a few days, and are red marks for another few days (at worst, often they're gone the next day), and with coverup, they're nearly always invisible.

Before, I would get many per week, and they could last many weeks or months, and coverup couldn't hide them.

This sounds ideal, at the moment I would say I'm geting 3-4 pimples per day, so obviously need to reduce that otherwise I just have too many of them!

The doctor doesn't seem keen to prescribe me anything saying its not severe enough, so it looks like you are my last option. Do you take any anti biotics?

Oh and what do you use to actually clean your skin first? Obviously not soap?

No, I'm not on any antibiotics at all; I used to be on minocycline, but it gave me side effects and it only really cleared me for 3 weeks in every 14 cycle.

Just clean your skin normally, you don't have to wash any of this stuff on or off, unless you want to, it's all absorbed really well.

Hi, im hoping to use this regime. I just want to know is it any normal ibuprofen gel with 5% or does it have to be topical?

Gotta say, this is the best advice ever!

I have been battling with mild to moderate acne for as long as I remember (I'm now 26) and have just started using ibuprofen gel, due to this thread.

Even this early on, I can see it making a really big difference! There's a lot less redness, and just a general feeling of calm on my chin! But I was wondering if anyone could help me improve on my skin care regime? I don't know if there is stuff I am doing that could be better...

Currently in the morning I use Garnier Pure cleansing wash for sensitive skin, followed by Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel shine control moisturiser.

In the evening I remove make up with a cheapy Boots make up wipe, before using the cleansing wash again, followed by the same moisturiser. I then apply boots tea tree and witch hazel overnight gel, plus the ibuprofen 5% gel to affected areas.

Every few days I exfoliate with an Apri exfoliating scrub (though I might change this soon. Don't like it much)

I was wondering if it would help me more to apply the ibuprofen gel in the mornings as well as in the evenings? And would proper tea tree oil be better than the boots tea tree gel?

By the way, this site is brilliant. Every other site I've been on has had forums full of bots spamming about rubbish products. It's nice to see real people!!

Definitely, based on my experience, you should apply the ibuprofen twice a day, at least to start with. Eventually, you'll work out for yourself how often you need to use it.

I give up. I've tried 4 different brands and they all make me shiny and sting like hell. I put the smallest layer on that is physically possible (whilst wincing) and wait for it to soak in. then wait some more. then give up 2 hrs later and wash it off. Bring on the 'tane. and eczema

I bought all the products for this regime but I have one problem. I have a 'simple' mosituriser but the lid cant be opened in order to put in and stir the tea tree oil. Can i just put a few drops of tea tree oil in my hand and mix with the moisteriser in my palm? how many drops, I have a 20ml tea tree antiseptic 100% oil?

I give up. I've tried 4 different brands and they all make me shiny and sting like hell. I put the smallest layer on that is physically possible (whilst wincing) and wait for it to soak in. then wait some more. then give up 2 hrs later and wash it off. Bring on the 'tane. and eczema 😥

The ibuprofen stings your skin? You must be allergic to it or something, it shouldn't sting at all. None of this should hurt. Maybe that's why you're going shiny, your skin is trying to protect yourself.

Try using a pipette.

That's life, are you doing anything else, like using it with benzoyl peroxide, or scrubbing your skin right before you put it on?

Can i just put a few drops of tea tree oil in my hand and mix with the moisteriser in my palm? how many drops, I have a 20ml tea tree antiseptic 100% oil?

The right ratio is about 10-20 drops of moisturiser to 1 drop of TTO, but while it could work in theory, I don't recommend it, it's too uncontrolled, you'd never get the right ratio, the drops would have to be the same size.

You'd probably do better to decant it into a different container and use it from there, or squirt it out, mix it and suck it back in again. Messy and fiddly and time-consuming, but I have done it.

Incidentally, the simple range contains paraffin, you should probably steer well clear.

I wish I had some of this topical ibuprofin right about now! I live in Canada, and I'm wondeirng if it's available here. I think I'll call the pharmacist. I have been using 100% undiluted TTO on my spots and it doesn't irritate my (VERY SENSITIVE) skin. It stopped a cyst right in it's tracks actually, and reduced the inflammation. I think it's fine to use undiluted as a spot treatment. I know girls without acne who get occassional zits who use 100% as a spot treatment, no irritation or side effects like BP. Anyways, I'm so excited to use this gel. If I can't find it, I'm going to crush up some ibuprofen and add a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol (does this help with skin penetration or why do I have to add an alcohol?). OR should I add a tiny drop or a few drops of TTO to it and just let is sit on my zit as a spot treatment?

thanks for the tip temp123, I'll let you know how it goes!!

