Pimple patches have become increasingly popular to help reduce breakouts, but an aesthetician has shared three reasons they could be the worst thing for zits.
A medical aesthetician took to TikTok with her own professional opinion on pimple patches, explaining why the spot treatments could be doing more harm to your skin than good, and instead advising simple skincare when dealing with acne on the face.
Aesthetician claims pimple patches could be bad
Maja Naruszewicz (@self.skin on TikTok) is a medical aesthetician who shares social media content about skincare, and she recently spilled the tea on pimple patches.
Pimple patches (also known as acne stickers) are adhesive stickers that you apply directly to a pimple and leave on for a while to reduce the breakout. The spot treatments became popular in the early part of this decade and now seem to be everywhere, but do they work?
Maja listed three reasons she doesn’t like pimple patches, starting with the fact that they can create inflammation and cause a barrier dysfunction around the healthy skin around the pimple.
Your skin barrier has several functions to protect your skin and if it is damaged, it could lead to skin problems like dry, itchy, or flaky skin, according to WedMD.
Secondly, the skincare expert bashes pimple patches for acting like a Band Aid – because this essentially puts a shield over the spot. While this is a great way to stop you from picking your skin, it also basically blocks out all the skincare that the pimple needs.
The aesthetician advises people with a pimple to simply use skincare and let it soak in, she claims: “Your pimple wants that skincare, it doesn’t want the stupid Band-Aid on its face!”
Pimple patches can be beneficial for the body
The third reason Maja doesn’t like pimple patches to be used on the face specifically, is because they are sometimes formulated with exfoliating ingredients like salicylic acid.
Salicylic acid is considered a keratolytic medication, which means that it’s perfect for supreme exfoliation. It can treat acne by reducing swelling and redness and unplugging blocked skin pores to allow pimples to shrink.
While this ingredient can be helpful, Maja explains that if an active ingredient (like salicylic acid or retinol) is left on for a lengthy time (she suggests around 24 hours) it can cause a barrier dysfunction.
Pimple patches aren’t all bad. Skincare expert Maja does recommend using pimple patches for pimples on the body and ingrown hairs because the skin on our body is much thicker than the skin on our face – therefore we can handle more aggressive activity there.
So, if you have acne on your body including on your back, butt, or even arms, it could be a good idea to use some them in these cases.
However, some research shows that pimple patches can also be beneficial for the face! The spot treatment stickers act as a bandage that prevents you from touching your breakouts and absorbs the fluid from the pimples. No picking!
Touching your pimple may introduce new kinds of bacteria from your finger into the zit, this can cause the pimple to become more inflamed, swollen, and infected, and could even lead to permanent scarring.
The American Chemical Society recommends that when using pimple patches, you should first clean and moisturize your face as normal, then apply the sticker to your pimple and wear it overnight.
Medical aesthetician Maja Naruszewicz is a medical spa owner and skincare expert who shares social media content about skincare, haircare, makeup, and body care all based on her professional opinion.
