Hey I didn't use the regimen, but I've been using epiduo for almost 5 weeks now and the same happened to me. By the 4th week I was SO happy, but all of a sudden I too am breaking out in random areas and its so disheartening :/ I'm 22 female as well.. So I'm looking for the same feedback you are! Fingers crossed girl..

perhaps you're using too much BP at once and your skin is not use to the treatment yet? I would try half a pump morning and night for a week and see how your skin reacts. If it still seems irritated and you have more acne flare ups, you may consider trying an alternative treatment.

Hey I didn't use the regimen, but I've been using epiduo for almost 5 weeks now and the same happened to me. By the 4th week I was SO happy, but all of a sudden I too am breaking out in random areas and its so disheartening :/ I'm 22 female as well.. So I'm looking for the same feedback you are! Fingers crossed girl..

 

Oh no! I know it can be very frustrating, I'm going to the doctors today to get blood work done to see if I have a hormone imbalance or deficiency of some sort, good luck!

perhaps you're using too much BP at once and your skin is not use to the treatment yet? I would try half a pump morning and night for a week and see how your skin reacts. If it still seems irritated and you have more acne flare ups, you may consider trying an alternative treatment.

 

Maybe, but overall my skin doesn't seem to be that irritated ever since I switched to the cetaphil moisturizer, It really just the breakout that is bothering me the most, have you had any methods that worked for you?

For some reason the acne.org moisturizer stung and irritated my skin as well. So while on the acne.org regimen, I switched to cetaphil's moisturizer which worked really well. Unfortunately, the acne.org regimen has become too harsh on my sensitive skin after using for a few years, so I've had to change up my skincare routine. Right now I'm using the cerave PM moisturizer which feels really nice on my face and not greasy like with the cetaphil moisturizer.

Keep going!

On my 3rd-4th week I was still experiencing cystic breakouts and my skin was still red and itchy and flakey. I've read that some people experience this until their 6th-7th week. Just keep going! I was thinking about quitting a month into the regimen too, but here I am, with the clearest skin I've had in such a long time.

Yur going to break out and clear up and break out for a few months. I wouldn't quit if I were u. It says u will break out until about 3 months. I am in week 7 and still breaking out.

I'm with the majority here, don't quit yet. I've talked to people who were still breaking out in their 5th month and about to give up, only to clear up a month later. Hang in there! If you never get acne in certain areas, then simply don't apply BP there (you don't take an aspirin to prevent a possible headache). Good luck!

I'm with the majority here, don't quit yet. I've talked to people who were still breaking out in their 5th month and about to give up, only to clear up a month later. Hang in there! If you never get acne in certain areas, then simply don't apply BP there (you don't take an aspirin to prevent a possible headache). Good luck!

I have to disagree with this. There is a reason the instructions for the regimen tell you to put it ALL over your face. Please trust me on this, I've experimented with this a lot over the 3 different periods I did the regimen and have found it true every time.

1) Your skin has to normalize to the BP. By putting uneven amounts on different parts of the face, certain areas are not getting enough exposure and will react with redness/pain/dryness if you DO need to put BP there one day.

2) In my experience (and from what I've been reading, others have experienced the same thing), if you don't medicate the whole face, the cysts will simply move to the unmedicated areas. When I first began doing the regimen this time around, I tried doing it on my chin only, where the majority of my cystic acne had been for months. As soon as I began medicating that area, guess what happened? My cheeks exploded in cysts... I hadn't had cysts there in months and months...

It may depend on the type of acne you have, but me and others with the severe/cystic type have experienced the acne "running" from where you apply the BP like this. Therefore, if you ignore certain clear areas, and then it all moves there, you are going to be dealing not only with cystic acne but also tons of flaking, redness, and dryness.

Don't change the regimen. Do it as instructed. This isn't like aspirin for a headache. BP is a preventative measure.

Hey deja! That's ok, you may disagree. From my experience, it makes no sense nor has it shown any benefits to use BP on areas where you never get acne, unless you want to use it as a preventative measure. But what's there to prevent if you have never had an issue there? Some of the people I'm coaching only apply it to their problem areas and that works very well. Obviously, your experience (and that of some others) are different, but OP has applied it everywhere and broke out in cysts. Your theory of acne moving from a treated part to an untreated part, no matter how interesting, does therefore not apply to her. If I'm not mistaken, even Dan only uses it on his chin, because it's the only area where he gets breakouts.

I did the EXACT same thing... flake out that is. I didn't quit and neither should you.

I have all the information you'll ever need right here:

I also have an entire album dedicated to Dan's regime. You may or may not see the flakiness. Here:

BEST OF LUCK!!!

Hey deja! That's ok, you may disagree. From my experience, it makes no sense nor has it shown any benefits to use BP on areas where you never get acne, unless you want to use it as a preventative measure. But what's there to prevent if you have never had an issue there? Some of the people I'm coaching only apply it to their problem areas and that works very well. Obviously, your experience (and that of some others) are different, but OP has applied it everywhere and broke out in cysts. Your theory of acne moving from a treated part to an untreated part, no matter how interesting, does therefore not apply to her. If I'm not mistaken, even Dan only uses it on his chin, because it's the only area where he gets breakouts.

Yeah, basically your way is right IF the person is absolutely, 100000 % sure that they never, ever break out on another part of the face. I agree that if you're totally sure, it would be better to only use BP on that area. I don't think most people's acne behaves this way, though. It might be a different type of acne.

