Adapalene / Benzoyl Peroxide (Epiduo®)
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Usually known by its brand name Epidu®, this topical treatment is a combination of adapalene, which is a type of medication called a...

Usually known by its brand name Epidu®, this topical treatment is a combination of adapalene, which is a type of medication called a retinoid that reduces inflammation in the skin and helps promote skin cell turnover, along with benzoyl peroxide, which kills acne bacteria and dries/peels the skin. 

It is usually applied once a day before going to bed.

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3.7
496
Read All About Adapalene / Benzoyl Peroxide (Epiduo®)
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5
39.1%
4
29.2%
3
10.3%
2
7.9%
1
13.5%

Used Adapalene / Benzoyl Peroxide (Epiduo®)? Rate It:

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September 14, 2015
LOVE
I love this product. I never had sever acne, I just always had a few marks on my chin and all a lot on my forehead and i was fine with that until I went to college. I started using it my freshman year of college, it took about a month and a half for my face to clear up, and everyone noticed! I used it until the middle of summer when i just forgot about it. My face stayed clear all summer, then as soon as my school started, so did the acne. So I started it agin and it cleared up my face again. If I can use this forever, I will! It does dry your skin out, so drink plenty of water and every morning wash your face with a not topical face wash (I use Cetephil) and apply lotion, (cetephil). And yes you face will look worse before it looks better, but give it at least 2 months and you will be so happy!
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September 10, 2015
Works great, but don't expect perfection
I am happy with the results so far. Keep on using it for 12 weeks!
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Lucymariexoxo
November 30, 2015
Hi, did you wear any makeup during the treatment process?
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September 6, 2015
it works
I've been struggling with acne for years now. My skin cleared up for about 3 years but then I started breaking out again. Went to the doctor and she prescribed me this. In the first 2 weeks, my skin was really dry and adjusting to the product. As other reviews have said, in weeks 3 to 5 your skin can start breaking out pretty bad. Mine definitely did. It got really really bad (worse than before I started using it). But I read a lot of reviews and just stuck with it. I totally recommend that you do stick with it because pretty suddenly, in weeks 6 to 7 my skin cleared up. I've kept using it for over 12 weeks now and my skin is completely different - clear and any spots that do come up, disappear very quickly. Really happy with it!! I used it with cetaphil cleanser and an aloe vera moisturiser. I didn't have any problems being in the sun either, my skin didn't burn at all. I do use sunscreen though. I know it is really hard to stick with it when your skin is going crazy, but I did and I am grateful. Sometimes you just have to believe in the product and it works out. Read a lot of reviews too, that can help support you. I'll definitely continue using this
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Lucymariexoxo
November 30, 2015
Hi, did you wear any makeup during the treatment process?
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September 4, 2015
Weekly Epiduo Review! 4 YEARS LATER UPDATE

I've rated 3 for my current review. However as weeks progress on comments below my rating might change according to my experiences. Age: 20 Sex: Female Skin type: Olive skin, Oily, Medium Pores. Acne history: Never had acne, just a few spots here and there on my face. Acne: Hit me at 20 - moderate acne such as blackheads, white heads, lots of cysts around lower cheeks and jawline and a bit of spots on my back. Acne Treatment History: I undertook SGA at Clearskin Clinic Australia: FAIL - WORSENED acne by 3 x Current Acne Treatment: Finally went to a dermatologist. He prescribed me Epiduo and Doryx 50mg. Routine: Morning- 1. Wash with Cetaphil Foam Cleanser. 2. Dry with a anti-bacterial cloth and if I'm leaving the house: 3. Apply Cetaphil oil-free moisturiser spf 30 if I'm not leaving the house: 3. Apply Cetaphil oil-free moisturiser After i eat breakfast: I take 2 Doryx tablets with water. Night- 1. Wash with Cetaphil Foam Cleanser. 2. Dry with anti-bacterial cloth 3. Apply Epiduo (pea-sized amount) I put Epiduo every second night on my face as the dermatologist recommended (Always listen to what the dermatologist recommends as everyones skin is different). So on the nights i do not put it i put Cetaphil oil-free moisturiser. I will be writing a weekly review on this post. It will be UPDATED every week. The rest of the weeks will be posted as a comment on this post. Week 1. Skin: Very dry, flaky, itchy, red Acne: A few old pimples went but a lot of new ones appeared. Week 2. Skin: Slight Improvement - dry, flaky, red Acne: Its like a continued cycle of a few old ones leaving but a lot of new ones appearing and my back has gotten SO MUCH more pimples to which i have never had in my entire life. Week 3. Skin: My skin has gotten used to Epiduo. It's only a little dry but moisturising quickly fixes it. Still a little itchy and red. Acne: During this week i felt like some days my skin looked like wow its improving and other days i feel like a got stung by 20 bees. Its like a cycle. But i feel like the new ones that come quickly go and my back is still really bad. I will now be posting weekly reviews on the comments. If you would like to ask any questions go ahead.

