Epiduo Adapalene (.1%) and Benzoyl Peroxide (2.5%) Gel Reviews

Didn't do crap for me

Hello friends, I had moderate acne solely on my right cheek- literally never a spot anywhere else. This went on for about two years, and was starting to scar- potted, red, etc. So I forked out to see a derm, who prescribed epiduo. I used it for 7 months exactly. The first 4 months were utter hell. From having mild 'bumpy skin and max 2 spots' on my cheek i went from having full blown deep cystic acne. months 4-7, slowly cleared up, but has left scarring. Now the cheek is pretty much clear, but the entire rest of my face now gets spots. Epiduo essentially barred the spots from coming out on that 3cm space on my cheek, and instead now spread them across the rest of my face. Sadly, I now dream of having the skin I had before epiduo. Use with caution for small area.

I've had acne all my life and as a teenager it got so severe that I eventually went on Roaccutane (which worked amazing, but came with a lot of side effects). 4 years after finishing accutane my skin started breaking out again, which was worsened by changing contraceptive pill. I didn't develop deep cystic acne again but had constant stubborn whiteheads and small bumps all over my t-zone. I especially had a breakout of bumps under the skin on my forehead that wouldn't clear. I was almost ready to beg my doctor for Roaccutane again but she said to try Epiduo as my case was still 'mild'. The first few weeks my skin was dry, red and flaky. It itched and looked pretty gross (so I wouldn't try it before a big event, I waited until I had study period for exams and wasn't seeing many people). I managed the dryness using Cetaphil moisturising cream which is amazing, as well as jojoba oil at night, and my skin eventually adapted. The key is to moisturise with it! Within a few weeks my skin had dramatically cleared and now I only need to use it every few days on new spots, and it dries them up really quickly and stops them becoming any bigger or inflamed. I'm not sure if it would work well with deep cystic acne, but for mild surface breakouts and whiteheads it has worked really well for me. Warning: if you use too much this will make your skin crusty and dry - use a sparing amount and make sure you moisturise with it and exfoliate dead skin regularly.

First, you skin definitely needs time to get used to this. I strongly suggest only using Epiduo every three nights for the first month. *tip* My dermatologist told me to mix a pea size amount in with my CeraVe face moisturizer because of my sensitive skin, I barely had any irritation. Still, this will definitely dry out your skin. After about four months, I really started seeing results. I was so excited. Then, after about six months, my acne came back worse then ever before. I'm not sure if something happened internally to make my acne aggravated, but Epiduo completely stopped working for me.

If you're reading this and you're debating whether or not to go on epiduo. Just do it. I've used this on 3 separate occasions, once for 5 months, once for a year and once for one month (currently still on this third time)... The thing about epiduo is that it WORKS. Look at your forearm right now and how smooth it is... thats what my red, painful acne turned into after exactly 12 weeks of using epiduo (both times). You HAVE to use cetaphil gentle cleanser and moisturizer otherwise it wont work as well (cera v made the process longer the second time i took it). It will get worse before it gets better. Your skin will be beautiful one week and hell the next. But when it's over you have clear skin. What do you have to lose? NOTHING. it WILL work. I can almost promise it to everyone. I find that it is very emotionally taxing to keep on desperately trying new things becuase you think that next thing, the one thing that youre "missing" is going to cure your acne but that is total bullsh*t. This will give you clear skin guarenteed. If the burning sensation is unbearable you are using too much, simple as that. The only thing I regret is not starting it right away and wasting so much time on guessing and checking and wasting hundreds of dollar on pointless methods and products. DO IT. Im posting my week by week review of this on my third time taking this (this time i will not be dumb and stop using it EVER lol). Please check it out! I also have a bunch of tips on there for anyone interested. You have to be mentally strong and push through this. 12 weeks for a LIFE of clear skin (if you sparingly maintain it) is plenty worth it to me.

So this is the only treatment that worked for me 100%.It is true,the first 3 months are definitely hard,but I can say,worth the effort.After 5 months of using Epiduo,I HAD NO ACNE,it heals even the marks in the skin.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I am in my mid 30s and suffering from oily skin & moderate hormonal adult acne I thought acne will be behind me when I was in my 20s but nope still there. I tried going to the derma, getting facials and peels, buying OTC products with salicylic to glycolic acids, using prescribed tretinoin different strengths, etc. some are effective but I want to keep my acne at bay and prevent them from popping by out doing simple regimen and I don't want to burn money anymore so still looking for a product that I can buy OTC that works. So far for me epiduo is effective though progress is slow compare to tretinoin but definitely milder than tretinoin in terms of side effects I experienced sensitivity in my skin from the exfoliation effect but I did not see noticable obvious peeling, purging (few pimples but not worse), subtle burn & itchiness during the 1st week of using but only for a little while then gone after few days. Now on 3rd week of using epiduo and I am noticing some improvement in my skin's texture, acne marks seem to lighten a bit, acne is less especially on my forehead and chin, skin is still oily though. I plan to use this for another month and see if the improvement continues (hopefully). I am trying my best not to pick my face but tempting sometimes. How I use epiduo: At night wash face with cetaphil gentle cleanser then apply cetaphil moisturizer to wet face then wait to dry then apply pea sized amount on whole face. At daytime wash face with cetaphil gentle cleanser then apply neutrogena moisturizer SPF15 but I do alternate sometimes with my snail gel or a stronger SPF lotion if I know I might have longer exposure outside. I am asian and don't have sensitive skin nor allergies.

