This is the only product that worked as well as accutane did for me. I've been using it for 2 years. There seems to be a lot of people giving up on Epiduo/Tactuo/Tactupump way too soon. You guys gotta push through the first month of stingy/raw/sunburned feeling skin. Just Use it at night before going to bed..... then MOISTURIZE during the day.

I had moderate to severe acne and now six months later after starting epiduo ALL my spots are gone and I haven't had a breakout in a very long time. It has also helped clear my scarring and evened my skin texture. If you try epiduo my one piece of advice is you HAVE to stick with it. All the low reviews I have read are people who have not kept using it because they broke out more or it stung. It is an extremely strong gel that your skin will take some time to get used to (for me about a month). It does dry your skin out and make it very sensitive and scaly and flakey, but if you really want to get rid fo your acne those symptoms do not last a long time and soon they go taking your acne with them. It is a very harsh experience because you are peeling away the outer layers of your skin so the treatment can work deeply and therefore promoting cell turnover and fresh skin (without scarring!). Warning you do breakout very badly the first month but that is epiduos way of pushing ALL your spots out , that were forming, at once that would have just come out at different time intervals.

I am a 30-year-old female with a family history of adult acne (particularly in the 30's). My skin is not dry or oily, it's middle-of-the-road. Here is my acne history: Absolutely nothing through my teenage years. A couple spots here and there in college, but nothing terrible or even very memorable (I just have pictures of the random, very small spot), and I mostly attribute it to bitter cold and humidity in Indiana. Lived in San Diego for three years after college and my skin loved all of the sunshine and perfect humidity level. Then we moved to Colorado. Here's my recent treatment history: My face immediately hated the dryness here, but my worst breakouts were still around my period. When my husband and I got engaged, I went to see a dermatologist so that maybe I wouldn't have to worry about something happening on my wedding day. I am an athlete, and at my first appointment the doctor told me (exact quote) that, "Athletes are just dirty," because I sweat all day and don't wash my face enough. False. I have been an athlete all my life. I should have walked out of his office right then, but I had never been to a dermatologist before and really had no idea what to expect. He prescribed Doryx 100mg (doxycycline) in about January, and then I went down to 50mg approximately May. Everything went great, we got married at the end of September with zero blemishes, and I had planned to stop taking the medicine after the wedding (they're antibiotics, after all). I weaned off of the pills as the doctor had described, and a few months later, my skin freaked out. At first they were fairly minor breakouts, but all the time. Then I developed cystic acne, concentrated either on my chin or forehead (I've always been a T-zone person), and sometimes both. WEEKS of enormous painful bumps that just would NOT come to a head. I tried hot compresses to bring the nastiness to the surface and sometimes that worked, but mostly I just had to go excavating, which was awful and painful and an even more embarrassing healing process afterward. My husband's grandfather had a habit of asking me what had happened (to my chin/forehead) in group settings at family parties. Totally mortifying, especially when I had thought I'd done a decent job of covering up to leave the safety of my house. I went back to the same dermatologist pretty quickly, and he prescribed Doryx again, this time in a 200mg/day dosage. I didn't know to be wary of that, but my first exposure to sun of any kind that year (in Austin in March/April) was very painful and resulted in rashes on my hands and nose because of my increased photosensitivity on the medication. As for treating my acne, it worked to get rid of most of the cystic stuff, but I continued to have regular, sometimes bad breakouts. While they were preferable to what I'd been going through, the sunburns were very painful and seemingly unavoidable. I'm outside all the time. When I called the dermatologist to ask what I could do to prevent the sunburns I was getting, they told me to wear sunscreen. Like I hadn't been wearing the strongest stuff I could find. Fast forward to the next winter...I had continued taking the strong dosage of Doryx because the original doctor hadn't told me to do otherwise, and was not in the habit of having his patients come for check-up appointments. My acne gets worse in the winter because it's even more dry here, and by early March I was just so incredibly done being embarrassed to get within arm's reach of anybody, for fear of them getting a good look at my face. My conversations were short and clipped and I felt disconnected from everyone around me (save my incredibly supportive husband and parents) because I just never wanted to leave my house. I decided to go see a new dermatologist. She was WONDERFUL. So supportive and communicative, and positive about my future. She prescribed minocycline, 80mg (Solodyn is the brand), and Epiduo. I had tried topicals with the old dermatologist but he never told me how to use them, so I had always spot-treated with terrible results. The new, best dermatologist ever told me to spread one pump over my face every night, otherwise the medicine would be too strong. I did exactly as instructed (starting at the end of April), and didn't even notice super dryness or itching at first, because I've always moisturized fairly heavily at night (again, Colorado). After a while though, my skin got a little red and burned when I put moisturizer on: I use Cetaphil cleanser and was using Cetaphil moisturizer at the recommendation of others on this website. When the burning started though, I searched for something creamier and a bit heavier, and found Jason Age Renewal Vitamin E moisturizing cream. I buy it at Walgreens (comes in a little tub), and it has been perfect for me with the Epiduo. My skin did not completely clear up until about the beginning of September (about four months of religious minocycline and Epiduo usage). I experienced terrible purges at about five weeks and eight weeks, as a lot of other people have said. They were awful. Awful, and like no other breakout I'd ever had. Mine were concentrated right around my chin/mouth, and while the breakouts weren't as painful as the cystic acne I used to have, the healing process was very ugly with all of the peeling and impossibility of covering it up. After about ten weeks though, the breakouts I had seemed to be hormonal (around my period), and were much smaller and more manageable than before I started using the medicine. And while healing from the purges was terrible, I truly found that my skin turned over much faster on Epiduo than it ever did before taking it: It still sucked to cover up healing skin, but that process lasted a much shorter time than it used to when I had to do the same thing for cysts or other breakouts. Then, mid-August, I healed from a breakout, and haven't had what I would consider one since. I had regular check-ups with the new, awesome dermatologist throughout the summer, and when I went back at the end of September, she wanted me to wean off of the minocycline and just be on the Epiduo. I was pretty scared, but I did it, had one fairly major pimple (just one) right at the end of the weaning process, and have been perfectly clear since. The scars that formed around my mouth during the purges fade every single day, as do the other scars around my forehead and chin areas. If I use a lighter moisturizer with the Epiduo, I still get a burning sensation, so I continue to use the heavier cream that I mentioned before. Long story short, I am THRILLED with this product. The husband and I went on a tropical vacation at the beginning of December, and not only did I show most of my skin all of the time, but we were in the water constantly (no makeup possible), and I couldn't have felt more confident. I kept thinking how different that vacation would have been if I'd still been on a high doxycycline dosage and not on Epiduo, and it made the week even more enjoyable to know that I've found something that works for me. LOVE it. 100% worth the hard times!!!!! Hope this helps. Honest-but-positive reviews got me through my darkest days during the purges, so I wanted to contribute my own and give my full story. I'm a huge believer!!

