Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment

Posted by John

March 23, 2010

What is Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment?

If you have been shopping around for acne treatments, than this active ingredient is likely to have appeared a few times in your search. So, what is it? Wikipedia describes it as an “organic compound in the organic peroxide family” which isn’t really very helpful to us. When it comes to acne treatment all we need to know is that Benzoyl Peroxide is an agent used in Acne Cream and Acne Gel to make them more effective at treating acne. The concentrations are at 2.5%, 5% and 10% and we’ll talk about the best one to use later (you might be surprised)

How does Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment Work?

There are three ways that Benzoyl Peroxide helps reduce the number of pimples that occur:

First, it works as a skin peeling agent that means that more dead skin cells are removed and your skin increases its production (higher skin turnover). This in turn stops blockages and maintains cleaner pores.

Second, once these pores are cleaner and less blocked, the acne cream or gel can than get further into the skin and kill more bacteria that cause infection and inflammatory acne.

And last but not least, it helps to remove excess Sebum in the skin that is the main cause of acne.

Concentrations of Benzoyl Peroxide in Acne Treatments

The concentration levels are typically 2.5%, 5% and 10% so you would assume that the most effective method would be to go for the cream or gel that contains the most, right? Well, actually, in most cases the difference in effectiveness between the three concentrations was small and with a higher percentage came an increased chance of the negative effects. So with this information I would recommend trying a smaller concentration first so that the skin can develop a resistance to it and than increase to 5% and after a while to 10%. If you only have Mild Acne than 2.5% should be enough to control the symptoms (see the Do I Have Acne? page for more information)

Side Effects of Benzoyl Peroxide in Acne Treatment

In many cases Benzoyl Peroxide irritates the skin by over drying it and causing flaking. In a study done in 1977, 76% of people experienced “contact sensitization” (in other words irritation of the skin after the application of a cream or gel) when tested with 5-10% concentration. In rarer cases it can cause redness or a burning sensation. This irritation can be treated with moisturisers or avoided by starting off with a 2.5% concentration until you are happy that your skin is not overly sensitive to Benzoyl Peroxide.