Ecological Formulas Melazepam Cream, 2 Ounce (Pack of 1)

This product, as cliche as it may sound, has really changed my life. After 11 years of actively fighting moderate acne, I found the ingredient that works best for my skin! I have used antibiotics, spironolactone (which worked GREAT, but didn’t help with redness and can’t use while pregnant), MANY forms of benzoyl peroxide, many prescription creams, many 3 step kits, Asian skincare, oil method, caveman method, just about EVERYTHING (besides acutane- I was never severe enough and didn’t want the side effects). It wasn’t until I found out about azelaic acid that everything changed. I found out about it through research and got ahold of it first through curology. However, their percentage was minuscule compared to this stuff. So I headed to amazon. At first I tried another azelaic acid on here, but then decided to try this one. No added fragrance, stellar price AND the highest percentage of azelaic acid I’ve found. This stuff is truly incredible. I started seeing a change in my skin very quickly. On top of acne, I have also dealt with redness and discoloration in my skin for as long as I remember. I was always very self conscious about it and it wasn’t until probably a month ago that my mom told me that rosacea runs in the family and she wouldn’t be surprised if I had a mild case. I’m convinced. This stuff has helped the acne and the redness and for the first time since probably 15, I don’t wear foundation anymore. Just concealer. It really has changed my life. My skin looks great. It doesn’t work wonders on blackheads nor the persistent skin-colored bumps, but those aren’t really a huge bother to me and glycolic acids are way too harsh on my skin. That’s the other thing- this stuff is gentle on the skin. You may feel a slight burn immediately after putting it on but it passes. There is no peeling, initial breakout, or sensitivity that comes along with it and I can’t say that about many products. I want to tell EVERYONE about this product. I know it won’t work for ever type of acne but for my specific case, it has been exactly what I needed. For 12 dollars, you should give it a chance!

I have rosacea, which got especially bad in the last few years after age 40. Combo leaning oily skin. I hadn't had acne in many years but started getting the rosacea pustules in the last couple of years, mildly. I tried The Ordinary's 10% formulation and found it was helpful... but only moderately. I would still get some redness and pustules- less so, but not totally gone. (Quite possibly wearing a mask 7 hours a day doesn't help my skin any! Could be a mix of rosacea pustules and mask acne :/ ) So I gave this one a whirl. WOW. Within a week it had nuked all the pustules and/or mask acne. Perfectly clear again! And my redness has gone down a lot too. It is like turning back the clock 5 years on my skin... my face is FINALLY clear again. Yeah, it stings a bit, but applying moisturizer first helps a lot. It is a little gritty feeling but that doesn't really matter to me- I apply it at night and it is totally fine under makeup in the morning, no pilling or anything. (The Ordinary's did pill a bit, even the next morning.) Absolutely amazing for rosacea. 10/10 on my skin. Far more effective than the lower content from The Ordinary. Price is great. I don't think I've ever used such an effective topical treatment, it is fantastic.

I really wanted to like this, but after using it for a month, I ended up with more closed comedones than when I started. I think I am sensitive to cetyl alcohols, and after avoiding any products with them my skin is better. So I'd be willing to try azelaic acid again, but not with this brand. I need something that's a gel or serum. This cream is too thick and has too many other irritants in it.

To a beginner with facial acids, use caution when approaching this product. This cream is a 20% azelaic acid product and as such, is extremely potent. If you have never used face acids before, consider starting with a lower concentration before graduating to this 20% product. That being said, I found this to be an excellent product and a great alternative for some prescription azelaic acid products such as Finacea which comes in both a cream and gel but is usually only a 15% concentration. While I like the texture of The Ordinary's 10% Azelaic Acid better, I prefer this Melazepam cream because of the higher concentration. At 20% results such as skin color evening and pigmentation fading can be seen much more quickly. The best way to use this product is to apply a thin layer to the skin after cleansing and toning in the evening. Allow the product to sit for about 20 mins, then continue on with moisturizer, etc. It is important to allow the product to sit before continuing on because it needs to be at a certain pH level in order to be most effective, and applying other products disrupts the pH of the cream. Overall, one of my favorite facial acid products.

