I'm going to be the one to say try the BP first. It completely cleared my skin up (I don't know if you've looked at the regime at acne.org, but it worked fantastically for me) and I reckon it's definitely worth a try.
Supposedly the trick to it is not to use any benzoyl peroxide stronger than 2.5%, otherwise it overdries your skin. The general consensus seems to be that the best one you can get in the UK is Oxy On The Spot, which you can pick up at Superdrug - I think the only other readily available 2.5% BP in the UK is Panoxyl, and for some reason it doesn't seem to be as well-liked (I think it's a gel rather than a cream, but I've never used it).
I found that for the first week or so that it did dry my skin, but after that it started normalising again, and then it cleared completely. It may not work as well for you but there's no harm in trying, IMO.