By Dr. Anand Shah A good acne skin care routine is important when you’re prone to breakouts. If you have acne-prone skin then skin care options, solutions, and suggestions can feel endless and overwhelming, but caring for your skin doesn’t have to be. Your daily skin care regimen can help to remove excess oil, keep pores clear, and help speed up the healing of existing blemishes. Although oily skin can clog pores and lead to increased acne breakouts, oily skin also has many benefits. Oil helps preserve the skin, and people with oily skin tend to have thicker skin and fewer wrinkles. The key is to strike a balance between having too much oil and maintaining your skin’s natural moisture.
To keep acne-prone skin clear, most dermatologists recommend committing to a comprehensive acne routine. With so many products available and with so much conflicting information out there, creating a skin care routine for acne can seem confusing. But your daily skin care routine for acne doesn’t need to be complex to be effective. A consistent, simple acne skin care routine can help minimize your acne flare-ups and help reduce the side effects caused by repeatedly starting and stopping treatments. By choosing the right products, you can not only address your acne, but you can reduce or prevent other concerns, like dryness, post-acne marks, and more, while also protecting your skin from the sun.
Let Us First Understand What Is Acne
Acne is a common skin condition that happens when hair follicles under the skin become clogged. Oil and dead skin cells plug the pores, and outbreaks of lesions often called pimples can happen. Most often, the outbreaks occur on the face but can also appear on the back, chest, and shoulders. For most people, acne tends to go away by the time they reach their thirties, but some people in their forties and fifties continue to have this skin problem. When it comes to caring for acne-prone skin, consistency and routine are key, as is ensuring you’re using the right, quality products.
To help control oily skin, below are the doctors’ recommendations for your skincare routine for acne:
(A) Morning Skin Care Routine
1. Cleanse
Cleansing should be the first step in every skin care regimen regardless of skin type. Individuals with acne-prone skin need to cleanse at least twice a day. If you have oily skin, it’s best to kick off your morning skin care routine with an oil-free cleanser. It’s best to avoid using abrasive exfoliant sponges or brushes to minimize traumatic inflammation of the skin. Don’t use harsh bar soaps, antibacterial hand washes, or any similar things on your face. Harsh soaps won’t clear your acne, but they will irritate your skin.
2. Tone
Using a toner is an additional step that helps remove extra oil & impurities from the skin and rebalance the pH of the skin. As some toners can be drying, if you have less oily skin, you may not need to use one. Depending on the ingredients they contain, toners can help remove excess oil, tone, and hydrate, or even help fight blackheads and blemishes. Apply toner to a cotton ball or pad and gently smooth over the face and neck to help remove any leftover makeup, cleanser residue, and oil.
3. Sunscreen
Sunscreen helps prevent sun damage that could lead to wrinkles, age spots, and even skin cancer. To prevent acne breakouts, look for sunscreens that contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Never use sunscreens that contain fragrance or oils. UV exposure from the sun makes acne marks and spots even worse and can also lead to both premature aging and skin cancer. This is way, slathering your face with sunscreen every morning is probably the best habit you can cultivate.
(b) Night Skin Care Routine
1. Cleanse Again
It doesn’t matter how tired you are, you need to wash your face before bed. And no, a poor little face wipe doesn’t cut it and can actually lead to more breakouts on acne-prone skin. Washing your face in the evening removes oil produced during the day, as well as dirt, makeup, and other impurities you have been exposed to.
2. Tone (Optional)
If your skin is oily, you can repeat applying toner in the evening too, for an extra-squeaky-clean feeling. Toners are designed to remove excess oil from the skin so obviously, they are best for oily skin types. If your skin tends to be dry, either naturally or because you’re using drying acne treatments, hydrating toner is a better choice for you.
3. Apply Acne Treatment Medications
After your toner has dried completely, or after you’ve washed and thoroughly dried your face, smooth on your acne treatment creams as directed. This could be a medication prescribed by your doctor, or an over-the-counter acne gel or cream. Let the medication absorb or dry completely before proceeding to the next step. You need to understand that not everyone needs or can tolerate acne medications applied to the whole face. So, how you medicate may look different from how another person with acne medicates. Moreover, the product recommendations are also individualized.
The Bottom Line
Above all, keep in mind that no acne treatment works immediately or overnight. Doctors recommend that patients use a prescription acne product for at least 8 to 12 weeks consistently before deciding if it is helping or not (unless the product is causing skin irritation or a rash). If you’re only applying your acne treatments every once in a while, and rarely wash your face before going to bed, you’re never going to get ahead of your breakouts.
The most important step in your skin care routine is consistency. The more consistent you are with your regimen, the better results you will get. Every person’s skin is different, and there is no “one size fits all” approach to skin care.
If you need help getting acne breakouts under control, or you just need some guidance on choosing the best skincare products for you, or you are genuinely having a hard time in managing or selecting your acne care routine, don’t hesitate to reach out to the certified dermatologists at Musk Clinic. With the right products and ingredients, we can help you minimize acne flare-ups along with the side effects associated with starting and stopping skincare for acne. Just remember, consistent use of an acne routine is the perfect way to get your skin back on track.
