Finacea : Azelaic Acid (15%) Gel

I hope this will be helpful to someone, I will try to be short: I have PCOS and have had acne for... 7 or 8 years now D: I've taken Roaccutane, birth control pills, tried all sorts of creams. Right now I'm still taking birth control pills but I'm quitting in a few days. I don't want to depend on them for the rest of my life, plus, they never cleared my face completely. I started using Finacea about a month ago, and at the same time I started taking zinc, chromium, and primrose oil. Even though my face gets kind of oily, especially now that it's summer, I have no blackheads and no pimples whatsoever, I'm really really happy right now, I hope I can keep things this way. After I quit the pills I plan on taking DIM and maybe licorice extract, or some sort of anti-androgen. Also, I drink lots and lots of tea! Green tea and spearmint tea are great.

The ONLY thing that has helped my acne for the past 10 years, has been birth control, but for health reasons I had to stop taking them last year and I was petrified of the horror to come. I tried Salicylic acid, then benzyl peroxide and zinc. SA didn't do much, BP tore my skin apart (I have very dry and sensitive skin), and Zinc only made my hair grow like crazy. I decided to take this matter to a doctor, who prescribed Finacea and told that it has great effects but takes about 2 weeks to work. I'm now 4 weeks in (I was patience as hell), and the real difference has happened now. So I wouldn't give up on this after a week. My extremely dry skin is smooth as a baby's butt, I have some scarring left but only get about one or two small pimples per week. But it's the texture of the skin that's the most impressive part! This also works great under make-up, just make sure you blend it well. A little goes a long way, it might itch a little bit but it's not too bad (for me it means, it's working). Apply it before your moisturizer (I did it the other way before). For me this is the closest equivalent what birth control would do to acne.

finacea 15% gel works good on acne it makes pimples come to its head then they pop on there own. but i have notice that this topical is AMAZING at fading my hyper-pigmentation left by my acne. -also it is very expensive if you have no insurance.

I have used Finacea as part of my morning regimen for about a year. I love it!! My breakouts clear much more quickly, it smooths out my skin tone, and eases redness from current breakouts. One of my favorite parts--it wears fantastically under makeup! Other topicals I have used in the morning look greasy, cause peeling, or make my make up look just plain gross. But I have found that finacea works somewhat like a makeup primer as far as smoothing out skin and giving a good canvas for foundation application, it controls oiliness due to its matte finish, and it fights acne at the same time so its a win-win in my book. Even after a year of use, my face does sometimes itch for a few minutes after application, but it is very bearable and worth it. That is the only side effect--no peeling, red, raw feeling skin like some of the harsher topicals cause. I have found that it works best on the smaller pimples and does not do too much for cysts. However, I generally have many small pimples and only 1-2 cysts a month that clear somewhat quickly, so it is a great product for me. I have very problematic skin and moderate acne, so even though it has not completely cleared my skin or anything, I am very pleased with the results and would hate to see my skin without it!

I have never had acne all my life and I am in my 50's, until now, I have Hormonal or Adult acne. I started to break out a couple of months ago and nothing that I bought cured it, so I went to a Derm, he gave me Spiro and a cream which didn't work. I then went to another Derm and she prescribed me Finacea 15% Foam. I had heard lots of people say that this burns when you apply it, but mine didn't. This is a miracle foam, I saw results in 3 days, my acne had subsided and my acne scars were clearing up so fast. Finacea Foam will dry your skin out a lot so you have to use a good moisturizer, so I use Cetaphil or CeraVa which are both very good. Finacea is a very expensive drug it runs about $225 per tube but if you have very good insurance you can afford it, with mine I had a co-pay of $20, so I'll be using this forever, try it please.

