Firstly, PIH is not in the outer most layers of your skin, it's deeper. So yes it is true that we shed skin daily, it falls off naturally or we manually exfoliate with scrubs and creams. This daily exfoliation is the stratum corneum (dead skin cells) and is not where your redness lies, which is much deeper in your skin.

To get to the root of your redness (PIH) you need to use something that stimulates the deeper layers of your skin. Personally I absolutely hate BP and would never recommend it to anyone. For me it made my acne spots better, sure, but the redness and dryness lasted for ages. My skin was always tender to the touch and I couldn't keep my oil levels under control properly. It was a total mess. I also strongly believe that my use of BP contributed to the level of scarring I ended up with as although my active acne spots seemed to dry out quickly, the mark left behind by them took way longer to heal.

My recommendation? Retin-A. Bin that BP and switch to something that is essential for your skin's health. Some common brands are Stieva-A, Airol, Avita or Renova. I personally use a super strength one made by Dermaquest which you cannot buy over the shelf. But any Retin-A is better than that BP!

Retin-A will make your skin dry and flaky for the first week of use but this is a good thing. It rapidly speeds up the exfoliation process (the stratum corneum) and then gets to work with the deeper layers. Stieva-A is not expensive! I think you should quit using the BP for a while and try it. Redness will still take a while to disappear though so be patient.

I seriously think BP impedes the skins natural ability to heal to.. When i started using a BP wash i noticed that i got fewer spots, however the pay off was that the marks from ones that did come through or old marks seemed to linger..

I think healthy skin needs to be moisturised, if you find wearing a moisturiser too thick or heavy during the day, save it for night time.

I have noticed my skin heals smoother and faster using an anti oxidant moisturiser, however if i wear too much it can clog up pores here and there, (this is what i believe) so i am saving it for night time then washing it off in the morning.

Yes! I second the use of a good moisturiser and a good sunscreen, every day. If you can get both in one, even better!

Firstly, PIH is not in the outer most layers of your skin, it's deeper. So yes it is true that we shed skin daily, it falls off naturally or we manually exfoliate with scrubs and creams. This daily exfoliation is the stratum corneum (dead skin cells) and is not where your redness lies, which is much deeper in your skin.

To get to the root of your redness (PIH) you need to use something that stimulates the deeper layers of your skin. Personally I absolutely hate BP and would never recommend it to anyone. For me it made my acne spots better, sure, but the redness and dryness lasted for ages. My skin was always tender to the touch and I couldn't keep my oil levels under control properly. It was a total mess. I also strongly believe that my use of BP contributed to the level of scarring I ended up with as although my active acne spots seemed to dry out quickly, the mark left behind by them took way longer to heal.

My recommendation? Retin-A. Bin that BP and switch to something that is essential for your skin's health. Some common brands are Stieva-A, Airol, Avita or Renova. I personally use a super strength one made by Dermaquest which you cannot buy over the shelf. But any Retin-A is better than that BP!

Retin-A will make your skin dry and flaky for the first week of use but this is a good thing. It rapidly speeds up the exfoliation process (the stratum corneum) and then gets to work with the deeper layers. Stieva-A is not expensive! I think you should quit using the BP for a while and try it. Redness will still take a while to disappear though so be patient.

Thanks a lot for your reply, i honestly couldn't ask for a better answer. I love how benzoyl peroxide works and when it works for me, my skin is 99% clear. I never really had any flakiness or redness even without moisturizer, but that is somewhat related to the oily skin i have. I am currently 19 years old which is why i have overactive oil glands and acne to begin with. I have used benzoyl peroxide since 16 years old and only stopped using it for two months in the start of 2013 (January. February). I stopped using the benzoyl peroxide on my face in January to see if i would stop getting acne but it turned out it has not changed at all.

I wen't back to the dermatologist and was prescribed minocycline, benzamycin and a generic brand of tretinion. I have horrible back acne and the oral antibiotics helped with that and the benzamycin cleared my face pretty good but i have horrible red marks left from previous acne spots. The weird thing is that just 2-3 years ago i never had any hyperpigmentation. I am not certain if it is just due to aging or if it is related to the use of benzoyl peroxide the past 3 years.

Thanks a lot for the information, i was completly unaware that acne marks were caused in the dermis. People always told me it was caused in the epidermis. Also Is it bad to use benzoyl peroxide and tretinoin at the same time?

