Differin Gel

[texasgal]

Anyone currently on Differin gel or have been on Differin gel? Can you give me any thoughts, opinions, or suggestions on it? Also any skin care recs while I am using it. Thanks In Advance

[cichlid]

I have some of that stuff that I didn't throw out when I stopped the acne medication. I usually use it occassionally and put it on a zit that looks bad. I found it was VERY drying (and I have slightly oily skin!) and it was so bad the skin around my mouth was peeling off in chunks. Very embarrassing until 2-3 weeks when my face got used to it. It was decent with controlling my acne when I took it...I had normal clear skin (dry!) except around that time of the month when my skin would just go crazy.

I stopped with that and went with something more natural and I am much happier with my skin now.

[Bonnie]

Benzoyl peroxide made my face nasty too. My whole face was peeling tremendously, and I was using a moisturizer.

Bonnie

[cichlid]

Benzoyl peroxide made my face nasty too. My whole face was peeling tremendously, and I was using a moisturizer.

Bonnie I used that too...when my ance was worse. My face was not peeling as much as with this differin stuff. The worst that happened was my pillow has some bleach marks as well as some of my sleep shirts.

ETA: I think that is what I used...it's been 4 years since I last used it but I had to keep it in teh fridge.

[physicschick]

I used Differin gel for many years. It's very drying, but it seemed like that's what my skin needed at the time. Definitely use a non-comedogenic moisturizer in conjunction with it. Other than Accutane, which worked well for me, it was the next best medication I had for acne. Differin reduced the frequency of those icky red zits and kept the whiteheads from swelling as much, although it didn't help with cystic acne.

However... Now that I've switched to water only (WO) washing for my face, I've been able to quit using Differin. In the past year or two, I was having increasing problems with dryness, so I was using Differin on an as needed basis. Somehow when I started WO, "as needed" turned into "never." If you're already using a gentle cleanser, this probably won't apply to you. (I was using harsh soap, so I had a lot of issues with oil imbalance.)

--physicschick