Benzoyl Peroxide Benzene Recall: Which Acne Products the FDA Pulled

The FDA found elevated benzene in six of 95 acne products it tested, but here’s what you actually need to know.

If you use benzoyl peroxide on a breakout, you may have caught a worrisome headline about benzene showing up in acne products and wondered what’s actually in the stuff you put on your face. But here’s the less alarming version of the story. The FDA tested 95 acne products containing benzoyl peroxide for benzene — a chemical linked to cancer — and found elevated levels in only six of them. The other 90%-plus came back with undetectable or extremely low amounts. A short list of products is being pulled from store shelves, but this isn’t a case where you need to toss everything in your cabinet, and it’s a good reminder that what’s in your beauty products is important.

What You Should Know About the Recall

On March 11, 2025, the FDA announced that it had tested 95 benzoyl peroxide acne products and found six with elevated benzene levels.

The companies agreed to recall them, but it’s important to distinguish that this is a retail-level recall. That means stores are told to pull the products from shelves and online marketplaces, but consumers aren’t being instructed to toss what they already own. And the FDA was clear that even with daily use for decades, the cancer risk from the benzene in these products is very low.

If you want to check your own stash, here are the exact products to look out for:

• La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo Dual Action Acne Treatment — Lot MYX46W, exp. April 2025
• Walgreens Acne Control Cleanser — Lot 23 09328, exp. September 2025
• Proactiv Emergency Blemish Relief Cream Benzoyl Peroxide 5% — Lots V3305A and V3304A, exp. October 2025
• Proactiv Skin Smoothing Exfoliator — Lot V4204A, exp. July 2025
• SLMD Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Lotion — Lot 2430600, exp. March 2025
• Walgreens Tinted Acne Treatment Cream — Lot 49707430, exp. March 2026

A seventh product, Zapzyt Acne Treatment Gel, was also recalled, but that one came from the manufacturer’s own testing rather than the FDA’s.

Going Deeper on Benzene and the Testing

Benzene is a chemical that occurs naturally and through human activity — you’ll find it in crude oil, gasoline, cigarette smoke, and vehicle exhaust. Long-term exposure can raise the risk of cancer, which is why elevated levels in everyday products raise concern.

The FDA ran this testing after third-party labs flagged concerns about benzene in benzoyl peroxide products, and its own results showed fewer contaminated products than those labs claimed. The agency cautioned that unvalidated testing methods can report much higher contamination levels than are actually present, which can lead to confusion. The FDA says it plans to publish its full data and methods in peer-reviewed journals in the coming months.

The Takeaway

Check the lot number and expiration dates on your products against the list above — if anything you have is expired, throw it out regardless of the lot number. Outside of the contaminated batches, benzoyl peroxide is still a standard, effective acne ingredient, and the FDA’s testing doesn’t change that.

Bottom Line

The FDA found elevated levels of benzene in only six out of 95 products, named the recalls, and kept the action to retailers. The agency’s full, peer-reviewed data has not been published yet, so we may still receive further detail on the topic. But for now, check your cosmetics cabinet against the list above, and if you don’t see any of those lot numbers and your products haven’t expired, rest easy.