This is your future self dropping in.

Don't use bp.

It causes worse scarring, dryness and makes red marks linger around for years.

I know it's discouraging since you just bought it but let me just say that Dan's topical treatment isn't all that effective, plus it's expensive, it hurts and it's a pain in the face. THE FACE!

Why don't you just use something which is easier, cheaper, has no side effects and is proven to be just as effective? Its green tea son.

It works. Read this:

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/316478-green-teasea-salt-toner-effective-and-easy-to-make/ that's how you make it.

http://www.acneeinstein.com/3-ways-green-tea-treats-acne/

and this

http://www.acneeinstein.com/topical-green-tea-for-acne/

damn.. this suckss

hey man, the links about green tea sounds appealing. have you tried this and saw a difference in your acne? i'm down to try it. and yeah chemicals are bad for your face. hopefully this green tea would help loads

Here's what you can expect with The Regimen. http://www.acne.org/faq.html#burn

A little itching and burning are very typical in the beginning of bp. Read here: http://www.acne.org/faq.html#itch

and http://www.acne.org/faq.html#burn

damn.. this suckss

hey man, the links about green tea sounds appealing. have you tried this and saw a difference in your acne? i'm down to try it. and yeah chemicals are bad for your face. hopefully this green tea would help loads

 

Yeah well it depends on the acne you have. Do you get cysts?

For some reason now i'm breaking out in small bumps, i think the green tea will help reduce that a little. One thing i did notice after one application of the green tea face mask was that it got rid of the oiliness really well. All i can say is it's really good against blackheads, which in itself is impressive.

If you followed the link i showed you will see that that guy adds salt to his face mask. I never did that because i never had the money to buy fancy salt. So i haven't tried it fairly.

I've only used this stuff for 2 weeks so i can't tell honestly how well it works for me, but i guarantee you it works just as well, if not better than bp. That's through science.

Oh and a good rule to remember when looking for topical treatments is only put on your face what you can consume. Otherwise your skin just gets annoyed.

oh, i only have a few pimples and never had cysts. but im looking forward to trying green tea. and im glad to hear that itching is normal cause i was getting worried

Those symptoms are normal. They will subside within a couple of weeks. i just started Dans regimen using the BP and man oh man am i seeing results. I have cystic acne and ive only been on it for 2 weeks. You have to be patient and do the regimen precisely. Dont add anything to your regimen after a month or so. If you stick to it im sure it will help your skin greatly. Now i agree BP is harmful in the longrun but your not going to use it all your life. Green tea is beneficial when you drink it. So buy a pack of green tea and drink it !!!! daily !!!

This is your future self dropping in.

Don't use bp.

It causes worse scarring, dryness and makes red marks linger around for years.

I know it's discouraging since you just bought it but let me just say that Dan's topical treatment isn't all that effective, plus it's expensive, it hurts and it's a pain in the face. THE FACE!

Why don't you just use something which is easier, cheaper, has no side effects and is proven to be just as effective? Its green tea son.

It works. Read this:

http://www.acne.org/...d-easy-to-make/ that's how you make it.

http://www.acneeinst...ea-treats-acne/

and this

http://www.acneeinst...n-tea-for-acne/

 

Those symptoms are normal. They will subside within a couple of weeks. i just started Dans regimen using the BP and man oh man am i seeing results. I have cystic acne and ive only been on it for 2 weeks. You have to be patient and do the regimen precisely. Dont add anything to your regimen after a month or so. If you stick to it im sure it will help your skin greatly. Now i agree BP is harmful in the longrun but your not going to use it all your life. Green tea is beneficial when you drink it. So buy a pack of green tea and drink it !!!! daily !!!

This is your future self dropping in.

Don't use bp.

It causes worse scarring, dryness and makes red marks linger around for years.

I know it's discouraging since you just bought it but let me just say that Dan's topical treatment isn't all that effective, plus it's expensive, it hurts and it's a pain in the face. THE FACE!

Why don't you just use something which is easier, cheaper, has no side effects and is proven to be just as effective? Its green tea son.