(I sure wish science, would, you know, STUDY this stuff. Imagine what we could learn if we had detailed information about all the different types of acne and how it behaved? There are probably hundreds of different manifestations of this condition).

deja

 

I'm with the majority here, don't quit yet. I've talked to people who were still breaking out in their 5th month and about to give up, only to clear up a month later. Hang in there! If you never get acne in certain areas, then simply don't apply BP there (you don't take an aspirin to prevent a possible headache). Good luck!

I have to disagree with this. There is a reason the instructions for the regimen tell you to put it ALL over your face. Please trust me on this, I've experimented with this a lot over the 3 different periods I did the regimen and have found it true every time.

1) Your skin has to normalize to the BP. By putting uneven amounts on different parts of the face, certain areas are not getting enough exposure and will react with redness/pain/dryness if you DO need to put BP there one day.

2) In my experience (and from what I've been reading, others have experienced the same thing), if you don't medicate the whole face, the cysts will simply move to the unmedicated areas. When I first began doing the regimen this time around, I tried doing it on my chin only, where the majority of my cystic acne had been for months. As soon as I began medicating that area, guess what happened? My cheeks exploded in cysts... I hadn't had cysts there in months and months...

It may depend on the type of acne you have, but me and others with the severe/cystic type have experienced the acne "running" from where you apply the BP like this. Therefore, if you ignore certain clear areas, and then it all moves there, you are going to be dealing not only with cystic acne but also tons of flaking, redness, and dryness.

Don't change the regimen. Do it as instructed. This isn't like aspirin for a headache. BP is a preventative measure.

^ But that doesn't mean that the same thing will happen to everyone else, or that putting BP on problem areas only has anything to do with it. It doesn't from my experience. So whether or not your theory of breaking out in untreated areas is due to not applying BP, it's not true for the OP, since she has treated that area and still broke out.

Yeah, basically your way is right IF the person is absolutely, 100000 % sure that they never, ever break out on another part of the face. I agree that if you're totally sure, it would be better to only use BP on that area. I don't think most people's acne behaves this way, though. It might be a different type of acne.

(I sure wish science, would, you know, STUDY this stuff. Imagine what we could learn if we had detailed information about all the different types of acne and how it behaved? There are probably hundreds of different manifestations of this condition).

^ But that doesn't mean that the same thing will happen to everyone else, or that putting BP on problem areas only has anything to do with it. It doesn't from my experience. So whether or not your theory of breaking out in untreated areas is due to not applying BP, it's not true for the OP, since she has treated that area and still broke out.

Yeah, basically your way is right IF the person is absolutely, 100000 % sure that they never, ever break out on another part of the face. I agree that if you're totally sure, it would be better to only use BP on that area. I don't think most people's acne behaves this way, though. It might be a different type of acne.

(I sure wish science, would, you know, STUDY this stuff. Imagine what we could learn if we had detailed information about all the different types of acne and how it behaved? There are probably hundreds of different manifestations of this condition).

I know, deja, it's hard to be sure whether or not something you're doing (or not doing) will surely attribute to acne. One of the people I'm coaching never got acne on her forehead. So I told her not to apply BP there. But she broke out there about a month later. I asked her if she had changed anything in her skin care routine and she said she hadn't. A week later, it turned out she has been using a different shampoo and introduced a hair spray. Once she stopped using them, her forehead acne subsided. Only one example where someone blamed BP, but it had nothing at all to do with worsening their acne. It's just so incredibly difficult to tell whether or not something will work for someone. And why. I too wish that science would have all the answers, but unfortunately it doesn't. I hope your course is going well, though!

Ah yes. So frustrating. I'm doing a lot better, thanks. Acne is still...acne. But I'm doing way better with my obsessing about it and eating issues for sure.

I barely just started the regimen and i to have had some big cystic like bump around my

My mouth and forehead which is not usually where i breakout but i noticed they subsided and dried out quicker once i used the regimen again.

I hope i dont breakout more! Especially around my mouth but from what i hear it takes 3-4 months results and your skin to adjust to the regimen. Wishing luck that the breakouts stop!

Are you still on the regimen? If you're looking for advice... I did it for a year or two. It did clear me up. It also made my skin really dry and irritated, though. However, when I started getting hormonal acne on my cheeks BP stopped working. Hormonal acne just can't be controlled with BP. You just try your skin out and make it worse! It also does NOT work well on cystic. Go to the derm. Try a retinoid or aczone. Or ask about spironolactone. I've heard that gives people success. Know when to move on! Also, I think the reason the regimen works for some is not because of the shitload of bp people have to use, but rather, because of the focus on gentleness and routine. People have to use the product consistently, which people don't usually do with BP. In fact, physicians have a really hard time getting people to stick to acne medication and use it properly. I think you could tone down the dosage to a thin layer all over your face. If you used it consistently, I think it would still work. Actually, I know it would work. I've brought my forehead back into control that way before. If you're getting cystic acne around your chin, please give up on the bp. It's NOT going to control cystic acne.

That said, I'm glad I did the regimen. It not only cleared my forehead acne, but it showed me the importance of having a regimen, using medication properly, and easing into things gradually. It showed me that just because I'm frustrated with my acne doesn't mean I should take my frustration out on my skin by irritating it or giving up! It also showed me the importance of the timing part of any regimen and sticking with it for 3 or 4 months!