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ActualSelf
September 6, 2015
Week 4: Skin: Dry, Red and not as itchy Started off crazy at the start of the week. I nearly gave up but its very important to continue. My back has flared up again... im sure itll get better. But by the end of the week i had a great experience the left side of my face and forehead has not one active pimple just high red pigmentation which looks like pimples but they arent!!!! Wohoo but the right side is still crazy so fingers crossed for Week 5.
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ActualSelf
September 13, 2015
Week 5: Skin: Not as dry and not as red but still dry and red. Acne: My back is getting a little better. My face has slightly flared again on my forehead, upper lip and on lower cheeks and jawlines. I was so excited last week thinking yay its finally going but now that it flared again it made me feel really upset. But with all the reviews i read they have similar experiences and they only really see big improvements by 8 weeks to 12 weeks. So i have to be patient!!! Im going dermatologist by the end of Week 6 and ill update you on what happens.
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gabbygette
September 14, 2015
Do not worry! It took my face 8 weeks to clear up, and it stayed super clear after, good luck!
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ActualSelf
September 20, 2015
Thankyou for the response!!! I hope so, patience is seriously so important with this treatment. So anyone reading this just stay patient... its a pain but nothing comes quick and anything that claims it does is a lie all they do is damage your skin or worsen it. So always go to a dermatologist.
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ActualSelf
September 20, 2015
Week 6: Skin: Not dry anymore, still red and a little itchy. Acne: My back is really soft again and it isnt flared anymore but i have alot of pigmentation. My skin is okay not that great a few pimples on my forehead and lower chin and a few under the skin cysts under my right cheek on the neck. Its very similar to week 5 not much differences. But with epiduo i feel like the pimples improve within three days even less. I went dermatologist end of week 6. He saw my face and said that it has improved and he said itll take upto 12 weeks and to be patient. So i am. He told me to put epiduo now every night rather than every second night like previously. He also told me to go on Yaz birth control pill once i start my periods and stay on the Doryx tablets also. Ill be seeing him in 5 weeks.
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ActualSelf
September 25, 2015
Week 7: Skin: not as dry, red pigmentation, no more itchy feels. Acne: Back has flared again ALOT but i guess part of the cycle? Face: my forehead has no active pimples , my left side cheek and jaw only has one active pimple, my right side cheek has one active pimple and under my right jaw i have like 3 under the skin cysts. So it has improved alot. The rest of my skin looks like it has alot of pimples but its all red pigmentation and its very very smooth to touch. Well see how next week goes. Patience!!!!
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ActualSelf
October 10, 2015
Sorry delayed. Week 8. Skin: No more dry skin, no more redness just LOTS of red pigmentation and not one bit itchy. Acne: As everyone has said by week 8 thats when you see results and thats exactly what happened to me Week 8 and not one active pimple not one not even a cyst or under the skin bumps ZERO but lots of pigmentation but if i run my hand across my face its perfectly smooth. Week9. Skin: No dryness No redness and No itchyness. Acne: For some odd reason i got 2 cysts on my lower right jaw and i got 4 active pimples on the middle of my cheeks and ive never had pimples on my cheeks before :( i was over the moon last week that i actually improved incredibly but this week i dont know what happened. I read other reviews and alot of people said by week 8 you see improvements but by week 12 it actually completely improves so now patience for another 3 weeks!!!!
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ActualSelf
October 18, 2015
Week 10: same as week 9
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ActualSelf
October 22, 2015
Week 11: same as week 10
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ActualSelf
November 4, 2015
Week 12. Skin: lots of red pigmentation. I asked the dermatologist how i can get rid of this red scar pigmented blotches. He said that its actually from the Doryx oral antibiotics which causes redness and as soon as i stop the pills i will have no redness. So bonus! The dermatologist also now does glycolic peels every 4 week visits. Ive had one and he said its for blackheads and for any brown pigmentation from previous pimples. He also gave me a 10percent glycolic acid lotion for my back to reduce brown pigmentation. Acne: I dont have much active pimples just 2 or 3. The rest of my skin is sooooo smooth especially beneath my left jaw which used to be extra bump with large cysts. My skin isnt perfect but its improved by 70 percent. Just a reminder to what im on. Morning: 2 × 50mg Doryx antibacterial tablets Yaz Birth control pill Both Morning and Nights i wash with Cetaphil Cleanser Night: Epiduo cream on my face
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ActualSelf
November 8, 2015
Week 13. Same as week 12 . . . Still getting pimpled here and there. Lots of pigmentation
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ActualSelf
November 13, 2015
Week 14: Skin is very hyperpigmented. Few active pimples. Has improved incredibly. The pigmentation is putting me off. Not sure how long that will take.
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Lucymariexoxo
November 30, 2015
Hi, did you wear any makeup during the treatment process?
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ActualSelf
January 28, 2016
Yes i wore oil free makeup everyday
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ActualSelf
May 4, 2016
FINAL review after exactly 8 months and 2 weeks. My skin is completely clear of pimples! I get the occasional pimple when I am on my monthlys but other than that not one single pimple! Hyperpigmentation slowly goes every single day. I am currently on 1 Doryx tablet every morning and Epiduo cream every night. Still rated a four as it takes a lot of patience to see results. Its no quick fix that's for sure. PATIENCE is key to this treatment! Do no start if you are not willing to pass 5 months of it as stopping mid-way only makes it worse for you. Goodluck to anyone who begins this treatment. You will only be disappointed if you are not patient and expect fast results. Stick with it and you will see wonders happen. Also take photos every 2 weeks and you will see how it gets worse and worse and worse than by 3 months better and better!
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ActualSelf
June 3, 2019