It works. Read this:

http://www.acne.org/...d-easy-to-make/ that's how you make it.

http://www.acneeinst...ea-treats-acne/

and this

http://www.acneeinst...n-tea-for-acne/

 

Those are not even scholarly cites. .com tends to be biast. As green tea did nothing for my skin.

 

I don't understand how your argument has any merit if he uses scientific studies in the articles. If you read any of the other articles you'd know that he is VERY critical of bias in his articles. He will only make cure acne suggestions if there is a scientific basis. Making assumptions that sites with a domain name of .com are bad is stupid i'm sorry. He bought ".com" so it's more readily available for everyone- Simple. He spent his own money for us. The guy that founded the site is also a highly respected member on this site. When you say you've tried green tea, what did you actually try? Did you just use one tea bag? Thats a common mistake people make. You need to use the proper concentration as stated in one of the links above. Just look at the "reviews" page on acne.org. Dan's regimen has got 3 stars. It's a pain to use and it's not long term effective for most, as it irritates the skin. I did it for 10 weeks. At first i saw massive initial improvement but then my acne just lingered around and my skin just got more and more irritated. Now i have red marks that should have faded months ago.

I don't believe this to be true personally, as i think Dan's a good guy but if your gonna talk about bias- Dan SELLS products for his regimen on acne.org.

Those are not even scholarly cites. .com tends to be biast. As green tea did nothing for my skin.

 

Hi AbyBar! I understand your scepticism, but the guy behind acneeinstein.com is indeed a respected member here, though he does sell his own method, based on a holistic approach. Not that that's a bad thing, but it puts things in perspective. He will never promote something like BP.

This is your future self dropping in.

Don't use bp.

It causes worse scarring, dryness and makes red marks linger around for years.

I know it's discouraging since you just bought it but let me just say that Dan's topical treatment isn't all that effective, plus it's expensive, it hurts and it's a pain in the face. THE FACE!

 

Huh? I agree that BP causes dryness in the beginning, but worse scarring? And making red marks linger around for years? That's rubbish, sorry. BP turned out to be the most effective treatment by far when compared to (natural) alternatives, both in myself, when I had acne, and in people I've coached (trust me, we've tried numerous treatments, including all-natural, based on scientific studies). It's very simple: if you don't want scars or red marks, the best thing to do is to try and prevent acne from forming in the first place. Green tea looks promising, but the research is very preliminary, not comparable to all the research that was done on BP. And there have been several reports from members, claiming that green tea made their acne worse or increased their sebum production. I've read a huge amount of studies on topical acne treatments (from resveratrol to niacinamide and even algae with weird names, you name it, all topicals), several of them claiming to outperform BP. But when trying them, the results were very disappointing, to say the least. Not to mention, most products cost a small fortune. It's been a waste of time and money.

Oh and a good rule to remember when looking for topical treatments is only put on your face what you can consume. Otherwise your skin just gets annoyed.

 

I definitely don't agree with this, I'm sure I can come up with a thing or 2 you can consume, but you definitely don't want to put on your face to fight acne. Or all-natural treatments that you can put on your face, but you definitely don't want to consume (unless you have a death wish).

...but i guarantee you it works just as well, if not better than bp. That's through science.

 

I'm willing to accept the challenge, and get one or two of the people I'm coaching to use green tea. But before switching from something that works (BP), I'd like to know what your guarantee implies. If the green tea, whether topical, internal or both, doesn't do the job, what does your guarantee mean? I know you mean well, but what has or has not worked for you (even though you're not sure yet) doesn't mean it's the same for everybody else, whether or not it's backed up by science. If people can get rid of acne by using green tea: great. If they can by using BP: great, too.

To answer King Curtis' question: a little itching/burning/irritation is to be expected in the beginning, especially since you've never used treatments before. You may also want to look into the moisturizer you're using, since sometimes switching to a different one solves the problem. Also, make sure that the BP has fully absorbed before applying a moisturizer. If the irritation persists or if it becomes unbearable, you're either using too much BP, or you're allergic.

Those are not even scholarly cites. .com tends to be biast. As green tea did nothing for my skin.

