Benzoyl peroxide has become somewhat of a boogieman in the natural acne treatment movement. And there\u2019s no shortage of myths like \u2018my skin gets addicted to BP\u2019 and \u2018when you quit your acne comes back with a vengeance\u2019. As with all myths, there\u2019s grain of truth in those, but they are ultimately based on misconceptions. I think this is sad, because these myths cause people to shun this cheap and potentially effective acne treatment.<\/p>\n
There are, of course, legitimate reasons to avoid benzoyl peroxide, such as allergy, but I believe most people shun it for the wrong reasons. So give me a few minutes and I\u2019ll do my best to set straight some of the myths. And once I\u2019m done \u2018promoting\u2019 it, let me tell you why I quit it and some experiences after it.<\/p>\n
According to Wikipedia benzoyl peroxide is an organic compound of the peroxide family. Upon contact with the skin it breaks into benzoic acid and oxygen, and this oxygen acts as a free radical in the skin destroying cells and bacteria it comes in contact with.<\/p>\n
To understand why it works we should take a moment to understand the earliest stages of the acne formation process. As a skin pore gets blocked because of excess keratin, sebum and dead skin cells, it forms a microcomedo, basically just a fancy medical term for a blocked pore. At this stage there are still no (abnormally high numbers of) bacteria in the microcomedo, they will set up a shop little bit later.<\/p>\n
BP can prevent acne at this stage because the oxidizing action destroys the cells that block the skin pore. At later stages of acne formation it can control inflammation \u2013 by destroying the white blood cells that trigger the inflammatory process<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not exactly a precision weapon, and I have to admit there\u2019s certain appeal in this blunt force approach. Regardless, there\u2019s no denying the fact that BP works. It\u2019s one of the most successful acne treatments ever discovered.<\/p>\n Unfortunately most acne treatments use benzoyl peroxide the wrong way. Their idea for treating acne is to heap BP on top of BP and finish it off with a little bit more of BP. It\u2019s almost as if these people believe acne is caused by lack of BP on your face!<\/p>\n Researchers and dermatologists have long believed that the P. Acnes bacteria initiate and cause acne, and therefore a lot of the research has been focused on ways to kill it. But already 50 years ago there was data<\/a> to show this view is incomplete and misses the point on acne. That it was oxidative (or inflammatory) damage to the fatty acids in sebum that starts acne. In doing research for my book I\u2019ve read several studies that show inflammation contributes to both excess keratin and sebum production. And biopsies have shown inflammatory damage even in the earliest stages of the acne formation process.<\/p>\n Not to mention that many modern studies call into question the role of bacteria in causing acne, such as this one.<\/p>\n Comedogenesis appears to be independent of bacterial infection and may be driven by high levels of bioactive interleukin-1\u03b1 derived from ductal hyperkeratinocytes.<\/p>\n Eady E, et al. Is Acne an Infection of Blocked Pilosebaceous Follicles?: Implications for Antimicrobial Treatment<\/a>. American Journal of Clinical Dermatology. July\/August 2000 – Volume 1 – Issue 4 – pp 201-209.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is not to say that bacteria don\u2019t affect acne. They absolute do have a role to play, but it only comes later when the comedo has formed. They colonize the blocked pore later and in doing so ramp up inflammation in the area.<\/p>\n The problem with heaping BP on top of BP to treat acne is that it misses the mark on how acne forms. It can still be effective, but in doing so you are subjecting your skin to a lot of unnecessary stress. And this is how a lot of those misconceptions about BP are born. If you rely too much on it, you aren\u2019t really taking care of your skin. What you are doing is \u2018nuking\u2019 away the problem. And because your skin is not in good condition, your acne will come back worse when you stop using BP.<\/p>\n Luckily there\u2019s a better way. Much better way. If you treat acne \u2018the right way\u2019, before it even gets a chance to form, you can save your skin a lot of trouble and you don\u2019t have to worry about the post-BP mess on your face.<\/p>\n As I mentioned above, there\u2019s good evidence to show that we can cast the blame for acne on inflammation. This initial inflammation stimulates keratin and sebum producing cells to ramp up production that then leads to a blocked pore. It also consumes oxygen from the blocked pore and thus creates the ideal environment for P. Acnes bacteria to thrive.