Hello to anyone who read on my journey.

Since my last post on May 4 2016 i was on Epiduo once a night till September 2018. On September 2018 i decided to stop using it as i no longer thought i needed it. I was WRONG!! As soon as i stopped my entire face purged again! It’s like i was starting again from square one. I immediately booked an appointment with my original dermatologist. He was on holiday so i only got the chance to see him April 16th 2019. He prescribed me doryx 50 mg and Epiduo. I honestly feel depressed!!!!!!!! I am not willing to go through 8 months of purging on and off. I read my review honestly 8 months to get clear face AGAIN? How could i even mentally survive that. Surely i can not. I have been on doryx for now a month and a half. By now i came to realisation that i will he slowly stopping doryx as it killed my digestive and immune system when i was on them for 8 long months. For this reason i have decided to stop. Can someone PLEASE give me any advice on what i can do? My skin should not have relied on EPIDUO for 2 YEARS!! And purge again once stopped. Clearly something within me is destroyed!! 

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September 1, 2015
number 1 product
Epiduo is nothing short of a miracle product for me. I had acne for 6 years, until finally I was referred to a dermatologist. I'd tried endless rounds of antibiotics, all of which either worked temporarily or made me too unwell to continue - or both - and had used Duac with, again, some temporary success. By this point I thought my skin would never be clear and I would have to live like this forever. Then my dermatologist started me on Dianette, a BCP, and Epiduo. The dianette made my skin a lot less oily and the epiduo cleared it up. It wasn't easy though. Even months in the epiduo stung so much to apply I'd almost be in tears. My skin has never been sensitive but it hurt even to moisturise it. Makeup was out of the question because it would get caught in these disgusting dry flakes, which was annoying because it made my skin quite red. This went on for months. I remember being very upset going out to parties at how horrible and red my face would look in photos, yet unable to wear makeup. My dermatologist actually prescribed me epiduo in the evening and Duac in the morning! I cringe to think of such a drying regime. I know Dan recommends being as gentle as possible, but what helped with the flakiness was using a gentle cleanser and my Clarisonic, followed by a moisturiser, to sort of buff off the flakes. Eventually, epiduo stopped irritating me so much and I settled in to a good regime and my skin was perfect! I came off Dianette because it made me very moody but my skin is still clear thanks to epiduo. It's a tiny bit more congested than it was when I was on the pill but I'm not going to complain because it's practically perfect. I never dreamt of having skin I was happy with and now I do.
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August 20, 2015
Teenage Acne
Hello, I'm 16 and have had acne since the beginning of high school, which is about 2 years for me. I'm going into grade 11 now and have had consistent and worsening acne while trying a number of different products. To debrief, I began using Epiduo in March and was very disappointed by the results I received after around 3 weeks to a month. I experienced an initial clearing of skin in the first week and then began to break out dramatically for weeks that followed. I put the product down after about a month and tried other methods. None of the products that I purchased seemed to better my skin, so after around 4 months I returned to my dermatologist in July with frustration and intentions to begin Accutane because the acne on my chin, though not severe, had not cleared for months and I had become extremely depressed with my failure to clear up. Reluctantly, I chose to take doxycycline and Epiduo from my dermatologist for a three month period. I'm on week five of this treatment and am not impressed with my results. I feel as though I may be in the same place as I was when I was prescribed and am growing impatient. I have had dryness, redness, and initial break outs but by week 5, my skin is continuing to have small break outs and hyper pigmentation. I'm wondering when I'll see dramatic results.
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soutera
August 21, 2015
comment with your help please?
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soutera
October 11, 2015
