La Roche posay didn’t work for me

[Lau247]

Hi

I’ve tried to go back and find my original thread but unfortunately cannot find it.. a few weeks ago now I asked ppl for their thoughts on effeclar duo 3 step kit for acne as I had what seemed to be hormonal acne on my chin mainly.

I thought I’d come back and share my experience as whilst I was going through the process I was searching here for reviews and this may help someone else

I’ve been using the Toner and effaclar duo for 4 weeks now I stopped using the face wash as it was very drying and went back to cetaphil which I used before. I only put the products on my chin as that’s my problem area and didn’t want to break out on my cheeks.

I don’t know how ppl use this as a moisturiser as it was sooo drying the first week I had dry skin around my eyes and my ears and even on my neck !! I didn’t even put the product near those areas. This stopped after the first week of use and I used it as a spot treatment rather than a moisturiser.

I really wanted to carry on it with it as I read on here about so many ppl who said it was bad for the first 3 weeks then got better so I did keep it up for 4 weeks however around weeks 2/3 I was waking up with literally about 2-3 new spots a day on my chin they would come to a head quickly but new ones would form the next day and I’d be left with red marks from hyperpigmentation. Right now my chin is covered in red marks it looks awful with no make up on. I only have about 2/3 active spots but the red marks make it look like I have full blown acne they are that bad.

I’ve taken before and after pics that I don’t really want to upload but I can’t see much If any improvement in my skin at all. Last week I had a few days of no spots at all and I thought it was starting to work but a few days later they are back.

It says clearer skin in 4 weeks on the box but that has clearly not worked for me tbh in was very skeptical about something this mild working for me as my skin previously cleared on benzoyl peroxide however all the amazing reviews I really wanted to give this a chance and I’m sad it didn’t work. I also have a lot of little spots under the skin on my chin that can only be seen in certain lights it has done absolutely nothing for these.

I said to myself I’d give it 4 weeks and then go to my gp as I clearly need something stronger.. so I’ll be making an appointment tomorrow.

I’m sure it works well for some ppl well it clearly does just didn’t work for me which is really disappointing as I still have shit skin at nearly 30!

Honestly in my opinion the Effeclar products are far too harsh for spot prone skin, and LRP's claims are best taken with a pinch of salt. They may work for some people, and the Effeclar duo cream is good (though I think it's best used as a treatment, not as a moisturiser) but on the whole I think a gentle, non-foaming, non-fragranced cleanser and a gentle moisturiser are the way to go, to support your skin to cope with a medicated acne treatment. Bear in mind though that it can take 6-12 weeks to see an improvement with many acne treatments.

A GP appointment is definitely a good idea, though benzoyl peroxide is also available over the counter, if that worked for you before. Differin is another good option, you can get that via the Boots online acne clinic or from your GP.

Hope you find something that works for you!

@supuriouserandsupuriouser I agree the cream is best used as a treatment and not a moisturiser I really don’t know how that can be used as one as it dries my skin out really bad. I don’t know if it’s the Toner that is causing my skin to still break out as when I used Paula’s choice exfoliating Toner my skin was awful.

I used cetaphil as previously was advised against foaming cleansers so was surprised that the la Roche one was foaming and very perfumed which is why I stopped using it.

The BP doesn’t work anymore I used the acne.org 3 step regimen from USA it took about 8 months but it completely cleared my skin this was a few years ago and now it’s back not as bad as it was but the chin area is terrible.

I tried acnecide as that has great reviews too but didn’t help and I gave that over 6 weeks. So I don’t really want anything prescribed with BP in as that seems to not work for me anymore

Don’t think it’s bad enough to be offered roaccutine I was offered this before but that’s when it was all over my face however the side effects put me off especially the mental health ones.

That’s a shame about the BP not working any more. A GP appointment sounds like a good place to start. There are lots of options other than BP and roaccutane, and in your shoes I would definitely give Differin a try. It’s a prescription medication but you can get it from the Boots acne clinic, and it’s not benzoyl peroxide based, it’s a retinoid and it can be really effective. It really helped my sister when she had adult hormonal acne.

@SpuriouserAndSpuriouser I remember being prescribed differen when my skin was really bad but don’t think I used it.. I’ve heard the purging period with differen is awful as it’s a topical retanoid but I think I’ll give it a go thanks

The Duo serum works wonders for me but the rest of the range is too harsh and drying. I use the serum but stick to a gentle cleanser and a rich hydrating moisturiser.

@Lau247 I had a fairly similar experience last year - I started getting really bad spots on the lower half of my face and had a really rough bumpy texture to the skin on my cheeks and it was all itching like crazy in the really hot weather last summer.
I initially thought that it was perimenopausal acne, but after trying everything from LRP Effeclar, Clinique Blemish Solutions and Murad starter kits, one of my friends mentioned that rosacea can have similar symptoms so I tried the LRP Rosaliac AR Intense serum and my skin started feeling better within a couple of hours!
I now use really gentle skin care and it's mostly well managed. I've seen a GP a couple of times and they weren't a huge amount of help and basically said to carry on with what I'm doing if that works.
So it might be worth considering if you are actually suffering from a type of rosacea rather than acne :-)

@peachgreen as of yesterday I’ve stopped using the toner and going to just use the duo cream for a week and see what happens and I only used the face wash for about two days as it was very drying and extremely perfumed I didn’t expect this range to be to harsh considering I used benzoy peroxide for years which is way more harsh I’d have thought.

@Noky I thought rosacea was more just red kinda rashy patches on the skin rather than actual spots? The reason I’m quite sure it’s acne is because they do turn to white heads and can be pretty painful if I get a big one.

They suspected I had PCOS before my first bloods suggested I did then my follow up ones and the scan was clear so that confused me. However I do some of have the symptoms I get hair on my chin which grows back really quick my periods aren’t exactly irregular but I have long cycles anywhere from 36-43 days I’m slightly over weight but not hugely.

I’ve been the the GP before when I had really bad acne and tbh wasn’t much help I even paid to see a private derm and all she offered me was roaccutune but yes like you mentioned it’s all on the bottom half of my face and it just looked awful

@Lau247 There are several sub-types of rosacea, one of which is papulopustular rosacea which used to be called acne rosacea and basically can look very much like acne. When I first started getting symptoms last summer I had quite a lot of white head spots that were painful (the pustules) also lots of spots that didn't have a 'head' (the papules).
If you want to find out more about rosacea then here are some links:
www.nhs.uk/conditions/rosacea/symptoms/
www.britishskinfoundation.org.uk/rosacea

If you did want to try the LRP Rosaliac AR Intense serum for rosacea just to see if it helps then it's currently 1/3 off at Escentual -
www.escentual.com/la-roche-posay/rosaliac/lrprosaliac001/