Hey guys,
My story:
Been suffering from mild/moderate acne since i was about 15, went to the derma as is got a bit worse about a year an a half ago, first he recommended taking some antibiotics, which got me clear for only about one week. Acne came back as before. His second recommendation was taking Accutane over the winter. I already had the pills at home but before I would take them I read alot about it, discovering people who really got bad side effetcs phyisical as well as psychological.
Without telling the derma I decided not to take Accutane and try something else first. I was also frustrated because he only told me about the smaller side effects such as dry lips.
So about a year ago I found the Regimen on the Internet and decided to give it a try.
Currently I am using Cordes 3% BPO, Louis Widmer Cleansing Foam, and Avene Clean AC.
I was also experimenting with other Cleansers and Moisturizer but the combination above seems to be the best for me as it does not dry out my skin to drastically and does not make my face red at all (well the first month it did but then my skin got used to the treatment)
So after a year of using the Regimen my opinion is diversed:
There were times where I got completly clear for about 2 weeks, and times where it does not seem to have any effect at all.
It is just a continously up and down for me. Some weeks it is better some weeks it is worse. But the pimples keep coming and going.
Additionally I always tried as hard to keep the interval between morning an evening at 10-12 hours + eating healthy food.
At the moment my skin looks pretty good, about 2 active pimples but LOTS of read spots from previous ones (does not bother me too much).
The frustrating thing is that I just can not get completely clear, and I am afraid if I quit BPO it will only get worse.
As BPO is a chemical i really want to take it as short as possible to not harm my skin but at the moment I dont think how to move on without it. I already feel bad for taking it for a year (only applied it at night on summer holiday for 2 weeks but thats it, I never got away from it)
Still afraid of Accutane Side effects so thats not really an option.
Any recommendations from you guys ?
Greetings from Germany,
Peter
I sort of kind of had the same thing. I never really had "acne", just suffered from the odd pimple about 2-3x a month, but it always left the brown dark spot afterwards so I went on Bp to prevent it all together, I was still breaking out after 2 months. Considering I had very mild breakouts I don't think it should of taken that long to prevent them, it SHOULD of prevented it. I decided bp wasn't for me, it dried me out horribly, and it was all for nothing, so I quit and researched a lot of other alternative, came across tea tree oil. Mind you i've only been using it for a little while, but this stuff works! It's potent enough to get under all the layers of the skin, gets rid of cystic acne, and works like a charm on normal incoming pimples, I can already see a Difference and I can't wait to see my skin a month from now, please look into tea tree oil, it can do wonders for your skin. I'm totally against anti-biotics, especially accutane. I'm aware some people may need it, but if you can go for other natural remedies and have them work for you, more power to you! Antibiotics aren't good for your body in the long run.
I've had great success with following the regimen and I'm completely clear and remain so for a year now. I'm now 40 years old and clear for the first time since I was 14. I think the trick with the regimen is to not adjust it in any way until you are completely clear and then experiment with reducing applications etc. I followed it precisely for 5 months and got clear, and I now only apply BP at night without any adverse reactions or breakouts.
Perhaps if you tried following Dan's regimen exactly as he describes (eg, BP twice a day at a 2.5% strength etc) you may find that it gets you completely clear. I know that you have some concerns about using chemicals on your face long term, but unfortunately chemicals are a fact of life in our day and age and surely a topical treatment is less harmful than accutane?
Good luck with whatever you decide and I hope you eventually get clear 