How You Might Be Making Your Acne Breakouts Worse

Using a spot treatment to try and zap zits once they pop up is a sure-fire losing game. Spot treatments can be useful in taming inflammation and potentially helping to loosen clogged pores, but oftentimes, when you see one pimple, there are others forming in the area. Further, by using acne-fighting skin care products only when you see a breakout, skin is unable to adapt to your routine and the active ingredients in each product, causing stress, irritation, and dryness that just intensifies the acne cycle. Rather than springing into action once a breakout surfaces, opt for a gentler, regular acne-fighting skin treatment that can help to heal current breakouts and prevent future ones.

Consider exfoliating your key first step in acne prevention. You’ll want to avoid harsh skin care exfoliators that contain larger scrubbing elements—think sugars, salt, or other physical scrubbers.

Opt instead for an acid-based exfoliator to help remove dead skin cells that are clogging pores and causing your breakouts in the first place. When first incorporating an acid-based exfoliator into your acne treatment routine, choose a product that contains a lower concentration of acid and work your way up, depending on how your skin reacts, to avoid irritation. If you need some guidance in choosing the right product, we can point you in the right direction of an effective product and system for your skin.

While there are many active ingredients that fight acne, you may not know that they fight different types of acne.

Using the wrong active ingredient for the type of acne you’re experiencing can either have no effect at all or it could make matters worse. For this reason, it’s best to first identify what type(s) of acne you’re looking to treat, then consider the best product for the job.

For example, benzoyl peroxide is primarily an antimicrobial, meaning it works by eliminating acne-causing bacteria and is best paired with papules and pustules that are linked to higher levels of bacteria. If you’re experiencing comedones (small blackheads or whiteheads), salicylic acid is more likely to do the trick. As an exfoliator, salicylic acid removes dead skin to prevent the further formation of comedones, which most often result from dead skin clogging pores.

We’re all eager to see instant results, particularly when it comes to treating acne. Unfortunately, those products that claim overnight results are promoting unrealistic promises. Some treatments may be able to reduce inflammation and redness in a shorter timeframe, but they can’t resolve acne that quickly. Acne treatments take time to work their magic. Switching it up too often will only cause further skin irritation, which restarts the acne cycle. Rather than quickly ditching a treatment that doesn’t afford instant results, we recommend that each acne product is used for at least six to eight weeks. This will allow its full effects to take hold and skin cell renewal to properly occur. This will allow you to better judge if it’s the right product for you and your skin. If it’s not working within that six-to-eight-week period, then you may move on to a new acne treatment or add another product to your routine to amplify the effects. Further, once your acne clears up, skin care experts recommend keeping up the routine to prevent any future breakouts.

We encourage our clients to remember, slow and steady is the name of the acne-fighting game.

Let us help you prevent acne breakouts and keep your skin healthy and clear. Call or text us today to schedule a free consultation! 480-831-7109