I was thinking we can list some things that hasn't worked for people on this board. One thing that hasn't worked as good for me as it used to on my face is BP. It works ok, but I used to see much better results.

Ive wasted my money on so many things, its hard to list all of them. Here are a few that were crap:

Burts bees wild lettuce soap and toner
Carleys smooth and clear
PureZone

What I like:
Cetaphil
jojoba oil
Neutrogena Multi vitamin topical

overnight blemish patches. totally didn't even help a little.

Well obviously this will not be bad for everyone.

Absolute worst product ever tried:
BENZACLIN

Other bad products
Differin
Triaz
Benzoyl Peroxide
Murad
Proactiv


My best and only products:
Skinoren (Azelex)
Klaron
QH Mint Julep
Sulfamethoxazole or Minocycline

Useless:
Nature's Cure
On-the-spot blemish pads
Tea trea oil blemish stick
BP 2.5%
Tetracycline (pills)

Useful:
Neostrata facial cleanser
Neostrata solution for oily/acne-prone skin
Burt's Bees tomato toner
Cleocin T (topical)
Minocycline (pills)

Trainboxer, I should add to my post above that, like you, I used to get results from BP. Now that I'm ancient (over 30) it doesn't work, but just sort of burns the skin. Weird.

burt's bees wild lettuce soap didnt work for me
pro activ's ben per caused allergic reaction
didnt like cetaphil too much like purpose cleanser better
bye bye blemish-total waste of time
queen helene's mint julep mask-waste of time again

didn't work/useless :

any BP or BHA face wash (just dries me out)
proactiv
any oral medications (not sure why)
anything clearasil or clean & clear
overnight patches

did work/using currently :

burts bees wild lettuce soap
burts bees garden tomato toner (every other day)
DDF Benzoyl Peroxide Gel w/ Sulfur (every other night)
Aqua Glycolic Face Cream (on the other night - makes my skin so soft & never once broke me out)
Neutrogena Multi Vitamin Lotion (thin layer every morning)
also - DDF pumice acne scrub 2 to 3 times a week AND before I shave - very gentle and effective !

Isn't it amazing how everyone is SO different !
And yet were all here talking about one thing - acne !

[This message has been edited by JimC981 (edited 05-28-2003).]

Worst:
Differin
Tetracycline
Overnight Blemish Patches

Best:
Accutane
Azelex

Just like when we did this a few weeks back, we're going to conclude that acne is a puzzling condition to cure. What some like, others love.

I'd have to say that Tazorac and Retin-A made my face the absolute worst, but then again, anything I don't list in the best category probably belongs here too. (These hundreds of thrown-out products are too numerous to mention.)

Best: OXY BP, OXY wash, ALL Paula's Choice products except the cleanser and mask (neutral on this one), B5 and other vitamin supplements, Burt's Bees Wild Lettuce soap, Trienelle cream, jojoba oil, oil blotting papers, Oc8 and Clinac OC oil inhibitors,and Mary Kay Mask #3 for oily skin. I am good to go with all these and nothing else--ha, ha, "nothing else," as if these weren't enough already!

Hi, all. I stumbled upon this place when researching acne products. This may become my new haven as no one else I know has a major problem with acne.

Products I've found useless:
Tetracycline (topical and oral)
Erythromycin
Cleocin T
Retin-A (I always will blame this product for giving me cystic acne)
Any OTC acne washes and pads
Bactrim (only because I was immediately allergic)

Products I've found useful:
Proactiv (unfortunately the amazing results were only temporary and the system stopped working)
Tazorac (absolutely love this. At first I was skeptical that it would work, but I kept at it and lo and behold I have face free of acne. As my face cleared, I was deathly afraid of the scars that were being left behind, but Tazorac is doing a wonderful job of smoothing my skin)
Plexion Ts (not too sure about this one. Seems to have worked for acne control, yet I notice that when I use it my face becomes red as a tomato. I figure that I could be having an allergic reaction to it as well as the Bactrim because they are both sulphur based.
Doxycycline (not exactly sure if it would work on its own because I'm taking it along with Tazorac and Plexion Ts)

What didn't work:
Retin-A
Differin
BP of all kinds
Proactiv


What worked:
1000 mg Erythromycin 1x day (ya, this actually reduced my acne to 1-3 a week. so good) but this took 6 months to take into effect!

