Sold at retailers such as Macey’s and Nordstroms, the Clinique Acne Solutions Clear System Kit has 3 pieces including a cleaning foam, a cleansing moisturizer, and a clarifying lotion. It is based on salicylic acid and “natural botanicals.” But those are the only ingredients named. However, when asked what the ingredients were, the description included details about a formula that would supposedly include a “mild, medicated, cleansing foam helps clear and prevent acne. Removes dirt and excess oil. Unclogs pores. Calms redness, skin feels soft, smooth, and comfortable.”

The thing we have found with Clinique products it that most people buy them because they sell in big retailers. They never really reveal ingredients, concentrations, or any other important information, and the Acne Solutions kit is no exception. They provide only minimal information, including one ingredient that most grocery store brands sell for about $10. There is no reason to believe that Clinique Acne Solutions would be worth your investment.

Providing you with an AHA/BHA Complex, a botanical acne mask, cleansing capsules, and a cleansing gel, Zenmed claims to offer organic solutions for your acne problems, stimulating the healing process within your skin while cleansing dead skin cells from the surface. Ingredients include glycolic acid, salicylic acid, witch hazel, and chamomile among others. The capsules contain ingredients like dandelion, chaste tree, forsythia, gardenia, honeysuckle, red dahlia, and milk thistle.

Most of the ingredients in the pill have mild diuretic and possible cleansing properties. Salicylic acid and glycolic acid could theoretically cause increased healing and acne reduction in the skin. But the formula only uses 2% salicylic acid. We would be significantly more impressed if it used 5% or 10%. 2% is not nearly significant enough to produce results. The only ingredient that is impressive besides that is witch hazel, and again, they do not actually provide the quantities, making us wonder if they use such an insignificant amount as they do with the salicylic acid.

The Zenmed Cleansing system sells for $99.95 for a month’s supply. We can’t say what exactly they are charging you for, though we suspect it is largely the packaging. There are no particularly powerful ingredients or concentrations in this formula, and the likelihood is it will do nothing for your acne.

A hand held electronic device, Zeno is one of the most recent rage of acne treatments. It works by heating the skin to 120 degrees for 2 minutes to kill bacteria and improve the growth of proteins to reduce inflammation. So how do you keep yourself from being severely burned considering the temperature is 120 degrees. They say you use replaceable tips, though we’re not sure how this is supposed to protect the skin, being that they claim the skin itself is supposed to be heated to that temperature.

The basic device is $150-$200, and the replacements for the tips range. However, even the manufacturers admit this expensive solution does not work on everything, and some even say it only works on extremely small blemishes, not blackheads, whiteheads, scars, surface blemishes, basically all the things you’re trying to get rid of. In addition, as we suspected, many have complained about the heat and discomfort associated with Zeno, leaving a burning sensation and commonly red marks. All things considered, we would be uncomfortable recommending Zeno to anyone.

Claiming to be “the only non-prescription acne treatment proven to work in medical studies”, Vitacure B5 must have forgotten about products based on benzyl peroxide, salicylic acid, or tea tree oil. They also claim that it meets and beats USP standards. The USP is the United States Pharmacopeia, which doesn’t do anything. They have guidelines, not standards, and there is no way for them to actually enforce or endorse any entity. While vitamin B5, otherwise known as pantothenic acid, can cause acne as a sign of deficiencies, there are quite a few others that can do the same thing, and deficiencies only account for some of the common causes of acne. Vitacure B5 does not actually name any of the other potential ingredients, leading us to believe they don’t have any. We would not suggest this solution that only targets a small amount of the population, if that.

An acne pill in some ways comparable to Accutane, Vilantae is prescription free and less expensive than some alternatives. It claims to reduce oil production in the skin and prevent excess oils from being released. However, many have complained that they experienced greater stool production, stomach irritation, and headaches.

In addition, many have found that they actually experience an increase in acne and not a reduction, which is the exact opposite effect from what people are buying this product for. The suggested dose is 15 pills per day, which is excessive for any product, and it also means you will be spending significantly more money to get through the month. We would not suggest this product.

Comparable to Proactiv in some ways, Triclear uses a 3 step treatment plan. The main difference between Triclear and Proactiv, the price tag. Triclear charges you a “discounted” price of $69.95 for one month’s supply. Are you kidding me? Why would you pay that much for a treatment that compared itself to Proactiv when Proactiv is cheaper, and other imitators are even cheaper than that!