 

Hi AbyBar! I understand your scepticism, but the guy behind acneeinstein.com is indeed a respected member here, though he does sell his own method, based on a holistic approach. Not that that's a bad thing, but it puts things in perspective. He will never promote something like BP.

This is your future self dropping in.

Don't use bp.

It causes worse scarring, dryness and makes red marks linger around for years.

I know it's discouraging since you just bought it but let me just say that Dan's topical treatment isn't all that effective, plus it's expensive, it hurts and it's a pain in the face. THE FACE!

 

Huh? I agree that BP causes dryness in the beginning, but worse scarring? And making red marks linger around for years? That's rubbish, sorry. BP turned out to be the most effective treatment by far when compared to (natural) alternatives, both in myself, when I had acne, and in people I've coached (trust me, we've tried numerous treatments, including all-natural, based on scientific studies). It's very simple: if you don't want scars or red marks, the best thing to do is to try and prevent acne from forming in the first place. Green tea looks promising, but the research is very preliminary, not comparable to all the research that was done on BP. And there have been several reports from members, claiming that green tea made their acne worse or increased their sebum production. I've read a huge amount of studies on topical acne treatments (from resveratrol to niacinamide and even algae with weird names, you name it, all topicals), several of them claiming to outperform BP. But when trying them, the results were very disappointing, to say the least. Not to mention, most products cost a small fortune. It's been a waste of time and money.

Oh and a good rule to remember when looking for topical treatments is only put on your face what you can consume. Otherwise your skin just gets annoyed.

 

I definitely don't agree with this, I'm sure I can come up with a thing or 2 you can consume, but you definitely don't want to put on your face to fight acne. Or all-natural treatments that you can put on your face, but you definitely don't want to consume (unless you have a death wish).

...but i guarantee you it works just as well, if not better than bp. That's through science.

 

I'm willing to accept the challenge, and get one or two of the people I'm coaching to use green tea. But before switching from something that works (BP), I'd like to know what your guarantee implies. If the green tea, whether topical, internal or both, doesn't do the job, what does your guarantee mean? I know you mean well, but what has or has not worked for you (even though you're not sure yet) doesn't mean it's the same for everybody else, whether or not it's backed up by science. If people can get rid of acne by using green tea: great. If they can by using BP: great, too.

To answer King Curtis' question: a little itching/burning/irritation is to be expected in the beginning, especially since you've never used treatments before. You may also want to look into the moisturizer you're using, since sometimes switching to a different one solves the problem. Also, make sure that the BP has fully absorbed before applying a moisturizer. If the irritation persists or if it becomes unbearable, you're either using too much BP, or you're allergic.

 

Ok here we go.

I find it hard to believe that you haven't found any threads backing my points up, seeing as you are a moderator!

1)No bp does not cause scarring if applied to unscathed skin, however, if you apply it to an open wound ( as id often the case) it is very likely to increase the scars size ect. One source: http://www.acne.org/...-acne-scarring/ First post

2) Regaurding red marks: http://www.acne.org/...g-bp-over-them/ Just one source, i have found this to be true in my experience.

3) Green tea is cheaper than benzyl peroxide, anyday anywhere. I™m not saying that you should buy some potion which you can only attain by wrestling a bear naked somewhere in Alaska. No, I™m saying use stuff that your body more adapted to. Like lemons. Cheap plentiful. And they adress the cause internally and externally, whilst fading red marks! With very few effects.

http://www.acne.org/...s/73/page1.html

http://www.acne.org/.../76/page19.html

Oh look 4.4 stars. You must admit thats impressive for a topical treatment which is cheaper than just about every other topical treatment out there. Just one many similar cheap natural treatments.

I understand the frustration when it comes to acne. People want an istant overnight treatment and bp delivers. I loved the feeling of waking up to remarkably clear skin. My point being that because of this there is a certain bias towards bp. I personally think that if people stuck with the green tea or similar natural treatments they™d be more pleased with the results. Even if it isn™t an overnight cure.

