Proactive reatcion

[Katiemcgee]

Hi there, I am an adult woman who suffers with occasional pimples and blackheads....my son uses Proactive and it works great for him. However, I had some breakouts the other day and used his proactive for the first time.
My face is burned, and my undereye area is a mess. I can't put anything on it to help the dryness or the rash because it burns so badly I have to wipe it off immediately. I even tried mild aloe vera and that didn't help. Will this go away on it's own, or should I see a doctor?
IT looks worse than the pimples I had there, (of course they are gone, burned away I presume)...I called and e-mailed Proactive, but still have not gotten any response.
PLEASE HELP!
Katie

[LisaMarie982001]

I wouldn't put anything at all on your face for a few days. Just maybe splash some warm water on once a day or twice if you have very oily skin. Be.c you said it's dry now from being burnt i would only do this once. I would call the derm but i'm not sure if they can do anything right now be/c I would think it just needs to heal but they might beable to give you some kind of cream i dont know. It's worth a shot. But i'm sure it will go away but it's going to probably take a few days if not a week. Just needs time to heal. Hope this makes you feel better.

[VM25]

What product did you use from Proactiv?

[Melissa765]

I know you said that you tried aloe and it made it worse, but have you tried any sunburn lotions? They often have lidocaine too, which would give an immediately "cooling" and "numbing" feeling to the area. That's what I used when I had a bad reaction to Proactiv! Also, you may want to try a little hydrocortisone cream... I thought it was just for itching, but turns out that they use it for any sort of skin inflamation too. I hope you feel better soon! Take care!

[TaylorY]

By reading your post, I can conclude that that either 1. your skin isn't used to Benzoyl Peroxide, and you're having the 'hardening effect,' where your skin gets used to the BP; many people experience this when using BP for the first time. The less likely reason, 2. You're allergic to Benzoyl Peroxide. About 1-3% of people are allergic to Benzoyl Peroxide. To be honest, the three pimples you had would have gone away quicker if you had just left them alone. Proactiv is more for long-term use, rather than using it for a week to speed the healing of a few papules or pustules. You will probably have a breakout within the next month, because of the 'initial breakout,' of starting new skin products, and the irritation your skin is going through right now. The most help I can give you right now is to take two ibuprofen or aleve as directed (about every 8 hours), to reduce irritation and redness and any possible swelling; and to use a very gentle cleanser like Cetaphil. Don't use any Benzoyl Peroxide, Salicylic Acid, Resorcinol, or Sulfur until about a week after the stinging goes away.