I'm on my week two of epiduo and my acne was like worse than ever. Bumps keep coming up my face even on spots I don't normally get them. (So saaadd) but, but, I heard that this is the initial purging stage and yes! I could feel my bumps drying up and flattening. Yay! As for my skin, i have sensitive and oily type but srsly, it never dried up my face. I'm still oily. Hoping for better skin sooner!

I started using Epiduo this August after fighting my acne for about 5 years. It was the typical teenage acne, and when I look back at pictures I feel bad because I didn't realize how bad my skin actually was. It got better with the years, but never really completely clear which bugged me. When I got a huge breakout in August I felt that I'd had enough (as so many times before) and contacted the doctor. He prescribed me Epiduo, and I was a little doubtful because of the fact that it was a topical. At this point I never thought a topical could do something about preventing pimples, only treat the ones that are already on the surface. But, I started using it, and spent hours on looking on reviews of it. In many reviews it said to give it a good 3-4 months, and I remember feeling inpatient, I couldn't wait that long? After the first month there was really no change. I got dry, but used masks and moisturizers to help that. Month 2, still no change. I started losing hope of the product but remembered the reviews that told me to keep using it. Today, three months later, my skin is clear almost all the time. The times that I have gotten a pimple is when I stopped using Epiduo because my skin was clear, which shows that you have to be persistent. By now, I use Epiduo about every other night and it still keeps my skin good. As a summary - try Epiduo because it works! Be persistent and don't give up even after one to two months. The dryness will also disappear after a while, I now that can be a struggle. I was bright red for the first few weeks haha. Good Luck dear acne-friends!

So there's a lot of history with my acne situation. I always had moderate acne, large pores oily skin....n i underwent course of antibiotics, doxycyclin amd azithromycin which helped..... But In 2010 i developed cystic acne....a relapse. So my derm said that antibiotics won't work in my case, amd i took a course of isotroin (same like Accutane.. M from India) of 6months amd it was the best thing. It cleared up my acne completely. It was good for 2years but then my skin was not that great amd it developed bumps... On n off acne.. But nothing major. All was good or atleast okay for 5years.... But then it started gettimg worse recently.. So i visited my derm again, after 6years...he recognized me, amd i too reminded him of my acne history. He said he told me earlier that isotroin would cure 80% but 20% will be maintenance..... Which i didn't do,,, (as i moved from this place.. Got busy with life... I forgot all about it). So now he saod that i have to use a cream at night. That is acnesol(. 1%adapalene and. 1%clindamycin). Also a salicylic facewash. Fortunately i dont need to take a second course of isotroin. I had bumps all over my forehead... And new breakouts...whiteheads on my cheeks n chin.... Too much. So its beem a week of acnesol and salicylic facewasg, and my skin is very very dry... Also red on the problem areas. But the bumps/whiteheads on my forhead are 90%gone, also only 2new breakout that too are dry... He also gave my a cream to moisturize, only to be used sos...acnemoist. I have used it twice till now. When i wash my face now i dont feel the bumps and roughness... And no active acne too now. With the present scenario i feel in another week or 10days it will all be crllear and normal(not red too).

After trying everything to get rid of my angry red acne I tried epiduo. After 3 days of applying I already saw a huge difference! Only thing is my skin got sooooo dry and my skin would sting when I put it on and when I moisturised. I also noticed my eyelids and under eyes got very dry. If you moisturise well it's not too bad though. At first it got rid of every spot. However after 3 months I do get a few pimples but nothing in comparison to before. Really recommend trying it and sticking with it for at least a month.