I seriously think BP impedes the skins natural ability to heal to.. When i started using a BP wash i noticed that i got fewer spots, however the pay off was that the marks from ones that did come through or old marks seemed to linger..

I think healthy skin needs to be moisturised, if you find wearing a moisturiser too thick or heavy during the day, save it for night time.

I have noticed my skin heals smoother and faster using an anti oxidant moisturiser, however if i wear too much it can clog up pores here and there, (this is what i believe) so i am saving it for night time then washing it off in the morning.

Do you know of any true evidence that benzoyl peroxide could possibly slow down the healing process? I would really like to know why my skin became like this. I'm not sure if it is due to aging or my skin regimen.

Firstly, PIH is not in the outer most layers of your skin, it's deeper. So yes it is true that we shed skin daily, it falls off naturally or we manually exfoliate with scrubs and creams. This daily exfoliation is the stratum corneum (dead skin cells) and is not where your redness lies, which is much deeper in your skin.

To get to the root of your redness (PIH) you need to use something that stimulates the deeper layers of your skin. Personally I absolutely hate BP and would never recommend it to anyone. For me it made my acne spots better, sure, but the redness and dryness lasted for ages. My skin was always tender to the touch and I couldn't keep my oil levels under control properly. It was a total mess. I also strongly believe that my use of BP contributed to the level of scarring I ended up with as although my active acne spots seemed to dry out quickly, the mark left behind by them took way longer to heal.

My recommendation? Retin-A. Bin that BP and switch to something that is essential for your skin's health. Some common brands are Stieva-A, Airol, Avita or Renova. I personally use a super strength one made by Dermaquest which you cannot buy over the shelf. But any Retin-A is better than that BP!

Retin-A will make your skin dry and flaky for the first week of use but this is a good thing. It rapidly speeds up the exfoliation process (the stratum corneum) and then gets to work with the deeper layers. Stieva-A is not expensive! I think you should quit using the BP for a while and try it. Redness will still take a while to disappear though so be patient.

Thanks a lot for your reply, i honestly couldn't ask for a better answer. I love how benzoyl peroxide works and when it works for me, my skin is 99% clear. I never really had any flakiness or redness even without moisturizer, but that is somewhat related to the oily skin i have. I am currently 19 years old which is why i have overactive oil glands and acne to begin with. I have used benzoyl peroxide since 16 years old and only stopped using it for two months in the start of 2013 (January. February). I stopped using the benzoyl peroxide on my face in January to see if i would stop getting acne but it turned out it has not changed at all.

I wen't back to the dermatologist and was prescribed minocycline, benzamycin and a generic brand of tretinion. I have horrible back acne and the oral antibiotics helped with that and the benzamycin cleared my face pretty good but i have horrible red marks left from previous acne spots. The weird thing is that just 2-3 years ago i never had any hyperpigmentation. I am not certain if it is just due to aging or if it is related to the use of benzoyl peroxide the past 3 years.

Thanks a lot for the information, i was completly unaware that acne marks were caused in the dermis. People always told me it was caused in the epidermis. Also Is it bad to use benzoyl peroxide and tretinoin at the same time?

>I seriously think BP impedes the skins natural ability to heal to.. When i started using a BP wash i noticed that i got fewer spots, however the pay off was that the marks from ones that did come through or old marks seemed to linger..

I think healthy skin needs to be moisturised, if you find wearing a moisturiser too thick or heavy during the day, save it for night time.

I have noticed my skin heals smoother and faster using an anti oxidant moisturiser, however if i wear too much it can clog up pores here and there, (this is what i believe) so i am saving it for night time then washing it off in the morning.

Do you know of any true evidence that benzoyl peroxide could possibly slow down the healing process? I would really like to know why my skin became like this. I'm not sure if it is due to aging or my skin regimen.

I dont actually know of any hard scientific evidence no.. so i could be very wrong. However it would be great to know, if on a scientific way that it does indeed impede it.

I think its a combination of factors, but mainly it being that it dries the skin out, and skin cannot heal when its dry and course, furthermore when we age the skin loses its moisture retention and slows down oil production.. so add those in the mix and what happens?... slow healing!

Yes! I second the use of a good moisturiser and a good sunscreen, every day. If you can get both in one, even better!

