Allergic to Benzoyl Peroxide?

Kelebek · 06-10-2008, 03:28 PM

I've been using benzoyl peroxide off and on for the last 10+ years, and a few months ago developed an allergic reaction to it. I'm pretty sure that it is the benzoyl peroxide as I only have the side effects after I use it, and I've used several products with BP, and always experience rather sever facial swelling and itching afterwards.

I find it strange that all of a sudden I'm allergic to something that I've been using for over a decade. Has anyone experienced this? Anyone know why I would develop an allergy all of a sudden like that...is that normal or should I be concerned?

Kelebek · 06-10-2008, 03:33 PM

I had been using Benzamycin (an erythromycin+benzoyl peroxide topical cream) for about 6 months when I started having the reaction. It was only after I put it on my face (the next morning) that I would wake up itching and it would progressively get worse through the day. When I stopped using it the itching stopped. Yesterday I bought some 10% Benzoyl Peroxide cream from the drug store, to see if that was what was causing the reaction, or if it was another ingredient. Sure enough, my face is red, swollen and itching like hell today! I took some claritin and have been putting hydrocortisone cream on it, but it's not helping

Kelebek · 06-10-2008, 03:44 PM

I'll have to look into that...but I've used similar benzoyl peroxide gels in the past and didn't have a problem.

I'm not taking any other medication. I'm wondering if it could be mixing with a face wash or face lotion I use and that could be causing an allergic reaction?

Anyway, I'm not going to keep using it - it's not worth the redness and itching!

Any recommendations for other OTC acne meds w/o Benzoyl Peroxide?

Supa_gurl · 06-10-2008, 04:31 PM

Hormones evolve over a period of time. Just like taste buds change every 4 years, I am sure a reaction to a substance can change to. just my opinion.

Alice444 · 06-26-2008, 12:53 PM

I just started getting acne about 6 months ago - never had it before and I'm in my 30's. Used benzoyl peroxide cream last night hoping it would dry up my existing breakout and stop the breakout that was beginning on my lower face. Anyway, I woke up with my eyes swollen closed, face swelled and red as hell. I've taken benedryl and it's subsiding. My face and scalp are still really itchy. So, I guess I'm allergic to it now, too.

ghost69 · 06-26-2008, 03:35 PM

maybe you changed brands even though it is still BP. or maybe after 10 years they changed on ingredient. go to a dermatologist and get a different product for acne.

maybe your face is too dry and your skin is reacting. could be a lot of things.

thyroxine · 06-26-2008, 09:52 PM

I had the same problem. Just one day, out of the blue, BAM! I'm allergic to the benzoyl peroxide in my acne meds. I never switched brands, so I tried another one with the benzoyl peroxide...same reactions with the itchy, swollen face. I've had a couple allergic reactions/tolerances randomly develop over the last few months after getting in a serious car accident. I am now also allergic to cinnamon and can no longer digest beef. My boyfriend blames the accident, but who knows? No doctor has really been able to answer me about these. They just say that these things develop and might or might not have been related to the car accident.

06-10-2008, 03:28 PM	#1
Kelebek Offline Bronze Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Amerika Gender: Female Age: 27 Posts: 203	Allergic to Benzoyl Peroxide? I've been using benzoyl peroxide off and on for the last 10+ years, and a few months ago developed an allergic reaction to it. I'm pretty sure that it is the benzoyl peroxide as I only have the side effects after I use it, and I've used several products with BP, and always experience rather sever facial swelling and itching afterwards. I find it strange that all of a sudden I'm allergic to something that I've been using for over a decade. Has anyone experienced this? Anyone know why I would develop an allergy all of a sudden like that...is that normal or should I be concerned? __________________ ~Kelebek (Turkish for 'butterfly')~ "I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." ~Agatha Christie

06-10-2008, 03:33 PM	#2
Kelebek Offline Bronze Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Amerika Gender: Female Age: 27 Posts: 203	I had been using Benzamycin (an erythromycin+benzoyl peroxide topical cream) for about 6 months when I started having the reaction. It was only after I put it on my face (the next morning) that I would wake up itching and it would progressively get worse through the day. When I stopped using it the itching stopped. Yesterday I bought some 10% Benzoyl Peroxide cream from the drug store, to see if that was what was causing the reaction, or if it was another ingredient. Sure enough, my face is red, swollen and itching like hell today! I took some claritin and have been putting hydrocortisone cream on it, but it's not helping __________________ ~Kelebek (Turkish for 'butterfly')~ "I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." ~Agatha Christie

06-10-2008, 03:44 PM	#3
Kelebek Offline Bronze Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Amerika Gender: Female Age: 27 Posts: 203	I'll have to look into that...but I've used similar benzoyl peroxide gels in the past and didn't have a problem. I'm not taking any other medication. I'm wondering if it could be mixing with a face wash or face lotion I use and that could be causing an allergic reaction? Anyway, I'm not going to keep using it - it's not worth the redness and itching! Any recommendations for other OTC acne meds w/o Benzoyl Peroxide? __________________ ~Kelebek (Turkish for 'butterfly')~ "I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." ~Agatha Christie

06-10-2008, 04:31 PM	#4
Supa_gurl Offline Platinum Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Wasting away in San An-tone Gender: Female Age: 33 Posts: 1,496	Hormones evolve over a period of time. Just like taste buds change every 4 years, I am sure a reaction to a substance can change to. just my opinion. __________________ Absence is to love what wind is to fire, it extinguishes the small and enkindles the great.

06-26-2008, 12:53 PM	#5
Alice444 Offline Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Jersey Gender: Female Posts: 1	benzoyl peroxide reaction I just started getting acne about 6 months ago - never had it before and I'm in my 30's. Used benzoyl peroxide cream last night hoping it would dry up my existing breakout and stop the breakout that was beginning on my lower face. Anyway, I woke up with my eyes swollen closed, face swelled and red as hell. I've taken benedryl and it's subsiding. My face and scalp are still really itchy. So, I guess I'm allergic to it now, too.

06-26-2008, 03:35 PM	#6
ghost69 Offline Platinum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Desert Gender: Male Posts: 33,424	maybe you changed brands even though it is still BP. or maybe after 10 years they changed on ingredient. go to a dermatologist and get a different product for acne. maybe your face is too dry and your skin is reacting. could be a lot of things. __________________ Not only am I friendly, but I'm invisible too. Too perfect of a relationship is too weird-g69 If you say you are normal, I'd think you are weird-g69 The world can only get better, it depends on how you look at it-g69 'As wicked as you are, you're beautiful to me'-5fingerdeathpunch you cannot control the world, you can only live in it the best you can for you-g69 NooOoOoooOOoOoOoooooo

06-26-2008, 09:52 PM	#7
thyroxine Offline Bronze Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New Mexico Gender: Female Age: 24 Posts: 231	I had the same problem. Just one day, out of the blue, BAM! I'm allergic to the benzoyl peroxide in my acne meds. I never switched brands, so I tried another one with the benzoyl peroxide...same reactions with the itchy, swollen face. I've had a couple allergic reactions/tolerances randomly develop over the last few months after getting in a serious car accident. I am now also allergic to cinnamon and can no longer digest beef. My boyfriend blames the accident, but who knows? No doctor has really been able to answer me about these. They just say that these things develop and might or might not have been related to the car accident. __________________ "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come." -- Matt Groening, "Life in Hell"