I have rosacea type 1 and although the evidence for azelaic acid helping with flushing is largely anecdotal, there have been some studies showing it can be helpful with erythema. More importantly, I've tried prescription azelaic acid in the past and found it to be helpful with lowering the inflammation/redness so I wanted to continue using it. Unfortunately I had a problem with my new insurance wanting to cover the prescription gel and was still on hold after over a month in the process. I was going crazy and couldn't wait anymore, especially since I had this awful, terrible rash of bumps all around my mouth for months that wouldn't go away. I suspected it was perioral dermatitis, which azelaic acid is supposed to help as well so I was eager to get my hands on some. My husband also has acne rosacea and his skin was acting up pretty badly so I decided to bite the bullet and order some of this stuff for us both. I'm so, so glad I did. It's only been 2 weeks of using the cream and the PD around my mouth is GONE. After months and months of trying everything under the sun to cure it. It's still too soon to say about the flushing (the research points to around 8 weeks before seeing max effect on that) but overall my pores are looking better and it also got rid of a weird dry patch on my nose. My husband's skin is also clearing up very nicely. I do still have a weird rash on my forehead that I suspect is fungal acne, which this product has not helped clear up (I'm going to try an OTC fungal cream for that). HOWEVER, this product IS fungal acne safe which is awesome, so I feel confident to keep using it while I tackle that issue next. As many have mentioned, this cream is a little gritty, but honestly I don't find it that bad at all. I just mix a little bit of it with another facial moisturizer to apply and I barely even notice the grittiness. Best of all, I have experienced ZERO irritation with this cream, whereas with the prescription gel I would sometimes get burning and flushing after applying. I'm thinking it's because this is in a more moisturizing base. Overall I'm super satisfied with this product, and even if they ever do get around to filling my prescription azelaic acid I'll probably just keep using this instead.

This is an excellent product. I have developed brown spots on my face from sun damage. The only reason these formed was because I was doing medical grade chemical peels at home, but I was in the sun with unprotected skin. I obviously did not do my research, because I did not realize you could develop brown spots while you were doing chemical peels or using products like this if you do not have sunscreen on. I knew skin could easily burn, but I didn't realize because the protective layer is gone it opens you up to get dark spots. You also can get brown spots that you can't get rid of. I did not have these issues on my face at 40 years old until I did this, so it has been weighing heavily on my heart since it is my face and does not make me feel pretty. If you were going to use this, please put sunscreen on. I was using this with a combination of other products such as retin a. I have been doing heavy work on my face for a long time, so my skin can handle it, however, this product alone is strong and can irritate your face. I was using it a couple times a day and my face felt irritated and it slowly allowed my skin to peel off. I noticed my brown spots got darker before they got lighter. You do not need a lot of this product, and your skin may feel irritated if you use it too much. because I use so many different things, I will take several day breaks. it's an interesting feel sort of like paste when you were in school. I still have quite a bit because you really don't need much. I highly recommend this for brown spots.

I was trying to find an Azelaic Acid without silicones. The higher end brands ALL used some form of silicone in it in their Azelaic Acid serums. So I found this suggestion on a beauty board and decided to try it out. I regret using this so much. The research made Azelaic Acid seem as some miracle acid that loosens the binds that holds old dead cells together, thereby promoting cell turnover and providing exceptional exfoliation and maybe some other form of it might provide these benefits but it surely wasn’t this cream. My skin was having a bit of congestion but nothing too crazy but for some reason got caught up thinking Azelaic Acid was THE SOLUTION. If you look for the miracle benefits of something online, you’ll surely find them convincing yourself that this is the miracle you’ve been meaning to find! Ugh, after using this for a month my skin became so much worse. To try the acid out I didn’t use anything different than my other regular skincare that consists of double cleansing, toner, serum and moisturizer along with a vitamin c glow lotion. It was incremental (and detrimental) little changes that I hadn’t noticed daily but after a month I saw how dull and darker my skin had become! My regular skincare provides a glow and has never failed me(except for the bit of congestion probably induced by stress and weather changes) so we can rule that out as the culprit. It has to be THIS cream. It stung but the internet reassured me that’s how they “know it’s working.” It stung everyday and my skin did not become anyway acclimated to it. If you have combination skin like me that’s in pretty ok shape except for the occasional adult congestion problem, maybe look elsewhere for Azelaic Acid. It might work for other problems like rosacea or psoriasis but it didn’t work for exfoliating at all. It congested it more! My skin after three months of recuperating, meticulous over the top care is finally back to normal. I’ve learned my lesson and will stick to my normal known brands.

This is a really thick heavy cream. I had a friend recommend it who swears by it so I know it must work great for some skin types. However when I applied it I immediately noticed the heavy thick cakey feeling on my skin and after a couple minutes my entire face broke into a rash so I washed it all off. Definitely recommend doing a patch test first before applying it to ur whole face to make sure it's not too thick and irritating for your skin type. I have severe combination skin with both eczema patches as well as cystic acne, I think if I just had eczema and no acne issues it probably would have worked alot better but I think it's too heavy for someone with acne issues. Made my pores feel clogged and itchy