Moreover, like many scams, Triclear does not actually provide any type of ingredients list, and they don’t even bother naming supposed main ingredients. What would motivate any buyer to purchase this product without any actual information. I mean do you buy your prescription medications from some dirty guy on the street who assures you they’re legit? Then why would you take that risk with your acne treatment?

Triclear allows you 14 days for your “free trial offer” and then they start shipping you that very expensive autoship program, which is extremely difficult to cancel. This is probably because if they didn’t do something like this, no one would actually continue to buy their product after the first time! If you need more evidence, multiple users have reported actually breaking out when using this particular formula. So if you really want to take the risk, go ahead. But there are so many obvious signs with Triclear.

Formulated by leading pharmaceutical companies, Tretinoin functions under several different names, however the main ingredient always remains the same. It uses a form of vitamin A, and they use varying concentrations depending on the name and on the needs of the consumer. The problem is that even with all the irritation this product causes and its prescription status, Tretinoin takes 6-9 weeks to show results, that is if it works at all, and the side effects have been reported to be extremely severe.

You can generally find Tretinoin at a cheaper price. But depending on the concentration, you could pay anywhere from $40-$180 per 45 gram tube. You obviously have to use it for at least 2 months if not longer, not really knowing if it will work for you or not, and we would not recommend it with the side effects. We would not suggest Tretinoin in various ways.

Calling itself the “next generation of skincare”, Thermaclear is a small hand held machine that can be used on the face. It uses thermal pulse technology to reach below the skin’s surface, heating the skin and reducing the buildup of oils and sebum. The device itself costs $149.95, and each changeable tip costs about $19.95. However, it does not work for cystic acne or blackheads/whiteheads.

All in all, the heat ray is capable of burning the skin or causing discomfort or irritation, and there is nothing to prove that it will actually target acne at all. it is extremely expensive, and even those who have seen some success didn’t see it any faster than the average pill, cream, or serum, suggesting that it may have actually been the other treatment they were using that caused results.

For something more affordable and guaranteed to work, check out our top products.

The Pimple Clinic is introduced as the ultimate way to kill your pimples and produce healthy and beautiful skin. They claim that you can see all the benefits you need with this 3 step process which includes a cleanser, toner, and “clear.” Anyway, you can buy them all separately, or you can buy them together for a cheaper price than you would pay were you to buy them all separately.

This being said, their main pictures are of a kiwi, tomato, avocado, and someone popping a pimple, which by the way you should never actually do. This being said, they sell all 3 products for $39.95 as opposed to the $29.95 for each individual product. So this tells you right off the bat that they are charging way too much for their products in the first place.

But then there’s also the fact that they don’t disclose all their ingredients, and the ingredients they do disclose are not active acne fighting ingredients. This being said, while they are good for your skin, they’re not good enough to really be the sole ingredients in any acne product.

We suspect that they use quite a few irritants and otherwise ingredients that should never be in any skin product, let alone in an acne product. Basically speaking, you are paying $29.95 per bottle or $39.95 for all 3 bottles for a bunch of junk. You are not getting any of the results you actually want or need, and you are paying quite a bit more than any other comparable products such as grocery store products.

TetraClear is yet another product in general that sets off an instant red flag. They use what’s called a “free trial offer” to draw you in. People get excited, because they think hey, here’s a great product, and obviously they’re extremely confident in it. You stop looking for real information such as oh an ingredients list, and they don’t provide that information. But as the old saying goes, nothing in life is free.

Basically speaking, a “free trial offer” means a few things, and TetraClear is no exception to this rule. It means that they aren’t going to provide you with any concrete information such as an ingredients list, because their ingredients list is nothing special and often completely ineffective. It means that when they start sending you an automatic shipment in a few days, the cost will cover your “free month”, that month, and they will still make a substantial profit. And finally, it means that you will not be able to easily cancel that auto ship. All in all, it means that they have a junk product that they know that they could not otherwise sell. So they take their options as they are.

All in all, you can see that this product isn’t set up well. But then there’s the information you can find about it. The only listed ingredient is 2% salicylic acid. So the first question is what is the other 98% made up of. But then there’s the fact that obviously, this is their strongest ingredient, their best face. Salicylic acid can be found in almost every acne treatment product out there, and it isn’t that strong. It’s known for being gentle and without side effects, but not particularly effective above many others.

All in all, you can see why we wouldn’t recommend using Tetraclear. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t have the right ingredients, it doesn’t have the right amounts, and they charge you just about $80 per month once that auto ship starts. There is no return policy, even with unopened bottles. So much for confidence right, and you would be far better off obviously getting something else.