One of the many reasons people shrug off natural topical treatments is often because they don't give it nearly enough time and they're skeptical about it in the first place. For example the green tea treatment was shown to reduce sebum production by "50%" but that was over the course of 8 weeks. Fair enough, seeing as there are no side effects there had to be a down side. The researchers were sure that this effect would grow more substantial with further treatment.

http://www.acneeinst...ea-treats-acne/

Don™t get me wrong, I don't hate bp, it did provide some relief for me in my early acne days. i'm sure you'll agree as time goes by, the acne starts to become more resilient and that bp starts to slowly damage your skin a lil' more every day. It get more and more irritated. Bp is good for the occasional spot but it's NOT good for your skin to use, say, every day for a year. I really don't mean to scare you guys but people just shouldn't rely on heavily, especially when there are other very promising treatments out there to try. Listen to this: "BP has been linked to cancer for a number of years and many research journal entries state "benzoyl peroxide is a free radical-generating skin tumor promoting agent."

http://www.skintacti...skin_damage.htm

http://www.highonhea...reat-your-acne/

You can find many more ill effects i™m too scared to post now. There is no credible reason for her to be bias, she has nothing to gain from lying to you. I don™t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist with dirty hair, but medical companies get money off this stuff and don™t think they care how they get it.

I definitely don't agree with this, I'm sure I can come up with a thing or 2 you can consume, but you definitely don't want to put on your face to fight acne. 

Come on now, you're not serious right? I don™t mean to be rude dude but OBVIOUSLY you don™t put something like a curry or fried eggs on as a topical treatment. You must realise that i meant stuff like lemons, ACV, Green tea.

Name some natural treatments" that™d kill you if you ate them that correspond with my simplified thesis of: if you can eat it, you can put it on your face

Oh there is almost always a purging period with these things. An initial breakout, just like accutane. But i™m willing to admit that green tea just isn™t for some.

Ultimately, topical treaments are not my Fort© . Acne Is an internal problem that needs to be adressed accordingly, in my opinion.

-Dan

I find it hard to believe that you haven't found any threads backing my points up, seeing as you are a moderator!

 

I never said that I haven't found any threads backing up your points, I see many threads backing up many points. That doesn't make them true for everybody.

1)No bp does not cause scarring if applied to unscathed skin, however, if you apply it to an open wound ( as id often the case) it is very likely to increase the scars size ect. One source: http://www.acne.org/...-acne-scarring/ First post

 

Applying BP to an open wound is not often the case, it's an exception. And it wasn't clear at all from your post that this only applied to BP in combination with open wounds. You said BP causes worse scarring. It doesn't. Obviously, it's not a good idea to apply BP to a wound.

2) Regaurding red marks: http://www.acne.org/...g-bp-over-them/ Just one source, i have found this to be true in my experience.

 

This is only confirming my point. As you said, just one source. Personal experience. Who knows what would have happened if s/he had left the red marks alone, or treated them with a different topical. You just can't say for sure that it's BP. Since you've only used BP for 10 weeks, it's very hard for me to believe that it prolongued your red marks for years. And honestly, I wouldn't know how BP could mess with cell turnover, as in delaying it. But yes, I've seen several threads about this issue, in my opinion it's more a matter of causation vs. correlation or not using BP right than anything. Except for people with dark(er) skin, if dark skin is irritated by BP, then it may prolong the duration of PIH.

3) Green tea is cheaper than benzyl peroxide, anyday anywhere. I™m not saying that you should buy some potion which you can only attain by wrestling a bear naked somewhere in Alaska. No, I™m saying use stuff that your body more adapted to. Like lemons. Cheap plentiful. And they adress the cause internally and externally, whilst fading red marks! With very few effects.

http://www.acne.org/...s/73/page1.html

http://www.acne.org/.../76/page19.html

Oh look 4.4 stars. You must admit thats impressive for a topical treatment which is cheaper than just about every other topical treatment out there. Just one many similar cheap natural treatments.

