Peter Thomas Roth

I've always had hormonal acne, but about 9 months ago I started breaking out badly around my forehead all month long. It may have been because I moved to another city, but I still haven't figured it out for sure. Anyhow, I did some research on acne products and decided to try products from Peter Thomas Roth. DermatologistRx always has 30% off codes so I thought it was a good deal. I've stopped using the PTR products for a couple of months now, but I still wanted to do a review of the products. Some worked well while others did nothing for my skin. Here are the products I tried:

 

Botanical Buffing Beads $36: I bought this mainly for exfoliating my body. I used to have some back acne near my upper back, and it left some scarring so I figured exfoliating would clear it up. Overall, this product didn't help very much with the scarring, and it really doesn't do more than my usual Dove body wash with exfoliating beads. The texture of PTR body wash is grainy, but it's not rough on your skin. It smells a bit citrus-y, and it's not a smell everyone would find pleasant. Definitely skip this product!

AHA/BHA Acne Clearing Gel $45: This product is for when you have popped your pimple and need to disinfect and heal your wound. It doesn't do anything if you haven't popped your pimple yet. It also will not do anything if you didn't successfully pop your pimple. It has salicylic acid, so it stings after you put it on, but that also lets you know that it is working. It basically dries your wound so that the healing process is faster. Overall, this product works, but I will no longer pay for something I can get at CVS for a lot cheaper.

Acne Spot and Area Treatment $32: This product has sulfur in it, and it smells like fart. It's a yellow cream and applies very smoothly on the skin. I can't imagine that everyone would be OK with the smell of this product. I find it to work better when you apply it all over your skin than just a spot treatment. What I did was I applied it all over only on my forehead, my most problematic area, right before bed. I only used it at night because of the bad smell. It really mattifies your skin and when you wake up in the morning, your forehead is not shiny or oily at all. I only found this to help keep my skin less oily throughout the day. It didn't do very much for acne that was already present, and it only helped a bit in preventing acne. I would say this product works, but I would not recommend it because it doesn't do miracles on my skin. And for the price, you better be darn sure I'm hoping for miracles on my skin!

Gentle Complexion Correction Pads $36: These are pads that smell like Peach Bellini. I used these after the gym if I knew I was going to be running around before washing my face. It just mentally makes me feel like my skin is cleaner after sweating. All you have to do is take a pad and rub it all over your face and you're set. No need to wash your face or anything afterwards. They smell nice, but they really didn't do anything for my acne, and it didn't really help brighten my skin either. Overall, it's not worth it!!

Un-Wrinkle Peel Pads $45: This is the only product that I am still using today. I feel that these pads are the only things worth the money for PTR products. They make your skin so soft and smooth. I used to have small bumps around my forehead, and these pads completely smooth them out. I use these in the shower because you need to wash your face after rubbing the pad all over. It's basically a strong exfoliator and it almost takes a layer of dead skin off your face. You're left with smooth baby skin, but you have to be careful about it as well. I only rub it on my T-Zone because its my most oily area. If I use it on my cheeks, my cheeks dry out very badly afterwards. You definitely need to moisturize after using this, and I would only suggest using these once or twice a week. These are quite expensive, so I also cut them in halves so I can use them longer. Overall, this is the only product I would repurchase, and it's really helped my skin.

Mega-Rich Intensive Anti-Aging Cellular Eye Cream $65: I also used a PTR eye treatment cream for wrinkles when I was back in college. I used it for almost a year, and then I stopped. I tried to find it in my shelves, but I must have buried it somewhere because it was a bad purchase. I didn't have many wrinkles around my eyes, but I definitely wanted to start using something to prevent future wrinkles. I can safely say that it really didn't so anything for my skin. It didn't help with some of the faint lines around my eyes, and it also didn't help prevent wrinkles as I began to notice them show up. 

Overall, PTR products are clinical treatment products, so I understand the higher price point, but I also expect more from these products, which left me underwhelmed and quite disappointed. However, I am glad that I got to try these products because no one product works the same for everyone, and I would never know if I hadn't tried it. As a recap, the only product I would repurchase is the Un-Wrinkle Peeling Pads. If you're looking to try clinical treatment products, I would definitely first do research on them, and then look for the best deal. You can almost always find some sort of deal on expensive products if you look hard enough. I must say though, PTR definitely left a bad taste in my mouth, so it will be a while before I spend so much on skincare.