Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10 for sensitive skin
Benzoyl Peroxide
Carbomer Homopolymer Type B
Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose
Sodium Hydroxide
Low
- AverageNormal Skin Fit
- HighEffectiveness
- ConcerningSafety
A weak match for sensitive skin; the serums alongside fit it better.
This fit is calculated for the concerns frequently associated with sensitive skin: redness, stinging, and reactions to new products. For scores and recommendations based on your full skin profile, including your 12D face scan results and any goals or preferences you have, please use the Lovi app.
Page built Nov 8, 2026How the Fit score works
Lovi Assistant explains
- Offers moderate treatment for your acne-prone skin as benzoyl peroxide helps reduce acne lesions, though it may also cause dryness and potentially worsen sensitivity for your normal skin.
- While benzoyl peroxide has antimicrobial and keratolytic actions beneficial for your skin, the formula lacks sufficient hydrating and emollient ingredients for optimal results.
How to apply
- Use your serum in the PM routine, starting 3 times a week before building up to daily use if your skin is happy.
- Apply the serum after cleansing and toning, but before putting on your moisturizer for the best results.
- Gently press 2-3 drops of the serum into your skin and wait a minute ⏱ for it to soak in.
- Since your skin is sensitive and easily irritated, apply the serum on completely dry skin to help keep it calm.
- Always do a patch test before your first use and avoid getting the serum too close to your eyes .
People Say
★4.1Overall rating based on 1.2k+ reviewsBased on a very large amount of data, users consistently praise this maximum-strength benzoyl peroxide gel as a highly effective and affordable spot treatment for stubborn acne and cystic bumps. Because of its potency, it frequently causes significant dryness and peeling, making it best suited for oily skin types or targeted application rather than all-over use.
Highlights
Affordable price Mostly Mentioned
- “Great value compared to luxury brands”
- “Cheap and effective drugstore staple”
- “Best bang for your buck acne fighter”
Excessive drying Mostly Mentioned
- “Left flaky dry patches on my chin”
- “Skin peeled badly after two days”
- “Too harsh for sensitive skin areas”
Clears pimples Often Mentioned
- “Shrinks zits significantly overnight”
- “Cystic bumps flattened in 2 days”
- “Reduces redness and size within hours”
Effective spot treatment Often Mentioned
- “Works wonders on deep, painful spots”
- “Stops new breakouts in their tracks”
- “Perfect for emergency spot treating”
Bleaches fabrics Often Mentioned
- “Ruined my favorite pillowcases”
- “Bleached orange spots on my towels”
- “Stained my pajama collar white”
Causes burning Sometimes Noted
- “Stings immediately upon application”
- “Left a red, burning mark”
- “Felt like a chemical burn on sensitive spots”
Sources: lovi.care, walmart.com, influenster.com, walgreens.com, acne.org, target.com, and more
Questions and answers
Why is Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10 a weak match for sensitive skin?
This product is a weak match because, while benzoyl peroxide helps reduce acne, it may also cause dryness and worsen sensitivity. A treatment of this type needs soothing antioxidants, hydrating components, and skin-repairing ingredients to keep sensitive skin calm and smooth.
Which ingredients make this treatment a poor fit for sensitive skin?
Benzoyl peroxide is the key ingredient that makes this treatment a poor fit for sensitive skin, as it may cause dryness and worsen irritation. Treatments that fit this skin well need soothing additions like antioxidants, hydrating components, and skin-repairing ingredients.
What does Benzoyl Peroxide do for sensitive skin?
Benzoyl peroxide may help improve acne, but it is unlikely to suit sensitive skin well because it often causes irritation and dryness. This type of skin needs gentle, soothing ingredients and calming cleansers that reduce redness without harsh side effects.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2005
What does Water do for sensitive skin?
Using cool water for facial cleansing preserves skin barrier integrity and lowers skin surface pH in healthy adults. This helps keep skin calm and hydrated without causing the irritation associated with warmer water.
Where does it go in a skincare routine for sensitive skin?
Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10 goes in the evening routine as a treatment step, used carefully because it may cause dryness and worsen sensitivity. A product of this type needs soothing, hydrating, and skin-softening ingredients to be a good fit for sensitive skin.
Can I use this treatment with retinol, and in what order?
