Hey, I am 33 years old and been suffering with acne on and off for almost 18 years now. I have tried so many antibiotics and creams I have lost count of which ones. I live in the uk so cost of treatment is different to the US so it is affordable here. It all started when I was 15 and went in the pill dianete and became crazy bad when I was 18, I was using concealer for foundation. It was all over my face, back and chest. I was referred to a dermatologist who prescribed me accutane..... It was the best thing ever although it gave me bad back and dried my skin out and I looked like a lizard for a few months but my spots disappeared. I didn't even have to wash my hair which was great as I suffer with greasy roots haha. Anyway, it worked and I was spot free!!! But then when I was about 23 it started to come back :(. Not sure if it was stress or heartbreak that triggered it but it hasn't gone since. I wasn't taking tablets at the time as after taking so many it was an issue swallowing them and the doctor laughed at me which didn't help. I tried the injection contraception which made me skin so bad so I came off it. I eventually found the implant which was perfect and didn't make my skin worse hurray! My skin was still a problem and being 33 and in a job where I have to talk infront of groups I am very self aware of my bad skin. I have a number of bad days where I cry and hate looking at myself. I moved and changed doctors and recently he prescribed me tetraysal(lymecycline) and epidural to try. I must say I was desperate and would try one last thing before considering accutane again. I am nearly three weeks into it and I can honestly say it seems to be working!! The first two weeks were agony, I won't lie. My skin is red raw and dry and cracking and stung like hell. Also I broke out so bad as it seemed to be drawing all the crap out. But now it seems to be slowing down on breakouts and my skin is no longer red or sore. Just very itchy!! But I can handle that now. If you do give this a go, I would plan to have a few weeks off or something and make no plans to go out as you won't want anyone seeing you like I did. I wish I had a few weeks just locked up at home wearing no makeup. Makeup makes it worse with burning and itching but if you are like me you won't be seen dead without it. So anyway I am happy it's working and my skin is a lot smoother and my makeup looks a lot nicer on. Oh and another thing, I ended up buying cetaphil cleanser and moisturiser as everything stung like hell and these products will be very gentle. I like them and will continue to use them even when I have no spots. I will review again when I have used it a lot longer but it's worth a shot. Good luck

I'm a 17 year old male, with combination skin. I've been suffering from acne ever since I first hit puberty when I was around 12 years old. It's been up and down for me, but it got especially bad in Grade 10 and onwards. I tried everything on the market that I possibly could get my hands on, including proactiv, but nothing seemed to really work. Frustrated, I went to see my local walk in clinic to see if they could help, and they prescribed me Clindoxyl. It was a great product, as it helped reduce my acne greatly, but it caused me to get a huge zit once in awhile. When my prescription for it ran out, and I stopped using it, I slowly started breaking out again. Before things got out of hand, I went to see the doctor again, and this time they prescribed me Tactupump. It's definitely a lot more expensive than Clindoxyl, but it worked quite well for me, so it was kinda worth it. I've noticed many other reviews mention how Tactupump is drying, can burn and causes redness, and also how it can cause you to break out when you first use it. I think because I've used other strong products in the past, that now my skin is tough to this kind of stuff. I never had the "breakout" while using this, and it never burned, but apparently, it caused my face to be more red than normal. Tactupump definitely caused my skin to dry out, but if you apply moisturizer the morning after, it's all good. I used about a pea sized amount every night before I go to bed, and wake up the next day feeling a lot cleaner. I've used this product for about 2 months now, and I've noticed quite a difference. The first couple of days, I noticed it got rid of a group of zits that I've had for forever that I just couldn't get rid of, but this got rid of it in like 2-3 days. It took about 1-2 weeks to start seeing real results, but now I'm very pleased. I'm not perfect quite yet, but compared to what I used to be, it's better. I started feeling confident and happy again. I still remember being so scared to try this because I was very skeptical if it would work, but I'm glad I took the risk. However, at the end of the 2 months, it stopped being as effective, and I've had a big breakout on the side of me face and a bit on my forehead. I went to see the doctor again, and this time she prescribed me oral medication and Clindoxyl again. Hopefully this works... I think the problem with users who rated this product negatively is that they overused it or used it wrongly. You're only supposed to use it once a night before you sleep, and use a pea sized amount and put it all over your face. If you use it more than once a night or if you use too much at once, I think it would wreck your skin, so be careful. In short, Pros: Clears up your acne effectively Can help with scars/marks Prevents further breakouts Cons: Can be quite drying Causes redness/burning Expensive ($130 in Canada if not covered by insurance) Doesn't work forever (at least for me) Good luck to everyone trying this out! Hopefully it will for you as well!

I am happy with the results so far. Keep on using it for 12 weeks!