I'm on the eleventh week of this treatment and I've been moderately to completely clear for the past week. It's taken a very long time to have consistency in terms of getting no new pimples but I think that I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!!!
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Lucymariexoxo
November 30, 2015
Hi, did you wear any makeup during the treatment process?
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August 16, 2015
Works well
This worked very well for my son except our insurance won't pay for it and it costs over $500 a tube which is insane since I saw straight Benzoyl Peroxide in Target for $3.50.
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GameTangerine
September 26, 2015
My insurance company just denied the $500 prescription for my daughter. Her doctor wrote her a prescription for JUST Adapalene, which the insurance covers (only $8 for us). He told us to go to the store and find some Benzoyl Peroxide gel and mix equal parts and use that instead. Maybe that will work for you???
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GameTangerine
September 26, 2015
My insurance company just denied the $500 prescription for my daughter. Her doctor wrote her a prescription for JUST Adapalene, which the insurance covers (only $8 for us). He told us to go to the store and find some Benzoyl Peroxide gel and mix equal parts and use that instead. Maybe that will work for you???
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August 16, 2015
BE CAREFUL
I'm the type of person who never worries about treatments drying out my skin because it's just so damn oily you could cook an egg on it, and nothing ever dries out my skin. Except this bloody cream. It sucked all the moisture out of my skin like a death eater, I had dried up itchy red skin and flaking scaley skin on the corners of my mouth from where my whole face was dried out. It was horrific. The saddest part about my red lizard face is that I still had acne. So please use this with caution and use the smallest amount only on the places you need it and don't use it all the time.
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August 8, 2015
Timeline
I will be updating this timeline as my treatment progresses! Final review will be at the end of my treatment (: [Taking this with minocycline] Week 1- It burned and stung like crazy as soon as I applied it and stayed like that throughout the entire night. It turned my skin from extremely oily to dry, flaky, and red. Week 2- It doesn't sting as bad when I apply it now. My skin looks like its clearing up a little bit! Week 3- It now is completely sting-free when applied. My face is breaking out again though :-( Week 4- I'm still breaking out very badly. Mostly black heads surrounding my lips although there ARE pustules (pimples) too :-/ Week 5- No significant difference from week 4 Week 6- My forearms have significantly improved, but the rest of my body is still a mess. My chin is breaking out sooo bad. I'm tired of waiting for this to work. I just want to start on some other prescription already. Week 7- Just ran out of my first bottle. will update soon.
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gabbygette
September 14, 2015
You might have been using too much, It took me at least 6 months to go through my first bottle.
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July 27, 2015
Epiduo for Life!
Let me start by saying I have hormonal acne mainly on my lower cheeks. It started as soon as I turned 30 and I have been dealing with it for 4 years now. For the past year I'd get bumps primarily on my left cheek but now my right is being plagued too (**waaahhh**). I have been using epiduo for a year now and it truthfully hasn't done much to improve my acne completely, but it definitely helps even out my complexion on the rest of my face and smooth my skin which I will gratefully take. When I stop using epiduo for a period of time my breakouts will worsen so it absolutely helps calm it down some. Your face will get a little red and irritated (sometimes a bit itchy) at night when you put it on, but if you are consistent and fight through it you will eventually see some improvement. I am using epiduo in conjunction with finacea and differin. I will alternate between epiduo and differin every night (sometimes spot treat with both) and then use finacea every other morning. I am hoping this cocktail of topicals will eventually make my acne go away for good (*fingers crossed*).
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Finding a Doctor

