Saturday, 15 February 2014

My Love/Hate Relationship with Quinoderm



On this Saturday morning I am going to tell you about my recent predicament regarding my skincare. From the title of the post, you have probably guessed the culprit is - Quinoderm. I was watching +Katie Snooks YouTube video on her favourite skincare products from 2013, and she mentioned that her doctor had said that Quinoderm was good for treating mild acne as she said that hers had flared up during last year.

Now, I was one unlucky teen and always battled with acne on my face. My friends were there worrying about the occasional pimple and I was facing spots in force load. Whilst I was cleansing and toning at 13, a baby wipe for all they needed! I have been seeing a dermatologist since I was a child and over the years I think she has just about given me every single spot treatment as well as medication available for them to prescribe to me. I always get exciting when I get a new cream but I always expect to see instant results and when after three months I don't see any results I kind of just give up, bad on my part but I have just used so many over the years its not surprising really.

In 2014, my new years resolution is to have nice, clear skin - not to demanding even if I say so myself. Anyway, so I was watching Katie's video and she mentioned Epiduo which she got prescribed from her doctors and I have had this in the past and have seen zero results. But she also mentioned a product called Quinoderm and said it available from many pharmacies and was a very reasonable price and she had seen instant results. So I literally went and bought it that day, it cost me £2.65 from Boots, I tried it that night as Katie said she had used it as an overnight treatment. The first time I applied it, it felt tingly and made my skin go dry and tight but I had never had an instant feeling like that before so was intrigued to see what happened in the morning. On the tube it says you can use it 2-3 times a day, so I thought to try it out, I would apply before my makeup in the morning and after I cleansed and washed my face at night. I currently have the instructions in front of me which I actually did read when I bought it and it says its contains two active ingredients - Benzoyl Peroxide and Potassium Hydroxyquinoline Sulphate. Benzoyl Peroxide is known to be an effective treatment for acne and they say acts as a 'peeling action' which sounds scary. It also contains Potassium Hydroxyquinoline  Sulphate which has 'antimicrobial properties', this both sounded positive. So, I woke up and my skin felt extremely tight and dry, and a little bit red but I thought maybe this is how it works and I was impressed after one application that my skin was drier as it can get very oily at times. I applied it again as a base under my makeup that morning and it felt fine. I continued this for three days and everyday getting the same effect but the skin around my nose was getting particularly dry and I was not sure if I was having an allergic reaction or not. I woke up on the fifth morning and my skin was bright red, dry and also tingling and I was shocked at how it looked. When I put my moisturiser on it had no effect, my skin just absorbed and it made no difference at all to the dryness to my skin. I had to go to placement that day and was thinking what can I do, I just applied my makeup normally and put a lot of concealer on! My skin looked so dry through my makeup though - utter nightmare. I got home took my makeup off and showed my housemate and she said that my skin was very red and looked very dry but my skin looked clearer. I had to agree even though I was experiencing the redness, tingling and dryness, I could see improvements in my skin especially round my chin area which is the most troublesome area. I was now facing a predicament as my skin texture was awful but the spots were slowly but surely disappearing. I decided I would just take a week's break from the treatment and see what happened.

Once again in the instructions it stated that there was possible side effects, as there is with any product. It did say if irritation, itch or rash occurs to stop the treatment. But, then says it is common for some redness of the skin to occur in the first weeks of treatment. Yet again - I was in a predicament as to what to do, as it says it should gradually disappear as your skin becomes accustomed to the treatment.

Two weeks later I still haven't reapplied the product. My skin is now not tingly or red - phew! However, my skin is still so dry it just drinks my moisturiser in seconds, I can just not find a way to rehydrate it. Although, my skin is still in better condition and I haven't had any reoccurring spots and the over all spread of my usual acne is much smaller and less protruding. I think I am going to let my skin totally rehydrate for now as I do think I had a reaction of some kind to the product. I probably should not be saying this but as I have battled with my skin for so many years, I am optimistic that I would try it again in the future if my acne flares up.

Therefore, I am now facing this love/hate relationship with this tube of cream. I would recommend it to those who suffer from acne but do watch out for those side effects!

Lucy
xoxo

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