Topical Retinoid / Topical Antibacterial
Efficacy
67%
Based on All Available Studies
Strength of Evidence
Topical Retinoid / Topical Antibacterial
Side Effects
Low-Medium
Topical Retinoid / Topical Antibacterial
Acne.org’s Real World Take
A way of using benzoyl peroxide in combination with the topical retinoid, adapalene, that studies show works a bit better than benzoyl peroxide alone. Comes with side effects for the first weeks and can bleach fabric. Note: When used correctly, benzoyl peroxide on its own can completely clear the skin.
Topical Retinoid / Topical Antibacterial
How to Get It
Have a dermatologist? Make an appointment to get this medication. Don't have a dermatologist? See The American Academy of Dermatology Physician Database to find one.
Used Adapalene / Benzoyl Peroxide (Epiduo®)? Rate It:
Choose from 1 to 5 stars
August 7, 2013
Horrible! Just horrible!
I am a 23 year old female. NEVER had issues with acne my entire life until about 3 months ago. Its in my chin region and nowhere else. I went to the dermatologist and he prescribed me Epiduo. It's been exactly a month today that I've been using it every night before bedtime, and it's only made my face worse. Whereas before I had about 4 large cystic pimples on my chin, after epiduo I now have about 12. They WILL NOT go away and are very painful. I do not recommend this product whatsoever. Makes your skin red, itchy, sore, and also makes you peel along with making you breakout even worse. I've read other posts and I know others say after about 3 weeks of using this product they started to see results. Well, not for me. Like I said...its been a month and it's still worse than ever.
July 16, 2013
Oh the frustration
Cons:
Irritation
Doesn't work for my entire face
Losing hope
So I started getting acne around 14 and for years I used OTC products to control it and had relatively nice skin. Over time the product ingredients I was using (benzoyl peroxide, tea tree oil, salicylic acid, etc) lost their effectiveness and so almost a year ago I realized that they no longer worked for me. I am now 20. I began getting breakout after breakout which left much scarring. So after about 6 months of trying all kinds of remedies I decided that I needed to go to a dermatologist. I went and was prescribed epiduo and clindamycin 1% pads. What can I say? Epiduo has mostly been a huge disappointment to me as it has not really changed anything. I have been using it for two months. I went through the initial breakout,dryness, flaking, redness, and irritation in hopes that by the end of it all my acne would be better. However all that effort was to no avail as my acne on my jaw has only gotten worse even after the initial breakout. I had a horrible ib for two to three weeks. After that my skin got better but only briefly. Now my skin is absolutely awful and epiduo hasn't done much to help it. I use it religiously every night to no avail. No change. The dermatologist said epiduo should help with the inflammation and whiteheads I keep getting but no. The only positive is that I don't get much forehead whiteheads now and so I have resorted to growing out my bangs as I no longer need them to cover my forehead acne. However my cheeks look ridiculous as they're covered in scars and new pimples. As soon as one zit goes away two or three more form so it's a constant cycle. Epiduo does seem to help slightly with scarring though but it doesn't do what it's supposed to do for me. I guess my acne is more stubborn than I thought. After all the positive reviews I was hoping it would work for me but at this point I doubt it. I hope it works for you guys though.
June 29, 2013
Epiduo is horable
Pros:
it cleared whiteheads
Cons:
cleared in blotches
overdried
too concentrated
I am a 14 year old girl who lives in San Francisco and has the skin type comb/oily. When I used Epiduo I was perscribed by my doctor to only use it at night with about a pea size and put it all over my face, that was one of the huge problems right there is that for me it was so concentrated that I could barely cover half my face with it. When I used enough to cover my whole face it completely overdried my face and it became flakey and gross. In additiion the the drying out of my face it only cleared in blotches and didn't do anything for cystic acne that I had. Other miner things that I hated about it was I was told to use it with the cetaphil oil control cleanser that did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL it says oil control and my face was as oily as before I used it. I was also told not to use it with anything else but the cleanser and cream and that drove me nuts because when I went to an actual dermatologist they told me that what ever I use should have exfoliation step to take away dead skin cells before treatment and after cleansing and it didn't have that. This cream is also very expensive. All in all the whole thing was a bust!
