Benzoyl peroxide is one of the most popular acne treatment ingredients on the market today, and is found in countless products, including the popular Proactiv line of products.
However, if you are considering whether to use benzoyl peroxide or not, it’s important to weigh the pros against the cons before you decide whether it’s right for you or not. That’s why I’ve put together this page, which lists the various pros and cons of benzoyl peroxide, to help you decide if it’s the product for you or not.
Let’s get started by talking about the positive aspects of benzoyl peroxide, and then we’ll look at the negative aspects. We’ll wrap up with a summary and I’ll give me personal opinion the matter (hint: I use benzoyl peroxide myself!).
There are a few good things about benzoyl peroxide that I think are important to mention, and here they are.
This one is huge!
Many forms of acne are caused by a bacteria which gets trapped inside clogged hair follicles and begins to multiple out of control. When there’s too much of this bacteria in a follicle, it can actually cause the walls of the hair follicle to burst open, and this is what leads to inflamed acne lesions. This bacteria is known as propionibacterium acnes, or simply P. acnes.
The major pro of benzoyl peroxide is that it is very effective at killing this bacteria, which is something that can’t be said for other acne treatment ingredients such as salicylic acid.
When the P. acnes bacteria isn’t allowed to flourish on your skin, it will greatly diminish or even completely eliminate the amount of acne blemishes that are formed.
Simply put, benzoyl peroxide just works better than any alternative I’ve ever come across.
While salicylic acid is only significantly effective at treating mild acne, benzoyl peroxide can even treat severe acne is used correctly.
This is the main reason why benzoyl peroxide is my #1 most recommended acne treatment product for most people: it just works!
Despite how much I like benzoyl peroxide, there are some drawbacks to using it as well. Here are some of the more significant ones.
Benzoyl peroxide can be very drying to the skin, especially when you first start using it.
If you’re not careful, you can actually irritate your skin to the point that your acne becomes worse before it gets better.
To counteract this, it’s important to only use 2.5% concentrations of benzoyl peroxide, and to start out with a small amount and gradually increase the quantity until you reach the desired amount. Also, you should always follow and application of benzoyl peroxide with a non-comedogenic moisturizer to help keep the skin from becoming too dry.
Another major drawback of benzoyl peroxide is that it is a very strong bleaching agent. This means that if you aren’t careful, you can bleach your clothes and ruin them. Benzoyl peroxide can even bleach your hair blonde!
This only becomes a major problem if you are using benzoyl peroxide on the back or chest, where you’ll be wearing a shirt over it. However since I’ve been using it on my face everyday for over 8 years, I have accidentally bleached quite a few shirts even though I try to be careful about it and avoid contact with my clothes.
To sum up…benzoyl peroxide works great for the treatment of acne, probably better than anything else out there. However, you must start out slowly and be careful to avoid bleaching and ruining your clothes.
I personally use benzoyl peroxide myself, every single day and I have been for over 8 years. It keeps my moderate-to-severe acne completely clear, and every time I try to stop or switch to a different product I start breaking out.
Simply put: Benzoyl peroxide will clear your skin!
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