Niapads Facial Cleansing Acne Pads; Niacinamide Face Acne Treatment Prevents and Fights Outbreaks, Even Cystic Acne, and Lavender Oil Soothes Inflamed Skin; Reduces Scars and Clears Blackheads

Background: 29yrs old black female. 15+ year sufferer of moderate to severe acne, acne scaring and hyper-pigmentation. Skin type is very oily and acne prone. Tried OTC, Rx (to include Accutane), Lasers, Peels. Some were pretty affective but came with very severe side effects.First, I want to express how excited I was about receiving this particular product because I've recently given up on spending THOUSANDS on dermatologist and aesthetician bills, prescription medications, cosmetic procedures, and expensive skin care products. Additionally, I recently discovered why most products just didn't seem to work for me - irritating ingredients. So after researching every single ingredient in all of my Rx, skin care and hair car products, I had to toss out 98% of them. Additionally, I've been reading about more natural alternatives and ingredients that are equally beneficial for acne without all the harsh irritating effects. So again, I was especially excited to receive this product as I believed it contained a decent concentration level of vitamin B or at the very least enough of it WITHOUT any counterproductive ingredients.Well so I thought...Immediately after opening my package, I zoomed in on the ingredients and was very much disappointed. This product contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate which is an ingredient used for its "lathering" effects. This stuff is in most skin care products, shampoos, clothing, and dish washing detergents. Well the problem is SLS "is one of the most irritating cleansing agents used in skin-care products" according to the European Journal of Dermatology and the American Journal of Contact Dermatitis. Sure some folks enjoy a nice lather and actually feel as though their skin isn't properly cleansed without it but the truth is that lather has nothing to do with cleansing. Sure some lathering cleanser removes excess oils but doesn't actually cleanse the skin. I have used many Neutrogena products (which are the WORST) that work up a good lather, only afterwards to use a toner, witch-hazel or alcohol and find globs of dirt and dead skin on the cotton swab.To put SLS irritating effects in perspective, I switched to a shampoo containing zero sodium products and my seborrheic dermatitis is under control and my acne even showed some improvement. The shampoo also contains Tea Tree Oil which may have also contributed to my skin improvements. So, I knew I was on the right track with eliminating certain ingredients and incorporating more natural ones like the Tea Tree and Vitamin B3, to name a few.Anyhow... I proceeded to use this product in spite of what I knew because I was so anxious to see the results of what the Vitamin B3 could deliver. Plus, I had two very large active nodule pimples near my temple that I was trying to rid myself of ASAP (this is actually an improvement considering prior to revamping my products regimen, I had 4 to 5 on any given day). The product instructions provided an alternate process to treat inflamed, nodule, and/or cystic type of acne which actually is pretty effective. It called for cutting out a small (smaller than thumb tip) corner of the pad, to slightly wet it and place on the pimple until dried, and then removing the pad and rinse. My nodule pimples were gone in 1.5 days which is an all time record. Not even injections from the dermatologist improved my large nodule pimples that quickly. For this reason alone is why I gave this product 3 stars!So after seeing these results, I thought for sure I could suck up the irritating effects of SLS if the vitamin B3 could improve my acne that quickly. Well, this pad has so much lathering ingredients in it that I had to cut it in half (original size is about 2 x 3 inch rectangle flat, textured swab) which is already very small. It still produced a rich lather and after rinsing my face, I had a white film/residue on my face. Whether this is the SLS or Vitamin B3, I have no idea but I suspect it's the SLS because it broke me out with a gazillion small closed comedones over 90% of my face. However, zero nodule or cystic acne.Simply, I would recommend this product for spot treatment, especially for nodule/cystic type acne. I would not recommend using this as a facial cleansing and especially not using it twice a day as recommended by the manufacturer. What would be a blast is if the manufacturer would update their ingredients to exclude the SLS and other sodium ingredients within it. Then I bet this stuff would fly off the shelves! And I would certainly give it a 5 star but for now, I think 3 is appropriate.Extremely Irritating Ingredients:Sodium Lauryl SulfateSodium Coco SulfateLavender Oil

My 17-year-old son had had a pretty bad case of standard teenage acne vulgaris for a couple of years. It wasn't the sort of awful acne that you know will result in lifelong pockmarks, but he always had a fair number of angry looking pimples at any one time. He'd gone through the standard over-the-counter medications, as well as some prescription lotions, ointments, and oral antibiotics. Nothing seemed to do much good, and a friend of my wife suggested Accutane -- an expensive and very powerful oral retinoid with some horrendous potential side-effects (depression, liver damage, etc.). Since payment for the Accutane (at $400/month + frequent visits to the dermatologist to monitor side effects) would have come out of my pocket, and since my son was very reluctant to take the product, I decided to do some research before jumping in. In the course of that research I came across positive study info about the successful use of topical nicotinamide (also called niacinamide, and related to Vitamin B3 or niacin) in treating acne.I figured this non-prescription treatment might be worth a shot before resorting to Accutane, but when I searched on Amazon, nearly all the niacinamide products were oral (about which I'd read nothing) and the few available niacinamide gels or ointments were being marketed as anti-aging, anti-wrinkle products, not acne treatments. The sole exception was Niapads, which had lots of positive Amazon reviews, although a majority of these reviews seemed to deal with adult acne rather than the more standard teenage variety my son was suffering from. So I placed an order, which was very promptly filled and delivered (this company has a very high level of customer service, with same-day or next-day shipping on every order I've placed thus far).At first my son didn't really like the Niapads. He didn't care for the perfumed smell (he's a 17-year-old boy) and he found they irritated his face. Based on the Amazon reviews I'd read (several of which noted the same initial reactions), I urged him to keep using them for the full month, and he was willing to give it his best shot in order to avoid the Accutane. At the end of the month, he asked me to go ahead and order another pack -- the irritation had subsided, he'd gotten used to the smell, and though his acne was still there, it didn't seem quite as "angry" as it had a month earlier.It's been about 6 months now and my son's skin looks the best it has in years. Yes, he will occasionally get a pimple, but he no longer has those outbreaks that are what I think of as acne. His face looks clean and clear. So all in all, I would recommend Niapads without any hesitation.

Not quite sure if it works for problem skin

Been using these for 2 weeks and no changes have really occured. Disappointed as I have a great skin routine but this didnt add anything else.. Also lavender is a known skin irritant.