I never ever write reviews for anything...but I feel like I should share my experience with epiduo. I started in June of 2017 and immediately experienced the purging. Unfortunately for me, I started to get acne in places that I had never gotten before due to this purging phase. It was extremely irritating and embarrassing because my face was nowhere near as bad before as it was during the purging phase. For me, the purging lasted about 2 months (I know this sounds really bad, but you have to be patient). I live in Florida, so I'm constantly sweating (terrible for acne!). I almost gave up around the 2 month mark, but I kept reading reviews about how I need to stick it out until month 3. I'm currently on week 12 (one week away from the 3 month mark) and my face has improved exponentially. Throughout all of August, I had non-elevated red marks all over my face, but those are fading very quickly right now. My face is not 100% clear, but I can definitely see it heading in that direction. I'm so glad that I didn't give up on this product. As awful as it may be to have to wait 10-12 to see results, it's totally worth it. It's very upsetting to read reviews about how people stopped after like 6 weeks. This just isn't enough time. For someone that is extremely acne prone, I was so excited to see this product start working. Once my face clears completely, I will probably only apply the epiduo every other night to maintain. Long story short: not everyone will see results quickly because everybody responds differently and at different intervals. Stick it out and you should see good results. Besides, the acne that you are getting as a result of beginning epiduo (the purging) would have come anyways at some point in the future. I highly recommend!

my doctor prescribed me epiduo three days ago and it works like magic! i have mild/moderate acne, which really flared up a year ago (age 15) and it's been difficult trying to keep it away. i get cysts and nodules. there would be 3-5 in one area which can be painful. i don't get a lot of spots but i do get larger pimples. my acne is hormonal so i never know what it will do next. sometimes it goes down completely and one day i'll wake up with 2 cysts on my cheeks. i've tried doxycycline which didn't work for me at all. 2 and a half months in and i was still getting cysts frequently. i thought it would work because i was taking the fight inside out but it was a big fail. i was hesitant to try the epiduo as it is a topical treatment and i've heard many times that it is inside that you need to take care of (to control the hormones), hence taking prescription pills. personally i have had no bad side effects, it would VERY slightly itch/tingle on the side at a small area but goes right away. i haven't had any burning sensations, as i've read many people experienced on here at the first couple of weeks, but i'll have to wait and see. i saw a big difference the morning after my first night with it on and it has completely removed my cysts and nodules since, at least on the surface. i've also seen scars fading a little but i'm not sure if it is the epiduo. in the morning i would rinse it off with just water and use the olay complete spf 15 moisture lotion. my skin hasn't purged, i'm not sure if it will or if i'll get minor side effects later. i have only been on it for three days so i'll have to check back on here in two-three months. hopefully, i won't have to take pills with the epiduo or be disappointed yet again :)

I was prescribed this for moderate acne, and the first week or so it DID work, a little bit. It dried my face out which is expected but after about a week it was like applying water on my face and letting it sit there overnight. It did nothing. It seems to only work for those who have a pimple here and there.

Ive used this on and off for years since I was 13 (I'm now 18) and always stop because it dries my oily skin up so badly. However I decided to stick with it and try again and it cleared up my skin quite well, I kept sticking out the dryness as I could see it was working but after 4 months I gave up again. The dry skin is just such a put off for me and always makes me stop using it. I think it works for clearing active acne but I can't say it did much for my skin texture or blocked pores. Also over the years I have destroyed countless clothes and pillow cases as this causing bleaching in fabrics. However id still recommend it as it did help my skin but it hasn't been a life saver for me. Its worth a try

8 Weeks in and still no progress, help?! I apply a pea size amount every evening, but am still getting new white pustules every day

epiduo dries out pimples and if you breakout epiduo is there to save the day. However after using this epiduo for months and months and years and years relying on it, it irritated my skin and made specific places where i applied the epiduo very red, sensitive and irritated (maybe because i did not apply a pea size amount). HOWEVER, i still think this is one of the best topical pimple treatments out there, and definitely by far the best one ive tried out of duac, clindamycin toner, etc.

I am a teenage girl who has suffered from acne for 5 years (12-17) - I felt like I had tried nearly everything and started to get desperate about clearing my worsening facial, chest and back acne. Finally I tried this stuff and I made the mistake of applying every night for the first week and the more sensitive skin (neck and face) went bright red and felt like it was on fire. As well as this, my skin was so incredibly itchy that I had to excuse myself from class just to get an ice pack to cool down my back. But god was it worth it. About three weeks in and my skin is so silky smooth and nearly completely clear. The only thing I can say is that my skin is still super sensitive to sweat and water but honestly, for me, it is totally worth it.

I've been on epiduo for 4 weeks now and I have had moderate acne for about a year, when it started i didn't really see much of a difference it got a little better. At week 3-4 I have started experiencing the purge stage on my chin and it is pretty rough, but everywhere else has no acne just fading scars. Just got to stick it out. Hopefully it will be done purging in a couple weeks. During this purging stage I have probably had about 5 new pimples a day on my chin. I will post again at 8 weeks and then at 12 weeks. Thinking long term helps a lot and getting the epiduo app as well.