Finding a moisturizer without the harmful ingredients is SUPER HARD.

I mean neutrogena, eucerin, cetaphil, etc. they all have ingredients that we are supposed to be avoiding.

I found one interesting moisturizer.

http://www.live-clean.com/products/fresh%20face/soothing%20daily%20moisturizer

It's live cleans soothing daily moisturizer.

I dont know if it's good or not.

Do you think this is good and safe?

Firstly, PIH is not in the outer most layers of your skin, it's deeper. So yes it is true that we shed skin daily, it falls off naturally or we manually exfoliate with scrubs and creams. This daily exfoliation is the stratum corneum (dead skin cells) and is not where your redness lies, which is much deeper in your skin.

To get to the root of your redness (PIH) you need to use something that stimulates the deeper layers of your skin. Personally I absolutely hate BP and would never recommend it to anyone. For me it made my acne spots better, sure, but the redness and dryness lasted for ages. My skin was always tender to the touch and I couldn't keep my oil levels under control properly. It was a total mess. I also strongly believe that my use of BP contributed to the level of scarring I ended up with as although my active acne spots seemed to dry out quickly, the mark left behind by them took way longer to heal.

My recommendation? Retin-A. Bin that BP and switch to something that is essential for your skin's health. Some common brands are Stieva-A, Airol, Avita or Renova. I personally use a super strength one made by Dermaquest which you cannot buy over the shelf. But any Retin-A is better than that BP!

Retin-A will make your skin dry and flaky for the first week of use but this is a good thing. It rapidly speeds up the exfoliation process (the stratum corneum) and then gets to work with the deeper layers. Stieva-A is not expensive! I think you should quit using the BP for a while and try it. Redness will still take a while to disappear though so be patient.

Thanks a lot for your reply, i honestly couldn't ask for a better answer. I love how benzoyl peroxide works and when it works for me, my skin is 99% clear. I never really had any flakiness or redness even without moisturizer, but that is somewhat related to the oily skin i have. I am currently 19 years old which is why i have overactive oil glands and acne to begin with. I have used benzoyl peroxide since 16 years old and only stopped using it for two months in the start of 2013 (January. February). I stopped using the benzoyl peroxide on my face in January to see if i would stop getting acne but it turned out it has not changed at all.

I wen't back to the dermatologist and was prescribed minocycline, benzamycin and a generic brand of tretinion. I have horrible back acne and the oral antibiotics helped with that and the benzamycin cleared my face pretty good but i have horrible red marks left from previous acne spots. The weird thing is that just 2-3 years ago i never had any hyperpigmentation. I am not certain if it is just due to aging or if it is related to the use of benzoyl peroxide the past 3 years.

Thanks a lot for the information, i was completly unaware that acne marks were caused in the dermis. People always told me it was caused in the epidermis. Also Is it bad to use benzoyl peroxide and tretinoin at the same time?

>I seriously think BP impedes the skins natural ability to heal to.. When i started using a BP wash i noticed that i got fewer spots, however the pay off was that the marks from ones that did come through or old marks seemed to linger..

I think healthy skin needs to be moisturised, if you find wearing a moisturiser too thick or heavy during the day, save it for night time.

I have noticed my skin heals smoother and faster using an anti oxidant moisturiser, however if i wear too much it can clog up pores here and there, (this is what i believe) so i am saving it for night time then washing it off in the morning.

Do you know of any true evidence that benzoyl peroxide could possibly slow down the healing process? I would really like to know why my skin became like this. I'm not sure if it is due to aging or my skin regimen.

I dont actually know of any hard scientific evidence no.. so i could be very wrong. However it would be great to know, if on a scientific way that it does indeed impede it.

I think its a combination of factors, but mainly it being that it dries the skin out, and skin cannot heal when its dry and course, furthermore when we age the skin loses its moisture retention and slows down oil production.. so add those in the mix and what happens?... slow healing!

I definately started using a moisturizer since i discovered this website. Some situations i will avoid using it if i notice my skin is very oily. My skin feels much more smoother when i user a moisturizer

Retin-A is good but it might be irritating to your skin Differin is gentler and I dont think you need to be aggressive to use Retin-A . Combine BP with Differin use Differin in the night and BP in the morning. If you dont have pimples anymore you can just use Differin to keep them pores clean and unclogged in the same time it will fade them scares aswell.