Questions for those who use Paula's choice face products

[ProudGrandma]

my dd 16 has mild acne.  She is also allergic to Benzoyl Peroxide.  I bought from Paula's Choice the Clear extra Strength Anti Redness Exfoliating Solution with 2% Saicylic Acid and CLEAR acne cleanser.  (they recommended that to me)

 

She started using it on her face.  So far so good.  Can anybody here give me a general timeline as to how long it will take before we should start seeing results?  I didn't want to give up on this too soon.  The reps said I could exchange it for something different if needed.  

 

Yesterday, I asked (chatted with a rep) about her using it on her back for the pimples she has there.  They told me she could, but also recommended a spray for that purpose.  But then she also mentioned another product with Benzoyl Peroxide in it and when I told her my daughter is allergic, she told me that we might not see much in the way of results without that ingredient unless we went to a dermetologist.

 

I wanted to check with you guys....is that true?  Will the 2 products we bought work...or are we still spinning our wheels? 

 

Please give me your thoughts.  

 

thanks.

 

 

 

[Greta]

Since you described her acne as mild, yes I think the salicylic acid has a very good chance of working.  But, for me at least, it works better at prevention than it does at treatment.  So I'd give it a couple of weeks or maybe even a month to really tell.  Then if she's not pleased with the results at that point, you might take her to a dermatologist.

 

I had very severe acne as a teen that could not be treated with salicylic acid, and like your dd I am also sensitive/allergic/reactive in some way to benzoyl peroxide, so that was never an option.  The determatologist tried me on a retinoid cream first, and even that wasn't enough, so I eventually took Accutane.  I'm sure your daughter won't need Accutane, but a low-dose retinoid cream could help her if the salicylic acid doest't.  But salicylic acid is very good stuff, very effective for mild acne.  That is what my daughter uses, and she's never needed anything stronger/prescription, and she's never used benzoyl peroxide either.

[J-rap]

My kids have found that their acne is stubborn, even the milder forms.  So even the milder forms take awhile to improve.  My dd with severe cystic acne needs to be on strong prescription meds for four months before it finally begins going away.  (Even the dermatologist was about to give up on that treatment and go to the strongest one, Accutane.)  My dd with milder acne who just uses over-the-counter creams needs to be on it a couple months to see improvement.

 

The important that we learned (the hard way) is once it's under control, don't just stop the creams/meds because it will come back.  Keep using them.  Prevention is so much easier than getting rid of it!

 

 

[Ellesmere]

Agreed -- prevention is so much easier so keep up once it is under control.

One of my kids uses Clear cleanser and the same BHA you got. No allergy to benzoyl, so yes, we do use it. BHA is enough for my skin issues but I don't know it would have been enough for my teen acne. But in general I like using it.

But I think I remember your other thread about this and people here and the rep at PC are all saying a dermatologist might be helpful. I think you may want to consider it. 

Just tossing it out there -- disregard if this isn't her trigger -- reducing sugar and/or low fat dairy could be part of the solution, too. We have always only had full fat dairy but for one of my kids, we saw huge improvement with just limiting sugar.

https://www.aad.org/media/news-releases/acne-guidelines
http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2815%2902614-6/fulltext

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/19/172429086/diet-and-acne-for-a-clearer-complexion-cut-the-empty-carbs
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/well/eat/yes-foods-may-fight-acne.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/health/nutrition/11real.html
 

 

[Ms Brooks]

For what it is worth--We've found that acne/blemish products make acne/blemishes worse. Most of the products are designed to strip skin of its natural oils to reduce acne, but what happens when skin is striped of its oils? Skin produces more oil and acne breakouts increase rather than decrease. Cystic acne is deeper. None of my kids had cystic acne. They just had normal teenage pimples.

 

My youngest DD discovered that if she cleaned her skin less often (once a day) her breakouts decreased. She also discovered if she used Jojoba oil on her face--Jojoba oil is not an oil but a wax most similar to skin sebum--that her skin cleared. She uses an aloe gel on blemishes. I was skeptical of this approach. She had bad facial pimples boarding on acne before using jojoba oil and aloe. The Jojoba oil is nothing special. I bought it at Trader Joe's along with the aloe gel. The Jojoba oil is also a great make-up remover.

 

Drinking water might help. DD does have some back acne from swimming. I suspect that she not only sweats throughout swim practice, but the chlorine/salt pool water is very drying. We've not yet tried the Jojoba treatment on her back. 

 

[MEmama]

The PC products work for my son to a degree. The biggest hurdle is getting him to actually wash his face daily; when he's diligent and thorough there is a big improvement, but getting him to care and be consistent is a work in progress. My thought is that if he used the soap twice a day instead of just at night it would improve much quicker. But when he doesn't use it at all, I definitely notice. Active teens need to keep their skin clean! Lol

 

Fwiw his diet is squeaky clean and he works out 1-2 hours a day. His acne is the normal, hormone related type, probably exasperated by sweat.

[6packofun]

I agree with Greta.  With Salicylic Acid I'd give it at least 2-3 weeks before deciding if it really is working or not.  Also, as someone else said, acne products can be pretty stripping and so when my dds were using this, they'd apply an oily skin moisturizer from PC 1 or 2 days a week in addition to the acne stuff.  Moisturizer sounds counterintuitive but it's not as long as it's non-comedogenic and very light.

[Bensmom]

My ds had been using Paulas Clear cleanser for several months and would still have a few tiny pimples. I took him to a dermatologist who gave us a rx for three new products. His skin went from mild acne to horrible, red, sore-like acne. He now just uses PC, and once again has just a few, tiny pimples at any given time.