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We need to talk about the best acne treatments. When you think about facial acne, you might imagine your entire face covered in red spots, pimples and blemishes. But at Jersey Beauty Company we use acne to describe all kinds of pimples, spots, blemishes and breakouts that you might experience. So when we talk about acne, if you have any concerns with breakouts, we’re talking to you!

There’s actually five types of spots and the way we need to treat them is different. It isn’t just as straightforward as a pimple cream for every type. So it might be a bit gross at times, but we want to take a closer look at spots, what causes them, how they’re made up and how we can effectively treat our skin.

5 Types of Spots

So there are five types of spots. Each one is different and needs different treatment and active ingredients. So we thought we’d look at each in turn and suggest from some of the products we stock a place to start for finding the best acne treatment for your unique skin, as well as highlighting the active ingredients you need to look out for if you have that particular concern.

Dermalogica Medibac Range – we really like this range at Jersey Beauty Company as Dermalogica have created a number of products to address each of the different treatments needed for acne, depending on the type of acne and your individual skin type. We have highlighted some of the options as we go through.

1. Pustules

The name doesn’t sound that great and these are the type of spots that often don’t look that great! They are the yellow-headed spots. To treat these kinds of spots, we need to clear out the pores that have been clogged up and rehydrate the skin with good stuff.

Open Pores – there’s a bit of a common misconception about open pores. We get a lot of customers, particularly with older skin, who say they have open pores. All pores are open. That’s what makes them work. It’s more likely that when we talk about open pores, we mean visibly open – which happens naturally to more oily skin as you get older.

How To Deal With Pustules:

Salicylic Acid – this is a chemical exfoliant and so is great for gently clearing out pores that have got clogged up with dead skin cells.

Hyaluronic Acid – if you’ve not read us talking about it this before, hyaluronic acid is great for hydration as it helps your skin hold up to a thousand times its weight in water, so it really holds the water you are replacing. Often we can be tempted to skip moisturizing when we have breakouts because we’re concerned about adding any more oil to oily skin. But it’s about choosing the right hydrating goodness.

Products:

A great product for Pustule Breakouts is Dermalogica’s Overnight Clearing Gel – that can be used intensively during a breakout and has both of these ingredients and is packed full of other great ingredients too.

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2. Papules

These are under the skin spots and are more common in your forties and fifties especially along the jawline. Sometimes we think of acne as just a teenage skin concern. That is absolutely not the case although the type of spots you might see in your later years are more like the papules. They might be reddened and you might be able to feel a lump that’s sore but there’s no head on the spot and it all happens under the skin surface.

It’s all to do with hormones. Your female hormones reduce and your male hormones even out, which can produce more sebaceous oil on the surface of the skin. That can cause the bacteria to get trapped under the skin and this is what causes the papule spots.

How To Deal With Papules:

Papules, unlike pustules won’t ever burst. The bacteria can’t make its way to the skin’s surface because it is trapped. So you need active ingredients that exfoliate the skin and help that bacteria to get out to heal the skin.

Products:

Dermalogica Daily Resurfacer is a great exfoliator. It is a pad that fits on your finger and you can use daily on the affected area to see a lasting difference as your cells renew.

Dermalogica Breakout control is also great for soothing and working deep into the skin, without drying it out.

3. Blackheads

The technical name for these are comedones. We get blackheads when the pores are clogged with bacteria but it’s not enough to reach the surface, like a pustule, or deep enough to be a papule. Blackheads tend to affect people with dry skin because there isn’t enough oil in the skin to effectively push the bacteria out of the pores so it sits just below the surface, which is why it looks darker.

How to Deal With Blackheads:

You need to be exfoliating, as with the papules. But also you need to ensure you are double cleansing. If you don’t fully cleanse your skin that’s when the bacteria is left behind to become a blackhead. So effective cleansing is key – Dermalogica talk about the Double Cleanse – the first time you cleanse your skin you remove the grime of the day, makeup and residue, the second cleanse really ensures your pores are clear.

4. Secondary Spots

These spots are those areas of concern that aren’t covered above and are more of an isolated concern. They might be a spot scarring, a reddened area where a spot once was or has left a sore.

How to Deal with Secondary Spots

While the area is healing you might want to use a concealing treatment that also works to heal and protect the skin. This will also stop the area becoming prone to spots again.

Products:

Guinot Cover Touch Concealer is a targeted treatment to dry out the spot without leaving a flaky skin effect.

Mary Cohr Stop Imperfections has an anti-bacterial solution to target specific areas of spots.

5. Milia

Milia are also known as ‘milk spots’ sometimes. They are the tiny white spots that often appear around the eye area. They are under the skin so you can’t get at them easily and they can last for a while. What causes milia? It’s keratin and oils that are trapped under the skin’s surface, which is why it has that milky white look to them.

How to Deal with Milia

It might surprise you to read that actually how you are dealing with milia might be the problem! Rich products can actually worsen your milia rather than help it. Choosing the right eye care is really important to deal with milia.

Products:

Dermalogica Total Eye Care is great for so many reasons when it comes to eye skin care. But it is also light, has a gentle exfoliant and won’t clog up the pores around your eyes so is ideal for dealing with milia.

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How To Understand Your Skin

It can be easy, when you have concerns with any type of acne, to focus on treating the acne and to start to neglect the other concerns your skin might have. We have to remember that breakouts often only affect a small part of our face. The rest still needs attention. You can help you skin the most, by making sure you are following a skin care routine that is right for your unique skin.

To discover more about the skin care routine that would be best for your skin, try out free skin profile tool at Jersey Beauty Company.

What Are Your Spots and Blemishes Trying to Tell You?

5 Types of Spots

1. Pustules

2. Papules

3. Blackheads

4. Secondary Spots

5. Milia