No one likes having acne breakouts, regardless of why they pop up.
But, when your acne might be coming from the use of your usual makeup, skincare, or hair products, it can be extra frustrating.
Read on to learn more about acne cosmetica, including the causes, usual suspects, and treatments.
Acne cosmetica is acne that forms from the skin coming into contact with cosmetics. This can mean your makeup, skincare products, or even products that you are using on your hair.
This type of acne is normally found on the chin, cheeks, or forehead, but can appear anywhere on the neck and face where a product was applied.
Acne Cosmetica affects up to ⅓ of adult women, and normally presents as lots of small, mild bumps with or without inflamed pimples that come to a head.
Cosmetics with ingredients that contain certain oils, are very thick, or have occlusive or irritating ingredients are more likely to produce acne cosmetica breakouts.
Some ingredients known to be comedogenic, or pore-clogging, include: lanolin, petrolatum, some vegetable oils, butyl stearate, lauryl alcohol, and oleic acid.
But, if you have very sensitive skin, you may experience acne cosmetica breakouts with products that do not contain any commonly pore-clogging or irritating ingredients.
The best way to avoid acne cosmetica breakouts is to choose any new skincare or cosmetic products carefully.
Look for products that say oil-free, non-comedogenic, or “for sensitive skin” on the packaging.
Also, add in new products slowly, paying attention to if the skin of the applied area breaks out or start appearing irritated.
For instance, if you switched to a new blush a month ago, and now your cheeks are developing small bumps, your blush could be to blame.
Or, if you just used a new lip balm last night and now there are tiny irritated bumps around the skin of our mouth, your skin may not like the new product.
Acne cosmetica can develop shortly after the application of the product, but, it may also take weeks for the pimples to start developing.
Thinking about the location of the blemishes and what products you apply there is a good way to help filter out what may be causing the acne cosmetica.
Taking care to apply hair products at least an inch back from the forehead is a good tip for reducing acne cosmetica from hair products.
Avoid sharing makeup, skincare products, or cosmetic brushes with others, and keep your application tools as clean as possible.
Also, it is necessary to fully cleanse all makeup off of your face at the end of the day to help avoid acne cosmetica.
The first step to helping acne cosmetica clear is to identify the product causing the issue, and stop using that cosmetic immediately.
Then, while the acne is healing, take care to wash your face twice daily with a gentle cleanser.
You may want to avoid cosmetics altogether while the breakout is healing, but if that is not possible, at least only use non-comedogenic makeup and wash off as soon as you are home for the day to allow your skin some time to “breathe”.
Choosing a day or two out of the week to go makeup-free may also help give your skin a break and help breakouts heal.
You may want to use over-the-counter acne cleansers during this time like those including benzoyl peroxide, or salicylic acid to help clear the pimples.
Or, if the acne still persists regardless of OTC acne cleansers, you can speak to your doctor about formulas with prescription acne medications like Tretinoin.
Here at Strut, we take skin care seriously.
So, we’ve developed a physician and pharmacist formulated acne cream containing prescription Tretinoin that is suitable for many types of breakouts, including acne cosmetica.
You can have a free online consultation with our U.S. licensed doctors in 10-15 minutes to see if our acne formula is a good fit for your breakouts.
If you are a good candidate for treatment, your prescription cream can be shipped to your front door with our free shipping.
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