I have moderate type of acne since I was 16 y.o. (I am 24 now). About two years ago I was prescribed Accutane and it cleared my skin entirely. I couldn't be any happier! Plus the bonus- my scalp was also dry and I had to wash my hair only once a week, compared to every other day before that. Time passed by, I graduated and got my Bachelor's degree, and there came another important step in my life- I got accepted into grad school at Columbia and arrived here to NYC last September. Coming from a small town I was shocked and amazed by this huge megapolis. Everything was different here: food, climate, atmosphere, people. Even though I liked this city immensely, I still got significant school-related stress and acclimatization process. So no wonder, that after a couple of months I started breaking out, and it progressed pretty quickly, and by the end of midterms in March I was all covered in acne rash and could not feel any worse about my skin. I went to see the therapist on campus. After a unsuccessful treatment she send me to the dermatology clinic in midtown. I went there and the dermatologist prescribed me anti-bacterial pills and an rosacea cream. I saw no progress after two weeks of treatment, so when I came back to her, she replaced the rosacea stuff with Epiduo gel, and told me that this gel is pretty serious and if this will not help, she will prescribe Accutane. She told me that it takes a while for it to get to work, and there are some initial breakouts related to its use, and also it is very harsh on skin, so I should apply a really thin layer on the affected area (for me it was my whole face). I got the prescribed gel for $35 with discount coupon that dermatologist gave me. And there started my adventure with Epiduo. I will tell you that I was very motivated and even though there were a lot of negative reviews, I still sticked to it, because I trusted people who told that I should wait for result to come up. The first week showed no progress whatsoever, the second week was quite painful, cause I started breaking out and in addition to that my skin started reacting to the gel and I felt as if my skin was burning, but at the same time I was started feeling positive, 'cause at least it showed some effect, which means it is actually working. I started noticing progress on the fifth week and that was about the time I had my next appointment with dermatologist, she came into the room and noticed the progress straight away (which is surprising, because it happened after barely seeing me for the third time in two month, taking into account dozens of other patients that she might have). I confirmed that the progress was quite good, and there are much less new breakouts popping up on face now. She told me to stick with it for another couple of month along with the doxy that she prescribed for my back and chest acne (which worked perfectly btw). After that the I was pleasantly surprised with slow but stable gradual improvement. She told me to come once again in a month or two, but since I was a broke at that time I could not afford going, and I did not have reason to, 'cause my skin was almost perfect. Not that there are no breakout at all, I still get them, but they are much less in size and amount, and there is no cystic acne, as there used to be before the treatment. I am a little disappointed that chest and back acne are coming back, because I stopped taking doxycycline about two month ago. So I still need to go to her sometime soon so she can prescribe me something for that. Anyway, if you've read 'til this sentence, I am impressed, cause I think I wrote way too much. I just really wanted to share my story with you, because I know that the only reason you are looking into these reviews is that either you got prescribed with Epiduo or you want to. My personal advice- go to dermatologist and if he/she prescribes you this, you should stay patient and most importantly- POSITIVE (personally, I believe in the placebo effect to some extent). This is a great treatment for ance, I only wished I got it prescribed before Accutane.

