Benzoyl Peroxide – How to Determine if it Will Work For Your Skin

Despite my best efforts, my 14 year old recently started breaking out. Not a big-time breakout, but one that her daily application of Salicylic Acid couldn’t fully combat.

For a couple of weeks, I encouraged her to consider trying benzoyl peroxide since her pimples were becoming more prominent. At first, she rolled her eyes. Then, after a couple more mentions, she told me what she was doing was working fine. Then, that was followed by her telling me that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

So, if any of you parents think that my actually OWNING an acne treatment company might have some pull with a teenager,  MY teenager, you are wrong. Teenagers are just a completely different beast.

Not surprising to many of you, what it took for her to finally agree to try benzoyl was… her friend talking about how amazing it worked for her acne.

Despite the heavy eye rolling and sighs, I have to count myself lucky in that my teenager is relatively good at following instructions and she is consistent with everything, including skincare routines. So when I explained to her the start up process for benzoyl, she followed it to a T.

For those of you who are not aware of the start up instructions for benzoyl, here is a rough overview:

• First 3 nights, apply for one hour, then wash off
• Next 3 nights, apply for 2 hours, then wash off
• Next 3 nights, apply for 3 hours then wash off
• Wear overnight

We ask people to do this gentle build up because there is a small percentage of the population who are sensitive or allergic to Benzoyl Peroxide (~4.5%). The actual term for this allergy is allergic contact dermatitis. This is a very low percentage, which is good because Benzoyl Peroxide is the singularly most effective topical ingredient when it comes to preventing acne from forming. BUT, the problem is that you don’t know if you are allergic until you apply it.  So we ask clients to slowly build up their application so we have time to assess how their skin reacts to it.

In the case of my daughter, we had an unexpected outcome. After one night, her skin reacted normally. She then applied it a second night for 1 hour, washed it off and went to bed. The next morning, she woke me up in a panic – her face was swollen, red and itchy. I was surprised that this reaction came after 2 applications and not after the first one. I gave her some Benadryl and sent her to school.  That night, she did not apply any benzoyl and I assured her that she would be back to normal the next day.

The next day, she woke up and she was actually worse. I again gave her Benadryl and sent her on her way. I spoke to Pamela and she told me to have her ice her face and revert back to her previous routine of cleanser, salicylic acid, vitamin C gel and moisturizer.

Finally, on the third day, she had improved considerably. Her skin looked much better and she told me that despite the reaction, her acne had improved drastically in such a short period of time that she was sad she could obviously not continue using benzoyl.

That bring us to today – one week later. Her skin is completely back to normal and we are about to start her on the alternative acne fighting medication using the Sulfur Formula. That is the bright light in this situation – that there is an alternative treatment for people who are sensitive to Benzoyl Peroxide which is Sulfur Formula. It is extremely effective but some people are nervous because they think sulfur = smelly. Our sulfur medication smells nice, I promise! 🙂

If you are considering starting benzoyl peroxide, please contact us and we will walk you through how to start the ramp up in order to determine whether or not you have a sensitivity to it. Most likely, you will not. Like I mentioned above, a very small percentage of the population has that sensitivity. But again, you won’t know if you are among that group until you start using it.

I you have questions about this topic or ANYTHING else skin-related, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

Email: clearskin@ninjaskincare.com

Text/Phone: 925.933.8425