My daughter was on antibiotics for 9 months for Lyme disease treatment. When she went off the medication she broke out terribly on her face and her back. Long term antibiotics wreck your gut which among other things can cause acne. She started treatment with epiduo forte on her face but in a way that minimized the harsh effects. She already has dry sensitive skin so she applied it every other night mixed in with her moisterizer and worked up to full strength slowly. At the same time we healed her gut with probiotics - pills and kombucha and bone broth every day ( yes bone broth, google bone broth and healing acne) it has been a few months now and she is pretty much all cleared up. The marks have faded considerably and improve every day. Her back is completely clear.

If you're reading this you might wanna know whether Epiduo is effective or not, right? Lemme first give you a background on my acne, I started suffering from it when I was in highschool then it got worse until this year. I tried every way possible to cure it, from regular facial, chemical peel, iontophoresis to taking isotretinoin(which is the generic name for Accutance), they did treat my acne but only for a while. Then I came back to my dermatologists and he recommended me Epiduo, I'm like you who's skeptical on trying it because it 'might' not help again BUT when I read all the positive reviews on Epiduo here in acne.org I've decided why don't I give this a try. So for 14 weeks now I've been applying this wonder, my face is 90% clear with acne marks though. Together with Epiduo, I wash my face with Cetaphil and cold guava tea, then rub banana peel 3x a day for 30 minutes and serum. For those of you who's on the verge of giving up on this product please don't, be patient and positive. 😊

I will try keep the medication in refrigerator and see if this helps Always a new gel has better results from a month old . I kept the medication under 25 celcius as advised ( room temp)

I have been using Epiduo for about 6 months now and WOW, the results are so encouraging! The first 1-2 months of using this acne treatment was not easy; my face would get swollen because it still had to get used to the Adapalene and Benzoyl Peroxide, I was breaking out more than I ever have and my skin was so So sensitive. The burning sensations I felt were so painful I honestly just had to lay there and wait for it to pass. I thought about stopping the treatment many times, but I have to say; I'm very grateful my dermatologist encouraged me to keep on track with it. I rarely get any pimples, before my pimples were mainly in my chin and forehead area. I will get the occasional one, maybe 1 every â…” weeks, but the Epiduo clears it up within 3 days. When I was using Epiduo for the first 4 months, I would apply my face cream after 15 minutes, but now I have realised that putting on a face cream over the Epiduo didn't do me any justice. It only made things worse, and it wasn't the face cream. Now, I simply wash my face using a very gentle electrical face brush and the recommended Cetaphil acne wash and then apply one pump of Epiduo to my whole face. Hopefully my skin will only get better than it is now! I also found it helpful to get the app that tracks your skin progress! The most important thing is to PERSEVERE and oh, STAY OUT OF THE SUN and LATHER ON THAT SPF 50!! I hope I've helped xxx

I am currently going through my second bout of adult acne at age 28, due to contraception changes. I couldn't remember what I was prescribed last time because I pretty much repressed the whole experience but I remembered that I had used Differin, which caused a massive purge and made my acne worse before it made it better. I wanted to avoid that this time so I said no to any topical treatments and started a course of Lymecycline. 6 weeks into my course, my skin had progressively got worse so I went back to my doctor who prescribed me Epiduo. I read the reviews about how painful it was so I was very worried; however, my first application did not hurt at all. My face was a bit red the next day but I saw an immediate improvement in my acne, as the inflammation had completely reduced. It was a bit tender when I applied my make up and removed it but I could handle it. I applied it again that night and this time it was so painful, it felt like my face was burning. I waited 45 minutes and then applied my Simple moisturiser, which only made it worse. The next day my face was in pieces and it even hurt to wash my face so I could not apply anything but moisturiser to it. That was 3 days ago and I haven't used it since. My acne has massively improved just from those two applications; however, my face has been in agony ever since because it is so dry. It has felt as if it was made out of concrete and I have had areas crack and weep. I had no idea how I was going to remedy the dryness, let alone apply anymore Epiduo! I have been out and bought Cetaphil today as recommended by other users; I've applied it only once and the soreness has lifted straight away! After 3 days of putting up with the pain and not being able to put anything but moisturiser on my face, I now feel like I have my face back! And the Epiduo has done wonders for my acne after only 2 applications! I would recommend Epiduo to anyone; however, you MUST use Cetaphil alongside it straight away! I will be using the Epiduo again tonight now I have bought some Cetaphil :) (Cetaphil is non-comedogenic and can be used on the face)

Worked for a short while to clear mild/moderate acne then skin adjusted to it and it wasn't having any effect. Makes skin burn unlike anything I've ever experienced. Good in the short term but results don't last in my case. It works to treat pimples but doesn't do much to prevent. I was still breaking out while using this. Didn't anything for clogged pores or acne scars.