Proactiv Solution : Acne Treatment System

The system worked perfectly fine until my skin got used to it and ultimately produced an excessive amount of oil, and now my face shines and I continue to struggle with more acne breakouts! Aside from the lotion, the product reaked of excessive oilyness and just made my skin more oily than it already is. It worked for the first few weeks but after a while it stops!! It's EXPENSIVE and it irritated my skin! If you have mild acne or moderate I would recommend it but don't be surprised if you get hit with cystic acne. be prepared.

At age 17, I was still on antibiotics for back acne (figured sports was the cause). I never broke out on my face but had little bumps on my forehead and upper cheeks. The dermatologist gave me a topical prescription (can't remember, long time ago) and told me to clean my face with a light cleanser such as cetaphil. The cetaphil cleanser barely removed any make-up and left a residue on skin. It wasn't really helping the bumps. I saw the proactiv commercial and decided to try it and my friend loved it. After the first week, it was very drying but cleared up the bumps. I think within a month or two my skin was pretty much clear besides a few red marks from the product bringing a some pimples out. It worked great through my senior year and my first half year at college. Around the end of my freshman year, I started to get cystic acne on my chin. I thought maybe it might've been from hormonal medication. I stopped the medication and went to the dermatologist. The derm told me that proactiv was too harsh for my skin. He gave me antibiotics and told me to use a gentle cleanser. I tried Cerave with tretonin topical cream. It took a year to work and I broke out after make-up applications. (Skin sensitivity?) Try Proactiv again because I missed being completely clear. First few days my skin felt great; I was still breaking out while old ones healed which I was expecting for the first few weeks. My chin started getting bumps. After three and half weeks my chin broke out in full cystic acne that was painful. It started to spread to my cheeks. (I was only getting one or two pimples on Cerave.) After I stopped Proactiv and switched to Clean and Clear gentle antibacterial foaming wash, no new pimples and the old infected ones are trying to heal. My mom only uses Dove soap, my sister Clean and Clear, my boyfriend Dial, my girlfriend shampoo. (They have very little skin problems) Maybe I was doing too much and irritating my skin

I've been off of proactiv for almost two months. Once I stopped using proactiv my face cleared up! It makes me sick how much money I wasted on this stupid product!

I first started using it at 16 and it cleared out all my white-heads and pimples. I saw results in a few weeks and I never stopped using it night and day for 2 years. But after I hit 18, for some reason, my Proactive just stopped working. I don't know if it's because of stress, or my skin had gotten used to it, or if there was a formula change. I quit, but since this product had served me so well over the past years, I might try it again in the future after trying out other products. I think maybe I needed to use more of the product since I consistently used the same amount as I did when I first started using it.

Don't buy. Go with the regimen.

I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone. It really doesn't work and is rather expensive. Trying to cancel was a huge hassle, as I had to deal with an offshore call center that insisted I just needed to try the sensitive skin version of the product. It took 30 minutes on the phone to cancel my account.

I have been using Proactiv on and off for 5 years. I am fifteen. At the moment, I have been consistently using it for the past 9 months. First off, my skin is far too sensitive for this product. I can only use it at night because of the severe rash-like redness it causes my skin, and I would not go into public like that. In the morning, however, my pimple size is reduced, but my pore size is huge and I feel very oily. I also have scars from past acne damage, but Proactiv does not help me with that, either. I feel like my acne should be getting better by now, but it stays pretty much the same, and I had only light to moderate acne to begin with. The reason I contiue using Proactiv is because I hear it's the best thing out there, but I'm not really getting those results. Is there no hope for my skin?

I've been going through a lot of stress with school and personal matters and its manifested itself on my face in moderate acne. I looked to proactive to help clear up my skin, and remember using it in highschool and it did a wonderful job. However, I didn't have the same luck with it this time around. I have very oily skin, and since it is so harsh and drying, it will strip ALL the essential oils away from your skin, leaving your skin even oilier, since its trying to overproduce to make up for lost oil. It cleared up a few areas that I was having problems with, but it hasn't stopped new ones from forming. I'm still dealing with the problem. The worst part about this system, is that it does not leave your skin, looking beautiful, clear and healthy. The harsh chemicals just make it look dull and irritated and in my case a lot more oilier. I am starting to use other face wash, toner and moisturizer and use the 3 step treatment ONLY on the actual pimple because I would seriously rather have healthy looking skin with a few pimples I can cover with makeup, than flakey, oil, dull and grey skin! All in all, I would say find another treatment, it is HARSH on skin, might clear up a little acne but leaves your skin looking horrible!

My skin immediately improved once I finally trusted my gut instinct and stopped using proactiv. Never will I buy it again.

Do not use. Spent more money trying to get my skin back to normal, and had to pay for shipping on product I returned