June 12, 2013
HORRIBLE
Cons:
Break outs
I went to the dermatologist for moderate hormonal breakouts and she prescribed me this, along with an antibiotic. The first couple days I was really happy with the results, then around the 4-6 day mark my face and chest looked TERRIBLE. 20 times worse than before. I've never had problems with breakouts on my forehead until I used this. I broke out EVERYWHERE. I stopped using it and my face is clearing up. I know it is part of the ''initial breakout'' period, but I am not game for having terrible looking skin for a few months, especially my face. I'm not buying the whole ''it pushes the impurities out'' line either. Instead I went and switched birth control and that seems to be helping. I would NOT recommend this, unless you want to stay hidden for a few months before your skin clears up.
May 30, 2013
Bad
Pros:
Zits that u have=gone
Cons:
Prevent? Hell no
I used epiduo for a year and a half. It couldnt prevent my breakouts becuz wen i wuld put it on skin without zits.....it wuld dry me out and make myface burn! But wen you do have a zit....its perf!
May 21, 2013
Cons:
burned, stings, redness
very drying (my skin is crazy oily!!)
breakouts continued
My doctor gave me this for my cystic acne........should have never purchased this!!! I used it like he said for 6 months and my skin had awful cysts and big pimples that didn't go away until a month after I stopped. I finally looked at the ingredients in it to see what was causing this and I found sorbitan oleate. This ingredient is known for causing big acne problems. It also stung my face after every apllication and made it crazy red. People asked me if I had been out in the sun lately. I have very oily, greasy skin and this caused my skin to flake up and peel which was annoying. I do NOT recommend this at all!! Especialy for acne-prone people!!
September 23, 2012
Pros:
Within the first few weeks it did clear my acne, then it all changed --- look at the con's....
Cons:
- Dried up skin so bad
- Burned my skin for the first few weeks
- soar-ness of skin and burning sensation.
- Made my acne 10 times worse!...
- not worth it!.
I went to my GP about my acne, i was getting down about having 10 spots roughly.. I was prescribed this treatment i regret the day i purchased this.
The first couple of weeks i did see a massive improvement then the 2 week in initial break out occurred and i thought ok..fine!...then i thought it would go away and it did sort of but then 4 weeks in i went from 10acne spots roughly to 40!...left me with horrific scarring and my skin has been thinned out so much. I went back to my gp and she told me to use it still so i did for another 4 weeks and each morning i would wake up to another new spot that would only add to the scars.
To me this product is not worth it anymore, it might be great for others but for my skin is was not... it made my acne 10 times worse then before, left with scarring and little open pores on my cheeks.
I use this product only once a day and within 2 months my skin feels destroyed.
September 10, 2012
Pros:
Prevents new breakouts
Cons:
Doesn't treat acne
Causes redness
Makes skin oily-looking
Makes skin very flaky
Flakiness is so excessive, it makes you look like you have dandruff
Not at all worth it. I've been using it for 3 months and I see no changes.
September 9, 2012
Pros:
No redness
No peeling
Cons:
Oily skin
Breakouts worse
I had success with Benzaclin for about 7 years. When I was 22, I started noticing "bumps" under the skin on my cheeks. No amount of exfoliating I did could get rid of them. I went to the dermatologist. She prescribed me Epiduo. I was happy with this choice, as I new I needed a retinoid to solve my skin issues. The first 2 months my skin broke out pretty horribly. Like, worse than I've ever seen. But I research everything and was well aware that this was going to happen initially. Well, I've now been on Epiduo for 5 months. The "initial breakout" never stopped. My skin is bumpy all over, oily (my skin is usually dry), and a complete mess. It NEVER looked this bad before using Epiduo. I know Epiduo helps some people. I have friends with beautiful skin because of it. However, Epiduo is not for everyone. I hate that I have used this for so long, as I know it's going to take a long time to repair the damage that has been done.
September 1, 2012
Pros:
light, clear, not that expensive
Cons:
has not cleared my acne
I use a gentle wash, and light moisturizer afterward every day before going to sleep. It doesn't work for me.
Pros:
No more forehead whiteheads
No more bangs