<\/p>\n This theory states that if you could protect your skin from inflammation you could prevent acne. And there are quite a few studies that show this indeed is the case \u2013 at least to a degree. For example, studies have pitted vitamin B3 and vitamin C derivate sodium ascorbyl phosphate<\/em> (SAP) head to head against both benzoyl peroxide and topical antibiotics. While not conclusive, the results from these studies are encouraging. Both B3 and SAP have been found equally effective or even better than BP or topical antibiotics, the current gold standards in acne treatment. I should say that I\u2019m talking about topical application of vitamin B3 and SAP, not supplements.<\/p>\n Though the results from these studies are encouraging, I don\u2019t mean to say that antioxidants can completely prevent acne. Perhaps for some people they can, but I still think in most people they can cut down on your acne a lot but don\u2019t get rid of it completely.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s where the smart use of benzoyl peroxide comes into play. Instead of heaping on BP on top of BP, I think it\u2019s a far better idea to use it \u2018strategically\u2019. To use it little bit to open the skin pores that got blocked despite the antioxidants and to keep bacteria under control. This way your skin doesn\u2019t get \u2018addicted\u2019 to BP and quitting it won\u2019t make a complete mess of your face. You aren\u2019t relying on BP completely, you are just using it to finish the job.<\/p>\n This is also the reason I like Exposed Skincare<\/a> and keep promoting it on this blog. I don\u2019t pretend that it\u2019s perfect. I still think it relies a little too much on BP and salicylic acid, but those are balanced with green tea and other antioxidants. So it should be far gentles of your skin than Proactiv or other acne treatment brands.<\/p>\n To put my money where my mouth is, I stopped using BP a couple of weeks ago. Mostly out of curiosity. I wanted to see what would happen to my skin after I stopped using it. To see what the fuss about it is. I wasn\u2019t using a lot of it. I only applied 2.5% BP cream once a day, and 30 minutes later I followed it up with an antioxidant cream that contains green tea and resveratrol<\/a> and little bit of tea tree oil. So I was doing what I\u2019m recommending you to do, and BP wasn\u2019t a huge part of my skin care regimen. I also wanted to see how much of my success was due to BP and how much was due to the other things I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n As I was using BP my skin was more or less perfect. I got perhaps one small red dot on my face once a week, and even that was gone the next day. My skin was still somewhat oily but I wasn\u2019t breaking out at all.<\/p>\n After I stopped using BP\u2026 well\u2026 things remained more or less the same. During these 2 to 3 weeks since I stopped using BP I haven\u2019t noticed big changes on my skin. It has gotten little bit worse. I do notice that I get a few more small red marks, but you wouldn\u2019t notice those without careful scrutiny, and they are gone within a day or two.<\/p>\n Of course 3 weeks is not long enough, and perhaps my skin takes a dip sometimes later. I doubt it, but it\u2019s a possibility.<\/p>\n I hope this article has cleared some of the confusion surrounding benzoyl peroxide. I do think there\u2019s a role for it in most skin care regimens.<\/p>\n Unfortunately most people use it the wrong way, which can lead to problems. Such as your ‘skin getting addicted to it’. But when you use it correctly, and take certain precautions, it’s both cheap and can do miracles.<\/p>\n UPDATE<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s been almost 6 months now since I wrote this post. My skin hasn’t suffered any negative consequences of quitting BP. So it looks like topical antioxidants are working nicely for me. I get acne when I eat something that upsets my gut<\/a>, but as long as my gut is functioning well my skin remains clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Benzoyl peroxide has become somewhat of a boogieman in the natural acne treatment movement. And there\u2019s no shortage of myths like \u2018my skin gets addicted to BP\u2019 and \u2018when you quit your acne comes back with a vengeance\u2019. As with all myths, there\u2019s grain of truth in those, but they are ultimately based on misconceptions. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44,91,47],"tags":[52,107,45,36],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8684"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9751,"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8684\/revisions\/9751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Almost everybody uses it the wrong way<\/h2>\n
The role of antioxidants<\/h2>\n
The right way to use BP<\/h2>\n
My experience in quitting BP<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n