Can benzoyl peroxide (2%) cause acne scarring?
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Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:01 pm

Hey everyone. This is my first post, so please bear with me if I post this in the wrong place or do something incorrectly. Embarassed

I'll try to keep this simple and try to explain my question/issue as clearly as I can.

So, nearly every month like clockwork I will often develop a very pinkish-red, large, and ugly zit in the same exact place right below the left side of my mouth. I'm pretty certain this is what's called "hormonal acne". I've also noticed that the amount of sugar I've consumed that month (or lack thereof) really seems to have an affect on its longitude and size. Obviously, the past holiday season is cause for me having eaten more sugary stuff than normal, and therefore, resulting in a more obnoxious and longer-lasting zit! Yuck. So, in Novemeber and December I dabbed on some benzoyl peroxide cream (2% or 2.5% I think) which helped more than SA does (salycilic acid dries my skin out, too). Not perfect but BP does seem to cut the lifetime of the zit in half. This month I've done the same thing as soon as I noticed the dreaded spot creeping up. However, it's been 2 weeks since the atrocious blemish cleared itself up yet this time it's left a noticeably large reddish-pink mark/scar in its place that just won't go away!!!. I haven't picked at it and I've always been very careful to apply SS over the area where I've dabbed on the BP, reapplying it throughout the day as needed. No scalpels, tool, nothing. Very annoying.

Long story short - could benzoyl peroxide cream be causation for this sudden scar (or whatever this red splotch is)? I've had the random pimple pop up in various places on my face over the years but none have left any scarring whatsoever and only lasted 2 days or so. I also have never used BP cream to clear them up in the past, either.

Does anyone know of potential scarring from Benzoyl Peroxide use, or is my specific incident due to something else causing the redness - and if so, what then? Has anyone had anything similar to them happen whilst using BP?
Additionally, how can I get this blotch to go away? Any tips? Anything I can do to prevent the darned zit from coming back next month (other than the aforementioned thing that seemed to work - abstaining from all/any refined sugar - so hard to do at first)?

FYI:
I'm quite fair-skinned and have fairly sensitive skin that's always been prone to dryness at varying degrees (very dry in Fall-Winter versus normal-to-dry in the Spring-Summer). Other than that and the singular blemish in question, I've never had issues with acne or whatever. In fact, I've had pretty blemish-free skin my entire life until I hit my late 20s-30s ...but never more than one at a time. I have had a few bouts of dermatitis/eczema in the past, though, and I actually just finished up a 2-week tapered dosing of prednisone.

Thanks for reading and any and all help is VERY MUCH appreciated. Sorry for rambling on and on. Hopefully I haven't put everyone to bed yet! Surprised

free skin care · Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:34 am

That pink/purple mark is called Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation. Or PIH. Why you got it after one blemish vs all others is unknown. It will fade in a few months. You can get an IPL to speed it away or using brightening products.

Sat Feb 07, 2015 9:33 am

I would never ever recommend anyone to use benzoyl peroxide because I had terrible experience with it. I had a few pimples under my lips which were bothering me so much. So my doctor prescribed benzoyl peroxide for it. The acne did go away but left huge scars... That was worse than having a few pimples for sure. I ended up getting the laser tonning done to get rid of the scars.. How expensive!!!!

Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:09 am

Thanks so much for your answers, you guys! I meant to reply a long time ago but was having login issues etc... Yes, PIH is definitely what it is and will be staying away from BP n the futre, *sigh* nothing else from the drug store ever seems to work unfortunately.
I got a clindamyacin gel prescription from my doctor - hoping this will help in lieu of the benzoyl peroxide. So far so good.

Red marks / PIH still visible *anguish* but they have reduced a little bit and at least lie flat and flush to the surface of my skin making it easy to cover up. Ive considered IPL - expensive! - but am worried because i've heard that people with my skin type (fair, easily reddens, delicate skin) are not always good candicates for said procedure and sometimes can even cause additional scarring and/or PIH. UGH!
Does anyone know ne know if this so?
Thanks again!

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