Hey guys! I was wondering if anyone knew of a good acne treatment? It's actually for my younger brother because he's been breaking out like crazy lately (the whole puberty thing ya know?) and I've tried all the treatments that I've used before, but none of them seem to work on him! = Here's the list of products I've used so far:

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash
Neutrogena Clear Pore Oil-Eliminating Astringent
Neutrogena Rapid Clear Acne Eliminating Spot Gel
Clean & Clear Morning Burst Shine Control Scrub
Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment
Clearasil Ultra Acne Solution System (Daily Face Wash, Toner & Lotion)
Proactiv Solution System (Revitalizing Cleanser, Toner & Lotion)
Differin (Prescriptive medication)
Retin-A (Prescriptive medication)
Cucumber slices (Yes the veggie =P)
Fresh aloe vera gel from leaves (We bought the aloe vera leaves from the Asian supermarket xP & it's a treatment my Auntie recommended o_O?)

The weird thing is that all these treatments (excluding the cucumber slices & fresh aloe vera gel xD) pretty much worked for me one time or another, but none of them seem to work for him o_O?

You could try pure tea tree oil but make sure its PURE though, cuz the not pure ones don't work. You can dilute it with water or use it undiluted. You should try Desert Essence or Jason's Natural Cosmetics.

You know, I just purchased Clinique's Foaming Acne Wash about a week ago and am pretty happy with the results so far. I don't know why, but I have had this little posse of whiteheads hanging out underneath the left side of my mouth that I could not for the life of me get rid of. I was using the Clearsil Acne Scrub in conjunction with my Alpha Hydrox Foaming Facial Cleanser (my usual daily wash), but to no avail. My husband swears by the Clearsil, but he doesn't really count on this forum since he is half Polish and half German.

Anyhoo, the Clinique Foaming Acne Wash has really helped in dispersing my pesky whiteheads in a weeks time. I am currently using the Clinique wash on my affected areas and Alpha Hydrox cleanser all around. Hope this helps.

yay! a place where im able to help at (ive been through acne a bunch and i love to help people!)

did u use those products one after another when one of them didnt work? cuz if u did, then maybe thats why the products arent working.

my sister had the same problem. she tried a bajillion things and it either didn't do any help, or, it made her acne worse. u have to give the skin a break because it gets confused when jumping from one product to another. it keeps having to adjust and ends up frustrating the skin.

also, find out if ur brother is allergic to anything in the products if possible. i didn't kno i was allergic to any form of sulfur at the time i used Proactiv Solution. i used the mask, which is composed practically of sulfur galore and it made my breakout worse.

as for the prescription Differin Gel and Retin-A micro, u have to give them time. im currently using Retin-A micro and it works fine, however, i have used Retin-A micro a few years ago and "it didn't work for me" only to realize that its one of those "get worse before it gets better"....and the thing is, u have to follow that even though its terrible seeing the acne go worse. right now, im not gettin that "gets worse before it gets better" thing, so thats good. and also, retin-A micro is prescribed in many different percentages so the dermatologist might have given too low or too high of a percentage.

depending on how bad his acne is, i think he might even need antibiotics/pills..i had to use pills when i was in 6th grade and my acne wasnt even that severe. it made my acne go away pretty quick. im not tryin to promote these products but i really want to help ur brother out cuz i kno acne really doesn't give a great feeling.

but whatever u do, try to stay away from the product i had to use: accutane. though its a miracle in pills, it damages ur mind (and dried me up into a prune, including my bones!), but im really sure neither ur brother or u need to use it.

currently right now im using Aveeno Ultra-calming foaming face wash and the same type of moisturizer (almost one of the few that doenst have sulfur for me) and it has done me great. i say that ur brother give his skin a huge break first before going back into trying stuff.

hope i helped some!!! i wish i can help people in makeup but im not so good at it, so im happy that i can actually write somethin im experienced in. see u later! hope things go well :)

I heard Witch Hazel is really good for break-outs. I have yet to try it though ;-)

Two prescription antibiotics that really worked for me were Clindamycin and Metronidazole. Retinoids didn't do anything for me but make my face look red and puffy. I'm off prescription meds now and I'm using a routine involving Neutrogena Acne Wash and an aspirin/honey mask. The aspirin itself is a beta hydroxy acid (salicyclic acid) and it's been working wonders for my acne. Crunch up some uncoated aspirin tablets, mix in some honey, apply it to the face, and leave in for about 10-20 minutes.

I just wanted to ask: Does Proactiv really work? I mean I've seen all the commercials and stuff but does it work for asian people?

Boy this is gonna be a lonnng post. But i've had a few issues with acne before thanks to puberty. First of all, what kind of acne does your brother have? Is it more of like blackheads, whiteheads and just really congested pores? or is it more of the big red painful bumps?

Retinoid treatments are vitamin A derivatives (Differin, Retin-A) and are usually very effective against the kind of acne where you get blackheads, whiteheads. And yes these do take a while to work before you see results and most likely will get worse before it gets better. This is because it causes really rapid cell turnover. So basically it's causing the skin cells to sort of shed faster. So any congested pores or acne legions that aren't even visible yet will be pushed up to the surface. Which is why your acne maybe temporarily worsen while on this and your skin's prob. gonna be real flaky and dry too. It's important to moisturize and use sunscreen with this since it does cause sensitivity to sunlight.

Topical Antibiotics are the gels or creams that contain antibiotics in them that you apply to your skin (Clindamycin Gel, Erythromycin Gel) and Oral Antibiotics the kind you take by mouth (Tetracycline, Doxycycline, Minocycline, and even broad spectrum antibiotics such as Augmentin) are useful in treating the big ugly red bumpy type of pimples. Since they kill the bacteria that causes the inflammation and basically infection associated with this type of acne.

I suggest that if your brother has tried many over the counter acne products and they haven't given him much success to maybe go see a doctor or even better a dermatologist. Hopefully treatments prescribed to him will work. But if not the doctor may prescribe him Accutane which is also a vitamin A derivative like retiniods but is taken orally and it pretty much permanently reduces the amount of oil your skin produces.

Now about Pro-Activ I think it gets too much hype and is wayy too over priced. The cleanser and repairing lotion both contain 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide which is a very very common over the counter acne fighting ingredient. You can find face washes and lotions with benzoyl peroxide at any drugstore (Clearisil, Neutrogena, Clean and Clear, etc.) so just check the ingredients label on the back. They even sell cheap kits around $20 that are very similiar to Pro-Activ, so why not give those a try?

srry for the long post! i hope some of this helps and doesnt put you to sleep lol.

And btw if anyone got really really confused by my post or has questions, feel free to ask. I'm not that great at explaining things lol.

Proactiv worked a little bit for me. It cleared my skin but not completely, so I still got breakouts every now and then. I don't recommend it though -- it dried me up and my skin developed an immunity to it, so my acne got progressively worse.

About Retin-A, how long does it take for your acne to get better after you start using it? I tried it for about three months and all it did was make my face all red and swollen.