Prior to Epiduo I used Differin for about a year, with fairly good results, but I had to use it morning and evening, and a bit more heavily than is recommended, for it to be effective. But there were too many occasions where I would still develop a few red acne lumps for seemingly no reason, and if I ever went a night without using it, within a few days there would again be a few red lumps developing. In the last month I have switched to Epiduo, and whilst it contains the same 0.1% Adapalene as Differin, it also contains Benzoyl Peroxide which appears to have made a huge difference. My skin has been completely clear since I started using it, I have also had the odd night or two where I have not used it (came home late and fell asleep!) and my skin has remained clear. I think this works for me because the cause of my acne seems to be excessive oil rather than any kind of bacterial problem. I honestly would compare the results to that of taking a course of roaccutane (which I have done in the past) - it's that effective for me. The dryness is minor and whilst there is a bit of redness to my skin, it's nothing particularly noticeable. I also find the consistency of the cream easier to use that the Differin gel.

Okay so I used to use this in my teens but as my skin pretty much cleared up I stopped. My skin suddenly went really bad again these past few years and literally nothing has been working. My skin would clear up for a couple of months but then out of no where it would turn to complete sh*t again. So recently a friend raved about dermalogica medibac kit so I thought why not and gave it a try. The big bumps I had kind of got smaller but I still has comedomes and after 2 weeks I saw no results so I stopped. Anyway I've been getting these facials where they do extractions and kind of laser your skin to try prevent acne and get rid of pigmentation/scars (guys I really recommend this, it's great for your skin and it really does help your acne). she practically yelled at me for changing cleansing regimes (lol oops) BUT since then I've been cleansing day and night with cetaphil and using epiduo. I use it day and night even though it says once at night only. Because I've used it before, the dryness didn't really bother me - you can just moisturise throughout the day. It's been only a couple of days but I can definitely see results. I think it's a combination of the facial but I had some leftover pimples that were purging and they calm down immensely over night with epiduo. My comedomes also seem to be gradually going away but I'll definitely post an update after a couple of more weeks. I've read a lot of negative reviews but it really does work wonders so why not give it a try. If you're looking for faster results you might wanna try going for the facial beforehand Hope this helped!

I had suffered from spots on forehead for years to the point where family and friends would comment and I'd be so embarrassed and self conscious. Antibiotics would help but after the course the spots.would.return. But recently I started epiduo in February and not a single spot since then. No joke this personally is my miracle cure and I'm so confident I won't get any even when my skin gets oily after a long day of exercise or in the sun. People have even commented on my skins improvement and are amazed how my skin transformed. Really recommend this to anyone struggling with spots. I've finished my antibiotic course and just use this now and it's become a lifesaver. Can walk around make make up free and feel good about my skin for the first time in years. Thank you so so much to those who recommended this. Wish I started using it years ago.

