Hi, I am 26yo male. I have been using La Roche Posay Effeclar duo Benzyol Peroxide for a few years. Before starting the regimen, my acne was very mild. I had grown out of the worst of my teenage acne by that point. I guess I wanted perfection. For the past few years, using BP, my skin has been relatively clear, but I now have fine lines and sun damage due to the BP. So, a few months ago, I decided to quit BP cold turkey (not realizing that was a horrible idea). My skin has been getting worse and worse. It is now worse than it has ever been. My forehead, jawline, chin, around my mouth, and cheeks. I'm now using cerave foaming face wash to cleanse and tea tree oil mixed with witch hazel and rose water as a toner, and a cetaphil moisturizing lotion. I was wondering if anyone has had this problem, and how long the BP withdrawal/ breakout lasted? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? I wish I never started using the BP in the first place, and want the skin I had before I started. Help!
Hmm I used to be on prescribed BP in the form of Benzaclin for many years. If I didn't have a prescription, I'd alternate with Dan's BP. For the most part, it helped suppress breakouts and like you, I felt that I wanted better skin without needing to rely on BP. I think the last time I used it was... 2014? Since then, I've been sticking to tea tree oil which is supposed to be less harsh and because it's natural, it won't cause long term damage. The transition was a little rough at first as I was breaking out like crazy but after a while it calmed down but to this day I'm still trying to find my miracle cure as nothing so far (derms, over-the-counter, proactiv, etc) has not helped. Right now I'm using an oil cleansing regime and while my breakouts are not as severe, they're still there. As my current replacement of BP, I simply use lavender oil mixed into my oil cleansing.
If you've been using BP for years and transition out of it, it's certainly gonna take some time to see a positive adjustment especially depending upon your habits. My habits are very inconsistent which is probably why I still breakout even at 31 but I feel like I'm going in the right direction... hopefully. Hope this helps.
BP is an anti inflammatory. You should think of it like a fire hose on a fire - if the fire is small it can put it out butit keeps the fire at bay if the fire is beyond its capacity.
Your fire was small before but got big. The root cause is what you need to identify. Please read about demodex and how it is treated by topical ZZ cream, topical/oral ivermectin, topical/oral metrinadazole. Demodex is seen as the source of acne in the vast majority of post-pubertal acne by Eastern medicine practitioners
