Epiduo FULL REVIEW

Well hello everyone!!
I know a post or two back I told you guys that I was starting Epiduo, the adaplaene and benzoyl peroxide gel that you use nightly for acne. Here is my REVIEW of it after using it for a month.

HERE is this link to the official Epiduo website. All the FAQ's are on there!

WHAT IS EPIDUO & HOW DO YOU YOU IT?
Epiduo is a gel. It is 0.1% adapalene and 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. You use it once nightly before bed time and then (I) wash it off my face in the mornings when I get up.


DISCLAIMER:
Let me start off by saying that this is NO MIRACLE CREAM! I still have acne/scars/cystic acne/etc. I just have much less! I starting noticing the effects within about 3 days.

REVIEW:
Firstly, one of the major down sides to it is DRYNESS. I think you will find that with most acne creams/gels though. My doctors office gave me samples and a kit that had the following in it: 1) Epiduo 2) Cetaphil gentle cleanser wash 3) Cetaphil facial moisturizer with spf in it 4) A card that makes your prescription no more than $35 (My co-pay was less, so I didn't use the card.). The actual cost of the full sized 45GM prescription is around $212.00, so you will DEF want to use this prescription card provided in the sample.
I have been using Benzoyl Peroxide Creamy Face Wash 10% for years now(I actually stopped using it about 4 months ago because my face quit reacting to it), and the Epidou still caused dryness for me. At night you CAN put a moisturizer over the Epiduo, but I still find some dryness the next day.

OVERALL:
If you can get your hands on some samples like I did, it is DEF worth a try. I mean, its FREE, why not?! I'm sure just like all the other acne medications out there, my skin will eventually get immune to it and I'll have to find something else. If you've read ANY of my other acne blogs, you will find that I have been through lots of doctors, medications, prescriptions, antibiotics, face washes, $$$$, etc. to help my acne. One of my doctors said that my birth control pill may have something to do with it, but I'm not willing to part with birth control. It has helped me with lots of other "lady problems," and if dealing with acne is a side effect, then so be it. I have tried multiple brands of the pill, and I've had acne with all. They say the testosterone in the Pill can cause acne. What CANT cause acne, right?
I would say that for me, Epiduo has helped A LOT.

BOTTOM LINE:
Try it. 4/5 stars in my opinion.  :)


SIDE NOTE:
The BEST thing I can recommend for you is washing your face with CETAPHIL. Click the link and go to there page. You can print out a coupon for a dollar off, I believe. I think it has also helped my skin a lot, in conjunction with the Epiduo.

**50 FOLLOWERS; THANK YOU! & a small acne blog...**

*OMG 50 FOLLOWERS!!*

You guys are AWESOME! I cant believe 50 people like reading my crazy, random, blogs! Thank you so much! I know I don't blog a ton, but I do it when I can & it is so fun! I love talking to people from all over the world! THANK YOU- THANK YOU- THANK YOU! I have "met" some really sweet people from blogger! :)

--SMALL ACNE UPDATE--

Yesterday I went to my regular doctor for a physical for school and what not, and my doctor even asked me about my acne (thats when you know its bad!). He said he wanted to give me some samples of a gel called Epiduo. You put it all over your face, once a day after washing it. I'm not "holding my breath" that it will work, but hey, I'll try it! Have any of you tried Epiduo before??

Well, I guess that's about it guys! Thanks again for all your sweet words! Talk to you soon :)

My Experience With Acne: From 2005-Now

Hey everyone! I first of all want to give a warning: this post WILL be long. I have had many people ask me about my experience, (what I'm using, etc) and to get the full effect, I will need to go into detail. If you have any questions and you do not want to ask in the comments below, please feel free to e-mail me @ HEATHEREAGLES@AOL.COM.

Ok! I am 21 years old (will be 22 in August) and I have been struggling with acne since I was 15. Now, when I was in high school my acne was mostly "white heads" or just regular pimples. My most common break out area was my forehead. After trying proactive, drug store face washes, etc, and nothing working, I finally consulted a dermatologist.
When I was 17 years old I went to my first dermatologist appointment. I went to a Dr. Smith in my town and to make a long, useless story short, he helped me none. He only wanted to prescribe the "high end" prescriptions to me, and would not settle for generic. For example: one of the creams he prescribed was $250. So I made an appointment with a well known dermatologist in my area, Dr. Girrard, and even though the wait was 2 months to just be seen by her, I waited. My first visit she prescribed me an antibiotic called Minocycline 200Mg a day, tretinonin cream .025%, benzoyl peroxide face wash 4%, and some expensive face lotion I never got filled.
The Minocycline made me so sick every time I took it, to the point where I would throw up! I eventually had to quit taking it. The tretinonin cream was meant to be a "spot treatment" for when a pimple would come up, but when I used it, it totally made my skin peel right off as if I were sunburned. The point of this cream is to make the skin produce new cells more rapidly, in turn, making your skin peel off. I used it for about a week or two, but I saw no results and I honestly didn't like the fact that my skin was peeling off. What REALLY cleared my skin up was the Benzoyl Peroxide Face Wash 4%. After I started using that nightly, my skin cleared up automatically(within a month)!
I used the BP face wash for 4 years(until this year), but my acne started coming back about a year ago in 2010. This time my acne was cystic, which means under the skin. The kind of cystic acne I have starts under the skin (you can not pop this pimple, not that I recommend that, I'm just saying that's how deep it is) and then after about a week it would surface. (Note: some of my cystic acne never surfaced. Some of it went away on its own, and some cysts have been there for months.) My acne is really bad along my chin and jaw line now. It's also on my cheeks and hair line as well. I do get the occasional "forehead cyst" (which hurts very bad and always causes me to have a headache).
After dealing with this for a year, I decided to go back to the dermatologist. In April 2011 I went back to the doctor. She prescribed me Minocycline 200Mg a day (again), benzoyl peroxide face wash 10%, and Clindamycin Phosphate Face Wipes 1%. After taking a full round (60 days) of the Minocycline(which still makes me sick, I just started to get use to it eventually), using the face wipes once to twice a day, and using the face wash twice daily, I still haven't seen much progress.
I will say my acne has minimized some, but not much. A lot of people say "get on birth control" but I have been on the pill for 5 years now.(that was one of the reasons I got on it.) I think my face is tired of BP. I go back for a follow up appointment in July, so I will be sure to post and let you guys know the verdict.

What I would recommend from my experience:

•  Your make up/moisturizer does make a difference. See if the label says "dermatologist tested" or "does not clog pores." I recommend getting something that says both!
• Try benzoyl peroxide if you never have. Mine is prescription, but they actually sell BP 10% at CVS. It may dry out your skin in the beginning, but this did work for me for 3 years.
• I have read success stories of people being on antibiotics like Minocycline, and their acne did clear up. I just don't think my body reacts well to it.
• I do use salicylic acid 2% at night on pimples, and it doesn't always help, but it normally doesn't get worse. 

I tried to make this as short as I could. I did shorten some stuff a good bit, so if you have any questions please let me know! I tried to make this as "readable" as possible. I hope when I go back in July, we can try something that I haven't really tired yet. Having acne at 21 years old is pretty embarrassing. When I get my acne cleared up, I will then focus on scaring...I have quite a bit. :(
Thank you for reading! I hope this was helpful to someone out there! :)