Ziana : Clindamycin (1.2%) and Tretinoin (.025%) Gel

Ziana definitely attacks acne, but there is a huge catch. I was initially prescribed Ziana to cure the whiteheads and blackheads that were stubbornly appearing on my forehead. For that, it worked great. In fact, I should have used it for solely that purpose. In a follow up appointment, my dermatologist recommended it for my whole face. Bad idea. I had pretty mild acne on my cheeks and chin, but this stuff made it a whole new ballgame. I am just weening myself off this stuff and realizing that it made my acne worse in these areas. Might as well have not used anything. Good drug for what I said it cured, but otherwise, forget it. On paper a combination of retinoid + antibiotic should work well, but for whatever reason the results for this medication are mediocre. That's pretty much the gist of it.

My acne was bad and got progressively worse after I started this medication. I have HUGE bumps on my cheeks and jawline that make up draws more attention to. It's only been a few weeks but I don't see any improvements. My doctor said the cocktail I'm on (Doxycycline, Clenia and Ziana) will get worse because its "flushing the impurities to the surface". This is my 3rd time on this medication, all my doctors insist on giving it to me, after I've said time and time again that it didn't work.

Its okay but not great.

For a prescription acne medication I feel it falls under par due to it's side effects. It makes the skin flaky and doesn't look good at all. Being a guy I don't wear coverup or anything so it looks just as bad as the zits. Made my face really red too for some reason. Try something else before using this, something gentler.

Every morning when I woke up and looked in the mirror, where i put the ziana gel i saw a glossy shine covering it, pretty much clogging pores. After 2 weeks, I actually noticed a pretty substantial improvement :) (this was also while taking Solodyn). However, about 5 weeks in, my skin plummeted to levels un-seen before. I had worse acne then I ever had. I got humongous white heads and even a few cystic like pimples. I immediately stopped using it and proceeded to use a very drying face soap (due to intensified levels of oil) and i used bactroban cream as a spot treatment. It luckily cleared ziana's mess. So I wouldn't really recommened this.

I gave this product a rating of two instead of one because yes, it's true, after the hell of my ENTIRE FACE drying out completely, getting break outs in new places, and being red, itchy and burny for like a week, once the skin finally sheds away my "new skin" looked nice. For a few days. Then oil production started again. I don't really have oily skin but I still break out so my derm recommended it and after using it three times weekly for a month and just going through the same peeling cycle I gave up. This was not for me. I can only imagine this helping people with INSANELY oily skin...seriously, it's crazy how strong the stuff is.

first, i'm a 22 year old female. i went on accutane when i was 12, and that left me completely clear until about a year ago when my skin became covered with tiny whiteheads/clogged pores/comedones (still not really sure of the difference!). anyway, i had the kind of acne that doesn't look too bad from a distance because there isn't much redness, but makes the texture of your skin look very rough and unhealthy when viewed from close up. i am in college, so first i went to see my derm at home (the same one that prescribed me accutane when i was young) and he said my acne wasn't too severe but that he recommended i go back on accutane since i had a positive experience with it before. however, since i do not live at home, i was required to see a dermatologist near my college since on accutane you must be monitored. my doctor at college recommended i try ziana first before resorting to accutane (which i really respect, since i know all about accutane's side effects that you must deal with while being treated). basically, however, i am really sorry that i spent so much time hoping ziana would work. my doctor said it's great for comedonal acne (and that the retin-a brings your tiny zits to the surface so that they can finally disappear). i spent months believing that my skin was "purging" and that eventually my skin would get better, when in reality it just continued to become more and more covered with acne (both more small bumps and large zits). i'm sure ziana works for some people (and, as with all treatments, it is important to give medications enough time to work). however, i was really disappointed that there was no payoff to my "purging." i am now going on accutane which i hope will finally work.

Here's my acne story. Around October, got a really bad break out while using Proactiv. Switched to Murad. Made everything worse. Went to dermatologist. Got Ziana. Cleared up the effect of Murad, but didn't help with any acne that i had before Murad, so now I'm back to square one. Ziana has something in it called retin-something lol that causes skin to purge. It is supposed to stop after a while, but my face never stopped purging. It also dried me out really bad, even though I used a heavy moisturizer twice a day too. This product didn't work for me, but it has been a miracle for one of my friends. Everyone is different. If your dermatologist prescribes this, try it. :) P.S.- I am a 14-year old girl. Thought that might help since adult and teen acne IS different.

The first time i used this i was amazed with the results. My active pimples were almost completely dried up by the next morning. Unfortunately, it stopped working for me after a week. It also made my skin very red (I have fair skin).

It worked well for about 3 weeks and then almost overnight my face dried out so badly I couldnt even put lotion on to help because it hurt so badly. I tried the nurses advice and started skipping a day in between using the gel, but my face was broken out so badly I couldnt get it back under control without it drying my skin and causing extreme peeling.