I bought Dr. Althea 345 Relief Cream in a last-chance kind of mood. My skin was in that annoying place where everything was either too rich and clogging or too light and useless. On top of that, I get breakouts easily—especially those angry, under-the-skin spots that hang around for weeks. I just wanted something that would calm the redness and help my barrier without turning my face into an oil slick. This cream honestly surprised me in the best way. Formula-wise, it’s one of the few products I’d call a real “lifesaver” for breakouts. Packaging-wise… it drives me a little crazy.

The texture hits a really sweet spot for oily, acne-prone skin. It’s a light cream, not a heavy balm, and it spreads easily in a thin layer without feeling greasy.

When I first squeezed it out, I expected it to sit on top of my skin like a traditional “soothing” ointment, but it doesn’t. It melts in quickly and leaves a soft, natural finish—no thick film, no heavy shine. My T-zone doesn’t look extra shiny, and my cheeks don’t feel smothered. It feels like a proper moisturizer that just happens to be incredibly calming, not like a spot treatment pretending to be a cream.

Where it really won me over is how it handles active breakouts and angry red patches. On nights when my skin is flaring—fresh pimples, tenderness around the jaw, that overall “everything feels inflamed” sensation—I put on a medium layer of this and just leave it alone. By the next morning, the redness is noticeably down, and the painful, hot feeling around spots is reduced. It doesn’t magically erase pimples overnight, but it shortens the life cycle of breakouts and makes them so much easier to live with. Those deep, stubborn bumps feel less hard and swollen, and surface spots calm down instead of getting angrier. It feels like the cream is quietly telling my skin, “Okay, let’s not make this worse.”

Another thing I love is how consistent it is. Some calming creams work once or twice and then stop feeling special. This one has been reliable over time. When my skin is freaking out from a new product, weather change, or stress, I can strip my routine back and keep this as my main moisturizer, and my face slowly returns to normal. It doesn’t sting, even if I’ve over-exfoliated or my skin feels raw. It also doesn’t clog me, which is honestly rare for a cream I use all over my face. I’ve had products that seemed soothing at first but started triggering closed comedones or tiny bumps after a week. With this, my pores stay relatively clear and my overall texture actually improves when I stick with it.

Makeup and sunscreen sit really well on top, too. Because the finish isn’t oily, my sunscreen doesn’t slide, and my foundation doesn’t separate around my nose or chin. On days when my skin is especially sensitive, this is the only cream I trust under base products. It gives just enough moisture so I don’t get those dry, flaky patches peeking through, but it doesn’t create that slippery layer that ruins everything by lunchtime. It’s kind of exactly what I always wanted “non-comedogenic” creams to be.

Now for the part I don’t like: the packaging. The cream lives in a white tube that looks and behaves way too much like a medical ointment. At first glance, that might sound fine—minimal, clean, hygienic—but in practice, it’s frustrating. The material of the tube is quite stiff and not elastic at all. When you squeeze it, it doesn’t really “bounce back” or reshape itself. It just dents and stays that way. Over time, it starts to look crumpled and worn, even if you’ve been careful. That alone wouldn’t be a dealbreaker, but there’s more.

Because the tube doesn’t spring back, it’s weirdly easy to over-dispense product. One squeeze and you get more than you meant to, and the tube doesn’t relax enough to let you fine-tune the amount. I constantly feel like I’m using more than I need because it’s so hard to control that first push. On top of that, the material feels a bit fragile. It has that “if I bend this the wrong way, it might tear” vibe, especially around the folded end. It reminds me of really old-school ointment tubes that start to crack along the creases the more you use them.

There’s also something about the way it looks that just doesn’t match how good the formula is. The plain white tube with that stiff, medical feel makes it look and feel cheaper than it actually is. It doesn’t have that sturdy, well-designed packaging that gives you confidence you’ll get every last bit of product without a mess. Instead, I’m constantly worried it’s going to split at the side or at the back fold as I get closer to the end. For a cream I love this much, it’s honestly a little sad that the outside doesn’t live up to what’s inside.

Despite all of that, I keep coming back to it because the formula is just that good for my skin type. When my breakouts are bad, when my barrier is stressed, or when I’ve tried something new and regret it, this is one of the only products I reach for without thinking twice. It cools things down, doesn’t suffocate my oily areas, and helps acne spots calm and heal with less drama. I recommend it to people who are in that same spot—oily, acne-prone, but still needing a cream that genuinely soothes instead of just sitting on top.

If the packaging ever gets upgraded to something sturdier, softer, or even a different kind of tube, it would honestly be close to a perfect product for me. For now, I put up with the annoying, ointment-like tube, the way it doesn’t spring back, and the feeling that it might tear, all because what’s inside really works. 

So my review is this: formula, 10/10; packaging, maybe a 3/10. If you can overlook the tube and just focus on how your skin behaves, especially if you’re oily and acne-prone, this cream is absolutely worth trying.