Azelaic Acid Gel- Finacea- Been using for about 2 weeks and redness has become worst and now I have a few good-sized isolated red inflamed pimples on my forehead and a cluster of red pimples as well, where I don't usually get acne. Started to break out on my cheek. The acne on my jaw went down a bit though which may have been hormonal? However, the cystic acne was on its way out though before finecea. It also itches like CRAZY after putting on so obviously avoid anywhere near eyes. I can't really speak to this improving my skin. I went from mild to moderate acne to now diffuse pimples and have to wear make-up to counteract the redness and discoloration. I don't know if this is the purging phase, as I really want it to work. Does anyone know how long this will last?

I have only used this cream for about 4 days (just at night), but already I can see it working! I was really worried that it would exacerbate my redness from rosacea, but it really didn't. I didn't experience any burning, just some itching around where I have pimples. I now have a few big pimples on my cheeks, but from what I've read, these should go away as my skin adjusts to the Finacea. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I kind of feel like they're the last few that the Finacea is purging my skin of. I have extremely fair skin, and any pimples that I have (whether I pop them or not) leave bright red or pink marks. Subsequently, my face looks red all the time, which isn't helped by my rosacea. In fact, the hyperpigmentation makes the rosacea look a lot worse. As I said, I've only been using this cream for about 4 nights, but already I can see the marks fading! It also seems to be helping to limit my flushing from rosacea - although I have just cut back from two 50mg minocycline tablets a day to one (and some people find this medication to cause flushing, so it could be this that's helping rather than the Finacea). At night, after I wash with Cetaphil, I leave my skin for about 5 minutes. Then I dab little dots of the Finacea all over my face and gently rub it in. Then I leave it for another 5 minutes before putting Cetaphil moisturising lotion over the top. This system seems to be working well. I would definitely recommend giving this product a try - I am so sick of these pimples and red marks!

I have never had "bad" skin but for years I have suffered from hormonal zits. Every month (2x month) I would get a 1-2 of those blind cystic zits on my chin or around the mouth. They would pop up suddenly and between the swelling/residual redness would wreak havoc on my face anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks. It felt like every time I finally had clear skin another would be waiting to attack. I tried everything- proactive, BP,salicylic acid, sulfur, zinc, omega 3s but they were unavoidable. I avoided the derm for years because I went on Tazorac back in HS and it made my skin explode. Finally, now, at the age of 25 I went back to the derm with the intention of asking for spironolacutone but instead she prescribed Finacea and WOW. From day 1 my skin had a matte finish after applying. I used to have to wash my face midday but after using Finacea my once overly oily skin was not longer an oil slick by 2pm. Redness was also drastically reduced! I am a fair-skinned girl so I would have red marks from previous zits last for weeks on my face, since using Finacea I have had a porcelain -like complexion that is soft/smooth to the touch! I am not saying it is necessarily a magic cream- I still get a pimple here and there- but they are drastically smaller and easier to manage. If I see a blind pimple forming I dap a pea sized amount on the little devil and by the morning any forming bump is almost flat and all redness is kaput! Further, I have found that the Finacea brings some of the crud in your pores to the surface so they can be extracted easily without any zit appearing. I found the negatives of this cream to be so minor I am not even sure they are worth mentioning! I get some occasional dryness that can be rid with exfoliation and moisturizer Also, if I apply to much cream my skin will itch. Also, the cream is expensive. It is about $50.00 for a tube that will last 2-3 months when used 2x daily. If you are a women in her 20's with hormonal acne TRY IT! I

after 12 years of acne, I will use this forever! My acne is moderate but very expansive, covers me from forehead to buttcrack when untreated. This stuff has saved my skin and my sanity! I reccomend anyone try it before anything harsher as the side effects are just about the mildest of any acne medication and it does have dramatic positive effects with perseverence! You really do have to be patient though. It does take months to work. used for 9 months.. never going back!

I started using Finacea while I was pregnant because I was having terrible breakouts and couldn't use the acne medications I was on prior to pregnancy. It definitely helped, even with crazy pregnancy hormones throwing my skin completely out of whack. My skin still wasn't perfect though, so after I finished breastfeeding, I added Retin-A to my routine. My skin has been 90-95% clear since. I have been using both for a year and a half now. I use Retin-A at night and Finacea in the morning.