[Acne] Epiduo OTC dupe aka the only thing that's put a dent in my maskne

Beauty Tips For Body Care
I managed to go the first few months of mask wearing without any noticeable skin problems. I thought for sure I'd dodged a bullet until August when my chin decided to stage a coup and flare up with some of the worst cystic acne I've had in years around my jawline, lips, and up around my cheeks. Anywhere the mask touches. And nothing I had in my routine seemed to help at all.I'd never really used benzyl peroxide before since I'd always been able to resolve breakouts with all the other actives I have. But I had a little sample size of epiduo that my friend (who is a board certified derm) gave me and decided to give it a shot for one night on my chin. I topped it with some vaseline and went to bed. The next morning.... I literally couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't see any new pimples forming (I was seeing one or two new spots daily) and the most active spots on my face seemed to have faded down. Within 5 days of use, I had no new spots and for the first time in weeks, my older spots were healing. Aside from a few scars that seem to improve daily, my chin seems to be back to pre-maskne health.Well, I blew through my little epiduo sample very quickly so I reached out to my derm friend to see if I could get a script for it. Since I have terrible (American) health insurance, it's not a covered RX and would cost me about $450 out of pocket. That's when she told me that you can create an exact epiduo dupe with OTC products for like $15.Epiduo is adapalene (retinol) .1% and benzyl peroxide 2.5% aka Differin Gel and OTC benzyl peroxide. The exact same ingredients at the exact same strength which you can layer one right on top of the other for the exact same effect. I went to Target and grabbed both for a total of $17. In spite of the fact that it's now two steps instead of one there are seemingly no differences between the effectiveness. Once I got my maskne under control with every-other-day use, I dropped down to once a week use to maintain or for spot treatments and I have been VERY happy with the results.Some things to note: I always put vaseline on top to lock everything in and prevent my skin from drying out. I am an advanced retinoid user so I didn't experience any irritation from my benzyl peroxide use, but it is possible and I think the vaseline helps with that. Also BP bleaches your clothes so just be careful of your sheets/PJs.tl;dr: Differin gel and OTC benzyl peroxide are a perfect dupe for prescription epiduo and are the only thing that have improved my maskne after months of trying various actives.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by WearingCoats