Using this treatment with retinol may cause excessive dryness and irritation on sensitive skin, so it is best to avoid using them at the same time. Instead, use your retinol at night and apply this benzoyl peroxide treatment sparingly or on alternate days, making sure to follow up with a rich moisturizer to keep your skin calm and hydrated.
American Family Physician, 2012The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020
How often should I use it?
This product is a weak match for your sensitive skin because it lacks enough soothing, hydrating, and softening ingredients to balance the strong drying effects of benzoyl peroxide. When adding it to your routine, start slowly just once a week in the evening to see how your skin reacts, as this type of treatment needs extra moisture and calming ingredients to keep sensitive skin comfortable.
Can this treatment clog pores, cause breakouts or purging for sensitive skin?
This treatment is unlikely to clog pores, but it may cause excessive dryness and worsen sensitivity for your skin. To care for sensitive skin properly, this type of product needs soothing ingredients and plenty of hydration to keep the skin calm and comfortable.
Is it fragrance-free and alcohol-free?
It has no drying alcohol and contains fragrance (benzyl alcohol).
What the research says
Topical benzoyl peroxide may improve acne more effectively than placebo or no treatment, while showing little to no difference compared with adapalene or clindamycin, but with an increased risk of treatment discontinuation due to adverse effects compared to placebo.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020Once-daily fixed-dose clindamycin phosphate 1.2%/benzoyl peroxide 3.1%/adapalene 0.15% gel achieved superior treatment success (52.5%) and greater reductions in inflammatory and noninflammatory lesions compared to vehicle (8.1%) and dyad component gels in participants with moderate-to-severe acne over 12 weeks.
American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, 2022Preoperative treatment with benzoyl peroxide significantly decreases the bacterial skin load of Cutibacterium acnes in patients undergoing elective shoulder surgery from skin incision until wound closure compared to preparation with soap.
Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 2021Twice daily application of a multitargeted dermocosmetic cream provided comparable efficacy to benzoyl peroxide 5% gel in reducing inflammatory, non-inflammatory, and total lesions in 150 Caucasian subjects with mild-to-moderate acne over 56 days, while demonstrating superior skin tolerability.
Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2024Topical clindamycin phosphate 1.2%/adapalene 0.15%/benzoyl peroxide 3.1% gel achieved significantly greater treatment success and lesion reductions compared to vehicle in participants with moderate-to-severe acne.
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2023Daily application of adapalene 0.3%/benzoyl peroxide 2.5% gel reduced and prevented atrophic acne scar formation, achieving a total scar count change of -15.5% versus +14.4% for vehicle over 24 weeks in 67 subjects with moderate or severe facial acne.
American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, 2018Topical chloramphenicol-betamethasone combined with sodium hyaluronate/trehalose/carbomer gel compared to chloramphenicol-betamethasone alone reduced most subjective symptoms at 1 week but increased blurred vision at 4 weeks following strabismus surgery in 31 patients, with no significant differences in conjunctival inflammation between treatments.
Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 2019Incorporating nanoemulsions into hydrogels with increasing Carbopol 934 proportions from 1% to 3% progressively decreased the percutaneous flux rates of terbinafine and citral, increased drug accumulation in the stratum corneum while decreasing it in the epidermis/dermis compared to nanoemulsions alone, and shifted delivery routes from skin appendages to intercellular paths.
International Journal of Nanomedicine, 2016Topical liquiritin carbomer gel treatment restored skin barrier function, increased barrier proteins and antioxidant enzymes, and decreased inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress in a mouse model of glucocorticoid-induced skin inflammation.
Pharmaceutics, 2024Biodegradable wound dressings functionalized with silver nanoparticles showed >99% pathogen growth inhibition, bactericidal effects, free radical scavenging, reduced inflammatory response in macrophages, and accelerated wound healing in animals.
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2022Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose hydrogel formulations of berberine chloride-loaded escinosomes increased skin residence time and transdermal permeability while maintaining high safety and biocompatibility without skin irritation.
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 2020
Ingredients
Benzoyl Peroxide, Water, Carbomer Homopolymer Type B, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Sodium Hydroxide, Laureth-4, Disodium Edta, Benzyl Alcohol
Behind this fit score
Lovi calculates every fit score from the full ingredient list with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.
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Dr. Sofía Perea Pérez, MD, MSc
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Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD
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Elina Nazarenko, MD
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Victoria Derkova, MS
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