What is a Benzoyl Peroxide Gel?

A benzoyl peroxide gel is one of the forms that benzoyl peroxide (BP) can be delivered in. When you buy a product that contains benzoyl peroxide as the active ingredient, the concentration of the BP is ususally either 2.5%, 5%, or 10%. The rest of the product contains all of the inactive ingredients used to preserve and deliver the BP. So not only can you get benzoyl peroxide as a gel, but it can also come as a lotion, foam, liquid, etc.

How Does Benzoyl Peroxide Work?

As you may know, benzoyl peroxide is used as one of the most effective topical acne treatments available over the counter. It is even used as the main treatment ingredient for the regimen provided at acne.org.

Benzoyl peroxide is so effective because it does such a good job at killing "p. acnes" bacteria. This is the bacteria that grows inside clogged pores, causing them to enlarge, swell, and get inflamed with white blood cells. If the p. acnes bacteria aren't there in the first place, then a clogged pore can't turn into a huge pimple.

So you may be wondering how benzoyl peroxide does such a good job killing bacteria. Well, it's not too complicated actually. The BP just simply exposes the bacteria to oxygen (note the "oxide" in benzoyl peroxide), which is poisonous to the bacteria, so they die.

Benzoyl Peroxide and Pregnancy

BP is labelled as a category C drug by the FDA, which means that there haven't been enough studies to show whether or not benzoyl peroxide is safe to use while pregnant. Some of the BP that you apply may be absorbed by your body, but it is unknown whether or not it goes into breast milk. It's always best to check with your doctor to be on the safe side.

My Experience with Benzoyl Peroxide Gels

I personally tried the acne.org regimen which uses a benzoyl peroxide gel as the main source of treatment. It worked at first, but after a month or so, my acne started to come back even worse. You can see some pictures of me with acne after having been on the Acne.org regimen for two months.

The acne became even more cystic (deeper, redder, and bigger) than it was before. I think it's because I wasn't doing anything else at the time to treat my acne properly. Once I incorporated salicylic acid to help exfoliate and unclog pores, ate a healthier diet, and focused on reducing stress, my acne eventually went away. Benzoyl peroxide only helped one part of the reason why I was getting acne.

The lesson I have to give is that you must treat your acne in many different ways to maximize your chances of success. Someone with minor acne might get away with only uses BP as a treatment, but if you had more severe acne like me - BP doesn't treat the deeper chronic inflammation and improper skin cell shedding that is occurring with cystic acne.

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