 

The issue here is, that in research, those natural agents are used in certain percentages and bases, and often it's just one active ingredient they're using, not the whole thing. Just putting a dozen of green tea bags in water doesn't mean you'll get the same results. Not to mention that the studies addressing acne were all small studies. The problem with this kind of research is, that manufacturers pick it up, fabricate some magical solution and sell it for a lot of money, trying to convince people with the (preliminary) research as their backup. Have you noticed the phrases "limited evidence", "may contribute", "seem to be", "potential", "needs more research", etc. in those studies? Believe me, I wish that something simple as green tea would solve everybody's acne problem, the fact is that it doesn't, unfortunately. As for the reviews: I'd like to know how long people have used it, if it has cleared their acne, and if they've used it together with other products.

I understand the frustration when it comes to acne. People want an istant overnight treatment and bp delivers. I loved the feeling of waking up to remarkably clear skin. My point being that because of this there is a certain bias towards bp. I personally think that if people stuck with the green tea or similar natural treatments they™d be more pleased with the results. Even if it isn™t an overnight cure.

One of the many reasons people shrug off natural topical treatments is often because they don't give it nearly enough time and they're skeptical about it in the first place. For example the green tea treatment was shown to reduce sebum production by "50%" but that was over the course of 8 weeks. Fair enough, seeing as there are no side effects there had to be a down side. The researchers were sure that this effect would grow more substantial with further treatment.

http://www.acneeinst...ea-treats-acne/

 

I agree that people are often way too quick to judge, and stop treatment when they should just continue it. That's why I tell everyone I coach to try a treatment for at least 3 months, which is hard enough, if after one month there doesn't seem to be any improvement at all (or their acne gets even worse). And have they tried... Just to conclude that where every natural treatment failed (including green tea and rooibos), BP did a much better job in less time. And -as I said in my previous post- not everybody does have positive experiences with green tea. That's not what research suggests, but it shows how complicated things are.

Don™t get me wrong, I don't hate bp, it did provide some relief for me in my early acne days. i'm sure you'll agree as time goes by, the acne starts to become more resilient and that bp starts to slowly damage your skin a lil' more every day. It get more and more irritated. Bp is good for the occasional spot but it's NOT good for your skin to use, say, every day for a year. I really don't mean to scare you guys but people just shouldn't rely on heavily, especially when there are other very promising treatments out there to try. Listen to this: "BP has been linked to cancer for a number of years and many research journal entries state "benzoyl peroxide is a free radical-generating skin tumor promoting agent."

http://www.skintacti...skin_damage.htm

http://www.highonhea...reat-your-acne/

You can find many more ill effects i™m too scared to post now. There is no credible reason for her to be bias, she has nothing to gain from lying to you. I don™t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist with dirty hair, but medical companies get money off this stuff and don™t think they care how they get it.

I definitely don't agree with this, I'm sure I can come up with a thing or 2 you can consume, but you definitely don't want to put on your face to fight acne. 

Come on now, you're not serious right? I don™t mean to be rude dude but OBVIOUSLY you don™t put something like a curry or fried eggs on as a topical treatment. You must realise that i meant stuff like lemons, ACV, Green tea.

Name some natural treatments" that™d kill you if you ate them that correspond with my simplified thesis of: if you can eat it, you can put it on your face

Oh there is almost always a purging period with these things. An initial breakout, just like accutane. But i™m willing to admit that green tea just isn™t for some.

Ultimately, topical treaments are not my Fort© . Acne Is an internal problem that needs to be adressed accordingly, in my opinion.

-Dan

 

Haha, of course it was ridiculous to say that you can't put everything you can eat on your face. Just as ridiculous as it is to say that BP is dangerous, bad, causes cancer, long-term damage, you name it. I just wanted to make clear that "natural" doesn't necessarily mean "good". In that respect, I don't agree at all that acne becomes more resiliant due to BP or that it damages your skin a little bit more everyday you use it. That's an opinion at best, there's no conclusive scientific evidence to back it up. Bloggers: yes, some science: yes (read those studies), but nothing conclusive at all. And it definitely doesn't correspond with my experiences. Then the links: Skintactix sells their own products, and I hope you've noticed that the FDA claim on their website is outdated (I wonder why it's still up there, after all these years...). Same for Highonhealth, the blogger behind this website sells her own ebooks and consultations, and she's all for treating acne holistically. Which is fine, but the same outdated claims are being used to tell people to not use BP. She also says (on that same page) to use the oil cleansing method. Several people have had really bad results from it. Maybe it didn't prolong their red marks, it gave them cystic acne instead. Yay... fwiw: I'm not biased either, I have nothing to gain or lose by telling you this. Moral of the story: not every treatment works for everybody, all-natural doesn't mean it's better per se.