IBF Gel does seem to be available in Canada and Australia, so you may be in luck; I've seen websites that specifically refer to it. Particularly please let us know if it's available OTC.

Even if you handle it well, I would recommend you mix the TTO with some good quality face cream though; if nothing else it's a lot cheaper to do that.

I don't have the recipe for making your own gel, to make it, I think you would be better off with normal alcohol. You need to dissolve it in the alcohol before use.

That's life, are you doing anything else, like using it with benzoyl peroxide, or scrubbing your skin right before you put it on?

Nope, I just wash with a plain cleanser, dry then apply the ibuprofen gel then wait 1/2 hr the moisturise. I'm on oral antibiotics, so I don't use the tto.

I think that I have some kind of reaction towards alcohol in cosmetics I get stinging, redness and shininess from: toners, retin-a, 4 kinds of ibu gel, facial wipes, zineryt (basically a mixture of ethanol and antibiotics in a bottle) and alcohol containing salicylic acid pads. <shrugs>. Oh well, accutane next month.

Does sounds like you're reacting to the alcohol then. Unfortunately you need alcohol there to dissolve the ibuprofen, so if you can't work around it then yeah, accutane.

The only thing I will say is that you don't need to wait half hour before using the moisturiser; in fact you might do much better to put the moisturiser on first, it should reduce the irritation from the alcohol. The TTO itself seems to reduce shine as well, so waiting seems double plus ungood, as Orwell would say.

What kind of achol are you talking about if not rubbing achol? I can't use tea tree oil, it irritates my eczema and I would really like to use the ibuprofen tabs and make it myself. Any hints or thought on how I could do this at home? Thanks, Elf

Well, a 35g 5% ibuprofen gel tube contains 1.175g of ibuprofen, so you would have to take about 6 200mg pills (the right sort, you want as little filler as possible). Don't use more than that, ibuprofen is toxic above that dose, you don't really want something that would kill you if you slapped it all on at once.

Crush it, dissolve it in a few grams of alcohol (something like 100 proof/50 percent vodka would be good or some sort of medical alcohol with water) (there's a mention of solubility [Edited link out]), and then you need to add some sort of thickener like carageenan to bulk it up to 35g.

That's roughly how it goes, but I've never done this, and how stable it would be after you made it, dunno.

Personally I prefer to buy it, it's currently 1.86 and comes in a handy tube.

aw man! I went to the pharmacist and they said they don't carry anything but topical motrin with menthol (and the last time I used a cleanser with menthol I broke out like the plague with cysts Evvvvvvvverywhere.) I'm so sad! =(

I'm not 100% sure, and I haven't tried it yet, but it's looking like all you have to do is open up some ibuprofen gel capsules and stir the liquid from them into some face cream. They come already dissolved in liquid (benzyl alcohol solution by the look of it).

If it works the dose would be about 16 200mg caps in 50-100ml (2-4 oz) of facecream, and then used sparingly. I'm going to give it a go, I'll let you know what happens.

I'm not 100% sure, and I haven't tried it yet, but it's looking like all you have to do is open up some ibuprofen gel capsules and stir the liquid from them into some face cream. They come already dissolved in liquid (benzyl alcohol solution by the look of it).

If it works the dose would be about 6 200mg caps in 50-100ml (2-4 oz) of facecream, and then used sparingly. I'm going to give it a go, I'll let you know what happens.

Awesome, thanks temp123 !

Ok, 16 or 6 gel caps? One post says 16 and the other says 6. Thanks Elf

Well, I got some own-brand liquid gel caps from Sainsbury's, juiced them, and stirred them into my SkinTherapy/TTO mix. So the SkinTherapy is 50ml, and the TTO is about 6ml, so that's 56ml (roughly 56 grams). So I wanted to make it up to about 5% strength, so that requires about 3 grams of ibuprofen. The caps are 200mg each, so thats 15 capsules. But juicing the capsules wastes some of the juice, and so I used all 16 capsules; I doubt it's that critical though.

The cap juice made my face cream go slightly runnier than before, but not ridiculously so, anyway I slapped it on, and it seems to be OK so far, might be possibly a bit greasier than the topical gel though, or it just be that my skin is like that today; it seems fairly humid today generally.

Topical ibuprofen gel is pain. It was itchy and stung like hell, not fun. Didn't do anything for me, just made my face red and irritated... maybe im allergic to it?

I'm happy some of you have had success with it though, keep it up