I'm 27 years old and have suffered with acne for what seems like forever. At 22, I decided to get on birth control to combat my skin problems. It worked, but I knew this was only a temporary solution. Last year in April, I decided I wanted to get off birth control because I knew it wasn't something I wanted to be in my system forever. By October, my skin was horrible again. I went to see my physician and he prescribed me epiduo. The first few months were hell! I had acne all over my chin, cheeks and an occasional huge zit or two on my neck and forehead. I regretted ever going to my physician. I sent him pictures of my skin and he immediately put me on an oral antibiotic. That seemed to help. My physician, however, didn't want me on an oral antibiotic for such a long period of time. He prescribed me a topical antibiotic, clindamycin, and together with epiduo my skin looks wonderful! I've been on both now for a good six months and looking back at pictures I couldn't believe how horrible my skin was less than a year ago. I say definitely give it a chance. I'm so glad I did. I also recommend getting the epiduo app to track your progress, that's the only way I can look back at what my skin looked like before.

I first started using Epiduo three and a half years ago, as part of a treatment prescribed by a dermatologist. At night I had to wash my face with Avene Cold Cream soap, then apply Epiduo or Differin (I had to alternate between them). I used Avene Clean AC moisturizer in the morning, after washing my face with the soap. He also prescribed me an antibiotic. That treatment took forever to work but eventually it did, and within four months (give or take) I had flawless skin. However, after a couple of months I stopped going to the dermatologist because it was really far away and also because my skin was looking pretty good. Eventually I stopped taking the pills because I couldn't get them without a recipe and I stopped using Epiduo and stick to Differin because I thought it was the same. My acne gradually came back. I've tried a lot of different things since then, including over the counter products such as Estee Lauder's Clear Difference and Avene's Triacneal, but none of them really worked for me. Only now, three years later, it occured to me that it was Epiduo the one doing the trick, and not Differin. So I decided to give it a try again. I started using it daily exactly two weeks ago (I also started taking the antibiotics) and it has completely cleared all my blackheads and those skin colored comedones that are so annoying. However I've been getting a lot of red, painful pimples. I'm not sure if that's my skin purging though, because I got my period recently and I've been also eating like sh*t. Unfortunately it has made my skin really dry and itchy. The first couple of days it also burned for like an hour after I applied it, but not anymore. In my opinion, all of that is worth it as long as it works, you just have to use a really good moisturizer with SPF. Something else I noticed is that at least for me, it doesn't make pimples go away any faster. It is, however, supposed to prevent them. It's still too early to say if it really works for me, but I will update this review in a couple of weeks! Wish me luck. UPDATE 07/07/2016: I've been on Epiduo for a little over 6 weeks, and honestly my skin looks so good you wouldn't believe it! I still get pimples but they are small and go away fast. I also still have some blackheads on my nose but those will probably take a little longer, I'm confident they will eventually go away. My skin is the best it has been in months. I'm so happy I decided to give this another try. Most of the side effects have disappeared, but my skin still is really dry. Honestly if you're doubting whether to try this or not, do it now! You just have to stick with it and eventually your skin will get better, pinky promise! UPDATE 07/26/2016: I'm officially acne free. I can't remember the last time I got a new pimple. I still have hyperpigmentation and some blackheads but I'm happy! My skin is 99% clear! However, it is also extremely dry. I have to apply moisturizer several times a day and it still isn't enough. I will try to use Epiduo every two or three days, to see if the dryness is reduced. I won't stop using it, though, because if I do my acne will gradually come back.

This stuff is great - if you use 3x the recommended dose. It comes in a little pump now and I use 2 or 3 pumps twice a day, and it clears up my skin in 4 days tops. It's really drying, just like any BP product, but the results are worth it. I also love how the cream isn't grainy like many BP products are. It doesn't seem to prevent my acne quite as well as it cleared up the existing ones, which is why I decided to give Dan's regimen a try. If the regimen doesn't work better than this stuff, I will most certainly come back to it!