I know it probably doesn't look like it, but I'm with you, as I too believe that acne is partially an internal problem for many people. But more often than not, addressing diet and lifestyle is just not enough. I don't care what people use, I just don't want them to avoid something that has the potential to clear them up, because of some broscience and outdated information. If green tea works for you: congrats! Every member who's able to clear up their acne (with whatever product or method they use) makes me a little bit happier

Oh, and...it's kind of funny that your name is Dan

Since you are discussing my blog posts here, perhaps I should also chime in

Hi AbyBar! I understand your scepticism, but the guy behind acneeinstein.com is indeed a respected member here, though he does sell his own method, based on a holistic approach. Not that that's a bad thing, but it puts things in perspective. He will never promote something like BP.

 

Since you are discussing my blog posts here, perhaps I should also chime in

Hi AbyBar! I understand your scepticism, but the guy behind acneeinstein.com is indeed a respected member here, though he does sell his own method, based on a holistic approach. Not that that's a bad thing, but it puts things in perspective. He will never promote something like BP.

 

Over the years I've become more skeptical and rational in my approach. I still like to rely as much as possible on natural solutions, but the hard reality is that 97%+ of what's promoted in alt-med and natural health websites is pure BS.

While I might not promote BP, I've come to think that it's good that we have it. When used properly it's one of the best anti-acne treatments currently available. Just recently I saw a study that showed the oxidative effect of BP actually mitigates the genetic problems in acne-prone skin by increasing Fox01 activity in the skin.

Of course BP can also irritate the skin and one has to be careful with it, but I think it has a place in acne treatment regimens.

Green tea looks promising, but the research is very preliminary, not comparable to all the research that was done on BP.

 

You would be surprised how little reserch there is even for BP. A while back I saw one systemic review of BP, and it concluded that most of the studies are small and of poor quality. I think it ended with the conclusion that there's insufficient evidence to recommend BP, ironic

Of course you are right that the studies in green tea are still preliminary. But I for one am not holding my breath that definitive studies would be conducted anytime soon.

The reason I write about green tea a lot are 1) it has a plausible mechanism to work (5-alpha reductase inhibitor) and anti-inflammatory, 2) it's been shown effective in several studies now (4 studies on acne, 1 on reducing sebum production and several for UV protective effect), 3) it's cheap to use.

But when I talk about green tea I don't mean that you should use it exclusively. I think it's much better idea to combine green tea with benzoyl peroxide. That's why I usually recommend following BP cream with green tea moisturizer.

Listen to this: "BP has been linked to cancer for a number of years and many research journal entries state "benzoyl peroxide is a free radical-generating skin tumor promoting agent."

http://www.skintacti...skin_damage.htm

http://www.highonhea...reat-your-acne/

You can find many more ill effects i™m too scared to post now. There is no credible reason for her to be bias, she has nothing to gain from lying to you. I don™t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist with dirty hair, but medical companies get money off this stuff and don™t think they care how they get it.

 

Actually, she has a very credible reason for bashing BP, ideological bias. As much as I agree that she's a good person with good intention (Fran) her posts filled with misinformation and scientific illiteracy, to the point where I get headache just from reading her posts now

Benzoyl peroxide is an 'evil chemical' that doesn't fit into her 'natural is best' and 'the way nature created us' bias. That's why she bashes it. If she were to do even a cursory research on BP causing cancer she would realize how wrong she is.

While it's theoretically possible for BP to cause cancer the studies that 'showed' this were done with animals using rather high doses and with substances that further increased the inflammatory and carcinogenic effect.