The right dermatologist can make a big difference to your patient experience and the success of your acne treatment plan. Here are the steps to find a dermatologist who is a good fit:

  1. Use the search feature on the American Academy of Dermatology website to look for board-certified dermatologists in your area, and filter the search results for doctors with a special interest in treating acne.
  2. Read online patient reviews of any dermatologists you are considering and ask people you know whether they have any experience with these dermatologists.
  3. Do your research and go to your first appointment with questions prepared.
  4. Listen to what your gut feeling tells you once you see a dermatologist in person. If you are not completely comfortable, try a different dermatologist.
Find a Doctor Using The American Acacemy of Dermatology Website

Finding a Doctor

Only a select few plastic surgeons specialize in acne scar revision surgery. Be certain to find a provider who specializes in acne scar repair and who is passionate and experienced in this area.

Be sure to:

  • Look at before and after photos, the more the better, especially patients with similar scarring to your own.
  • Be realistic about results. Look for improvement, not a cure.

Questions to ask a potential scar revision specialist:

  • Are you board certified? Be certain that they are board certified.
  • How long have you been performing these procedures? Normally, the more experience the better, however, some younger surgeons may be more on top of the latest procedures.
  • Can I speak to some of your other patients? Ask for references for several patients who had similar scarring and speak to them about the process and their satisfaction with results.

Red flags:

  • Their story changes: As you discuss different treatment options, if they tend to change their mind easily, or agree with whatever you say, consider this a red flag. A confident, experienced surgeon will possess strong, unwavering opinions.
  • Your gut tells you "no": Trust your gut. If you just don't feel that the doctor is the right fit, trust that and move on. On the other hand, if you feel they are the perfect specialist for you, trust that feeling.
Find a Doctor Using the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Website