I have been getting horrible, painful cystic acne around my mouth, nose, and forehead. I was on birth control but came off birth control for a hormone panel. I have been getting acne ever since. I literally went from nice clear skin on birth control to painful cystic acne that would take weeks to go away...only to come right back around my period. This stuff really works. I would use a hot compress at night to open my pores, then apply this with a qtip. I would wait for it to dry before going to bed. In the morning I would just rinse my face with warm water. The bumps would not be completely gone but smaller. Since I am working at home right now, sometimes I would apply this a few times a day and the acne would go away faster. This is a drying agent. If you apply too frequently it can be irritating. But this did work to clear up the cystic acne better than any other OTC products that I tried.