The Student Room Group

Acne Treatment

What really does work? I know there are lots of threads like this and i have read them but i have a few specific questions and previous experiences. My acne is mild/moderate and varies in severity. In the passed i have taken advice such as drinking lots of water changing bed sheets and towels often aswell as using clearsil skin cream. However this doesn't really seem to be working i want to know what the next treatment i should consider? I don't really want to take antibiotics because of the side effects and i dont know that its very healthy. Can anyone offer advice? And what are your views on benzoyl peroxide?

Thanks in advance sorry if there are too many of these threads already
I take the benzoyl peroxide 5% along with some 50mg antibiotics, and they work fine! I have a couple of spots, but thats about it... but if you miss treatment for a day or two, you might huge spots, which are red and then dry and become pretty disgusting :/

And avoid dairy products!
Reply 2
Have you tried mixing a little mouthwash with some antiseptic (savlon works better for me)
Reply 3
My tryed and trusted method for cleansing and preventing acne is as follows.

Every night before bed i clean my face with a cotton bud soaked in surgical spirit, stings a little bit but thats the stuff just doin its job :smile:

After you have done that, apply Tea Tree Cream (available from most chemists) to any areas of your face affected by the acne.

This is tryed and tested :smile:
Reply 4
meh, i want something that clears up your skin FAST. nothing has worked for me. not even antibiotics and clearasil is a joke.
Reply 5
What about Freederm, I have seen it advertised, not sure if it works though.
Reply 6
If you want fast, mix hydrogen peroxide with liquid antiseptic and disolve an aspirin in it you can add mouthwash as well. Dab it on your spots.
Reply 7
that sounds lethal.
Reply 8
Yeah. It is potent. I wouldn't use it for minor ones. Only those doozers on your nose or something.
Reply 9
meh, i don't have any on my nose, or on my cheeks really. just on my forhead and i hate photos because of it as they always show up. but even if my skin feels smooth and pimple free, often you can still see remnants of acne. :confused:
I'm dark skinned. My acne scarred face is gonna stay with me for years.
Reply 11
roaccutane is gunna be your best bet. i tried loads of things before it and none of it worked. i can say that they worked you would see the effect almost straight away. only downside is that they can have some side effects i found that they made me a bit depressed so i had to have the dosage reduced but if you desperately want to get rid of your acne then id go for them. oh yeh btw just go to your gp and say you've tried everything else etc and wondered if theres any other things you could try. they set me on some different antibiotics first which didnt work so they put me on the roaccutane. hope this helps
Reply 12
I cant reccomend benzonyl peroxide enough one of my brothers friends had acne real bad and he said after using this for a week it really did help and hed tried loads of the other different creams and eating healthily etc. It dries out your skin a bit but it really did seem to work. I used to have acne as well and wish i knew about it then but I didnt know where to get it from but he found it on ebay and everyone including me was impressed with the effect he still has some marks left on his face but the main acne has completely gone. Im not sure whether he keeps applying it though or just stopped after it had worked. It might cost a bit but if your looking for a solution then I really would try out that and good luck with it as well.
Reply 13
I take tetralysil which seems to work really well for me.
Reply 14
ok. just got some benzoyl peroxide. hope this does work! i am taking zinc too which i've heard is good for clearing up acne scarring.
Reply 15
freederm really worked for me, i had moderate acne and it seemed to clear them up really fast. expensive tho, but i found it was worth it

im allergic to benzol peroxide so i had to avoid that
if you want something that works, and you are preaped to buy a girly product from the body shop......... then get teatree oil foam fash wash - it really works

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/The_Body_Shop_Tea_Tree_Oil_Foam_Face_Wash__5095319
Reply 17
i put a layer of benzoyl peroxide over the spot-prone areas every morning and night, then a layer of moisteriser. its the routine from acne.org. if you have scars, vitamin e oil.

i've tried a lot of stuff, including freederm, oxyonthespot, clearasil, clean and clear facial wipes foaming wash, ketsugo, toothpaste, tea tree oil straight, tea tree oil facial wash, sudocrem, neutrogena visibly clear, T-zone...
antibiotics work, they cleared my skin but theres negatives to them.
Reply 18
If you're really worried then go to your doctor. Mine prescribed me a cream called Differin adapalene, which you apply to just the spots. I found it really worked and they've really cleared up, though that may also be due to getting older as well. The cream reduces the redness and dries them out which is good because they go quicker, but bad because you get dry skin if you over-use it, so I use a moisturiser in the day, and the spot cream at night.