There is no credible data to show BP is dangerous to humans. In fact, I could even make the argument that BP can protect the skin. BP can actually reduce inflammation in the skin, by reducing bacterial counts and keeping the skin pores open. Who is to say that the constant inflammation from acne couldn't cause skin cancer? If so, then we could argue that by reducing acne BP may protect the skin from skin cancer. I'm not saying it does, but it's not a totally implausible argument.

 

Well there we go, case closed

Since you are discussing my blog posts here, perhaps I should also chime in

 

Haha, yes, you're famous, Seppo! Thanks for chiming in!

You would be surprised how little reserch there is even for BP. A while back I saw one systemic review of BP, and it concluded that most of the studies are small and of poor quality. I think it ended with the conclusion that there's insufficient evidence to recommend BP, ironic

 

I think I've read that review a couple of months ago (or at least the conclusion, since you had to buy the article itself and that wasn't exactly cheap). Wasn't it an evaluation of some 20+ clinical trials? There has been a similar review a couple of years ago, their conclusion was completely different, as it said (off the top of my head) that BP-containing products are important first-line treatments for acne. Anyway, I've lost count, but I've read many studies myself (obviously, several small ones and not all were of good quality), and when searching, I skimmed hundreds more. I wouldn't say that I've found insufficient evidence to recommend BP.

Other than this, I'm with you 100%. You're one of the very few people who's being rational when it comes to a holistic approach, instead of bashing everything that doesn't fit that description. I wish more holistic people were as realistic and not so fanatical. Obviously, if people can eliminate their acne by using green tea, that's awesome. The point I've been trying to make is that people can't just tell others to stop using BP (and even guarantee that green tea works at least as good or even better) without valid reasoning, scaring people away from a treatment that has proven itself for decades.

To sum it up: I don't have a problem when people offer (potential) alternatives, I do have a problem if they do so while using invalid arguments to get people to stop their current (proven) treatment. King Curtis (the OP) asked a simple question, and the first reply, no matter how well-intended, said to stop using BP, summing up side effects that have nothing much to to with BP (except dryness), and encouraging the OP to start using green tea, because it's "proven to be just as effective". I have no doubt that the intentions are good, but this happens all the time, and I'd like people to seperate the wheat from the chaff first. Especially since OP is probably going to stop BP now, while that may have cleared him up nicely, without (m)any side effects. People come here for advice on how to treat acne, not to be used as guinea pigs in all kinds of experiments. I'm sure you know what I mean, since you're also frequenting the nutrition & holistic health forum, where lousy argumentation and wearing winkers seem to be the standard for many

WELCOME TO THE BROTHERHOOD OF BP

Yes its normal for your face to feel itchy and you should feel a slight burning sensation sometimes but it will go away once your skin becomes accustomed to benzoyl peroxide

I think I've read that review a couple of months ago (or at least the conclusion, since you had to buy the article itself and that wasn't exactly cheap). Wasn't it an evaluation of some 20+ clinical trials? There has been a similar review a couple of years ago, their conclusion was completely different, as it said (off the top of my head) that BP-containing products are important first-line treatments for acne. Anyway, I've lost count, but I've read many studies myself (obviously, several small ones and not all were of good quality), and when searching, I skimmed hundreds more. I wouldn't say that I've found insufficient evidence to recommend BP

 

You might as well be correct in this. I haven't looked at details about BP research. I just saw tthat study in my RSS feed and looked itt over. I got the impression from that study that that the evidence is quite limited and mostly compromising lower quality studies, but I may be wrong with this.

Of course there are quite a few studies where BP is compared to antibiotics or administered in combination with them.

So for sure not arguing that there's no evidence for BP or that it shouldn't be used. It's proven quite effective in clinical use.

I also wish more people in the natural health section would put on their thinking caps. Rampant nonsense and hatred of science is one reason I'm starting to really hate natural health.

Of course I can't blame them too much, since there was a time when my thinking cap was nowhere to be found. The movement somehow discourages critical thinking and impartial evaluation of evidence. But that's really not that relevant for this discussion.

Glad to hear we see eye to eye