Funny - I hated Neutrogena Multi-Acne or whatever it's called. I tend to be a big Neutrogena fan but this one was a total miss. Give me my beloved Healthy Skin Lotion (nonSPF formula)!

Benzoyl Peroxide - make my skin super dry, red, itchy

Salicylic Acid - didn't work and never will work for me don't know why its even recommended for acne

Antibiotic - Useless never work..acne is more than bacteria infection

Glycolic Acid Peel - 60% cause scarring

ProActive - Dont'work. Same as regular BP with 2.5%. Less irritating.

Chinese herb and Chinese Pill for acne - don't even do anything. Waste of $$$.

Triloscan antibacterial wash (i.e. clearasil wash)- don't work. does it really kill bacteria?

Astrigent like Sea Breeze and Ten-O-Six - don't work. maybe better for cuts or infection than acne.

Sulfur and Zinc cream - sulfur do nothing but give bad breath. Zinc cream not sure, didn't use it enough.

Only thing work for my breakout is isotrex and maybe accutane. But don't work for cysts beneath my skin. From my experience I say acne is 100% hereditary. And just get worse from stress.



[This message has been edited by axiom (edited 08-13-2003).]

Didnt work:
- Proactive Solution
-Anything with BP or SaL. Acid
- Murad Skincare (Worked good for about a year, then I guess my face grew immune to the system)
-Differein (Worked GOOD when I was in middle school, but not in college

Currently using Derma Cleanse right now

Well a few things that are crap is:

Natures Cure
Those salyic acid overnite bandages
salyic acid
BP

I havent found anything that'll work for me yet, but some of the things i listed probably work wonders on other people so it really just means for you to try everything out and see which works for you. I also think that some people consider that if a product doesnt work within a week, they throw it away, and consider it worthless.

Wow, my list is longer than all of u guys.. Well, i had clear skin until late high school, where i would just get breakout once a month.. then it progressively gotten worse when i started college that there will be days when i'll ditch class cuz of my ugly face. Well, i know its hormonal and stress--time to fix that!

Here are the tried and WORSE products: (that either never worked, or just temporarily worked, or made my skin horrible)

- Clinque antibacterial soap, mild face soap
- BioTherm Acne face wash, toner, and moisturizer
- Dr. Hauschka's cleansing milk, moisturizer and clay mask (they were OK... but wasnt sure if it was good enough for my skin--i'd recommend it though)
- Clean and Clear Deep Action Cleanser
- Neutrogena Cleanser/mask
- Neutrogena Deep Clean
- Neutrogena BHA scrub
- Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Scrub
- Aveeno Clear Skin Cleanser
- Cetaphil (gave me blkheads!)
- Nivea Balanced cleanser for combo skin (didnt clean very well at all!)
- Biore Blemish fighting cleanser
- Loreal HydraFresh
- St. Ives for sensitive skin
- Queen Helene Facial Scrub
- ProActiv (oh god, my skin was sooo greasy!!!)
- Carley's (never again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
- Nature's Cure (uh huh)
- All BP cream (made my skin all tight and shiny)
- AnnieMarie Borlind U series

The ones that worked pretty well but were dull:

- pHisoderm for sensitive skin (cleared me up but then my skin got used to it)
- Dr. Hauschka's Product

The one im using right now that seems to be really good: (knock on wood)

- Desert Essence Clean Face Wash (I really like it, keeps my skin feeling clean and fresh for a long time.. it contains organic tea trea oil as well.. have no problems with it at all.. can be found at local health food stores)
- 10% Glycolic Peel lotion (its fading away my dark spots, acne scars and clearing up my pimples) =) best ever.. sorry i dont rememeber the brand name right now, but its also from a health food stores.

I rather choose products that are natural and organic rather than slathering chemicals on my skin.

There are more to list.. but i cant remember them on top of my head.. haha.

goodluck to u all!

:}