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

I had a lot of hormonal acne and white heads from a birth control pill that made my face break out horribly. I switch pills and it was much better, but I needed something to really clear what was left. I needed a topical medicine so my derm gave me Epiduo. Week 1: Cleared a little, nothing really happened. Week 2: I had horrible burning, stinging, peeling skin. I had to start using it every other day for about 1.5 months until I got more used to it. Weeks 3-4: I started breaking out a lot, it was upsetting but I kept using it. Weeks 5-6: My skin started calming down again! Weeks 7-8: I broke out horribly yet again. I wanted to give up but I told myself stick with it for 3 months Week 9: I am currently on week 9 and it's a total change. My acne has stopped forming, and old acne is clearing! Now I see why the doctor says wait at least 6-8 weeks to start seeing improvement. Overal I'm very excited that my acne is starting to clear. I gave it a 4 only because it makes your skin dry and sensitive, and slightly oily. Not horribly though. I would definitely recommend this! And wait at least 3 months before quitting, any acne medicine takes a while to start working :)

I've been taking epidou for about two or three months. My face is way better then what it started off to be it probably would be totally clear right now but I stopped using it for a long period. I'm just now getting back on it. When I first used it 😩 it was hell. My face burned like crazy and turned red. I also applied some to my neck and my neck went crazy. About a week or so my skin got used to it and now when I use it I can see it's doing my face wonders. My doctor perscribed me to take it two times a day. But I only take it at night time because exposure to the sun while taking this can leave to a horrible problem. ðŸ'ŒðŸ¾

I immediately started seeing results from using this for my hormonal moderate acne. I was using it combined with hormonal treatments. After 3 months by skin was perfectly clear! It was amazing! This clearest it has ever been. But unfortunately it only lasted about 2 months before my skin started to breakout again.... I think my skin just became immune to it and it no longer reacted to it. My doctor has now prescribed me Tretinoin and Clindamycin cream.. really hope this works!

I've suffered from acne since I was in year 8 (13 yrs old), I am now 19. It's something that I really struggle with, I've found temporary solutions but nothing that has really stopped it in its tracks. I did have acne on my back, but when I went on the pill (birth control) that cleared it up, which led me to think it would do the same for my face, I was wrong. I went to my dermatologist in year 11 I think it was and he prescribed me epiduo, and told me that this was something to try before accutane, which I really did not want to go on. So I think I used it for a couple months, but I can't really remember what my reaction and results were from that time. I must have been lazy or forgot about using it. Reading all of these reviews now, I wish that I had stuck with it. Maybe then I wouldn't be in this situation. Abit about my acne now: My acne has been moderate, I get a lot on both of my cheeks and breakouts on my forehead, and when 1 goes away, another 2 come up. ( I am a culprit of picking pimples). They are usually little red with yellow heads a lot of the times in groups (lucky me). I've never had any cystic acne, so you guess that's where I am abit lucky. I wear makeup everyday, it's hard not to when your skin looks like mine. This year I became fed up and decided to try epiduo again. Last week was the first time that I tried it, and I used it at night ( I know how much to use, from previous experience). So that night it didn't irritate my skin one bit, I was thinking maybe since I've used it before my skin might be used to it. The next morning when I woke up my spots had considerably gone down, obviously I wasn't expecting a miracle over night but that did give me some hope. The products I use in conjunction with the epiduo is the cetaphil gentle cleanser, witchazel toner and cetaphil moisturising cream. So the next few nights I repeated the process by only putting a thin layer over my problem areas and it was fine. After about 3 days of using it at nightly skin began to sting and was very inflamed, I knew that this was normal so I continued. It has been 1 and a half weeks nearly and my skin is very very dry. I'm not sure if I'm using enough moisturiser so tonight I might apply abit more than I usually do. But last night I noticed 2 pimples in a row on my cheek under the skin. I knew that they were going to make it to the surface and they did the next day. I'm not sure if I'm going to leave out epiduo for tonight and continue tomorrow. At the moment I am studying to be a beauty therapist, and my teacher has told me to stop the treatment for the duration of the course ( 1 year) because of the facials and waxing we do on the face. I really don't think it's an option for me, I've started now and i want to continue to get the best results. So I think I'm going to moisturise as much as possible and put on as little epiduo as I can. I just wanted to document my journey with epiduo, and maybe in a month or more I will write another entry. I am very hopeful that this product will work, and I will try not to give up. Thank you everyone for writing there experiences and reviews, it has really given me some confidence in epiduo . Please feel free to comment or anything to give me some tips/advice/maybe just to have a chat about your journey :)

I had bad acne as a teen and it cleared up when I hit 23. I am now 26 and bc of my migraines my doc won't let me have estrogen based b.c. and gave me mirena (depo shot or implanon were my other options both of which all contain the same hormone as mirena-progestrone) . Worst acne of my life!! On my face back chest shoulders everywhere. I stuck with it for 1 year then got it taken put two weeks ago I have polycystic ovarian syndrome so I also must stay on b.c. or else I get csysts. Right now I am off all b.c... derm has me on 1 100mg doxyclycine twice daily and epiduo every or every other night. My skin has already improved and it's been almost 2 weeks. I don't have any new acne on my chest or back and maybe just 2 or 3 new pimples on my face but for the most part everything is going away! It was terrible along my jawline and I only have like 2 pimples there now. It does burn now even applying any moisturizer but I've been using it every day so I'm going to kick back to once every other day to help with the dryness. Love this product so far!!

I was prescribed this in September, and I have mild acne, mostly under the skin. I used this product for two weeks and it was absolute hell. Like everyone else, I used too much at first, and my face burned till I thought I was going to die. I stopped using it after that. Then, in November, I decided to give it a try again and have now been using it for almost 8 weeks. I use it with an excellent Cervae moisturizer. Your skin will definitely get worse before it gets better. I know that no one wants to hear that, and I certainly didn't, but if you have the guts to stick it out you will be glad that you did. I still have minor issues going on, but they're getting better slowly. My skin has gotten oilier, which I did not expect, but it is overall a lot better. I will check back here with this review when I complete 2-3 months so you guys can see where I am with it