QUESTION: How do I reduce facial redness? Are cold or hot showers better to reduce facial and body redness caused by acne?
Heat is never good when you are dealing with redness caused by acne. Redness is a sure sign the skin is irritated and inflamed, and heat will just add fuel to the fire! First you need to understand whats going on to cause this redness and discomfort. When the pores get clogged bacteria grows and as a result of this your skin gets red and sore and pimples appear. We then (because it is hard to resist) try and extract the pimple and this make the whole thing worse! Here is where the whole heat is good for acne myth came from…heat helps draw out the bacteria so it said to “hot pack” the infected area to bring it to a head and then pop it. Here’s the problem with this…once you have drawn out the bacteria you now have to pop it and if you do this incorrectly you can damage the skin and cause scarring, and in my book that is worse than the redness! So here is a alternative…Skin Rx Clinic has a face wash called “Arnica Facial Wash” it is a mild cleanser that removes make up and oil build up that can leave residue on the skin and clog the pores. Most importantly Arnica and Aloe extracts offer Anti-inflammatory and Antimicrobial benefits. So you will be killing the bacteria causing the redness and as a result reducing the inflammation. Simple, kill to birds with on stone. I also suggest a medicated spot treatment. You can also find this product at Skin Rx Clinic. It is called just that…”Medicated Acne Spot Treatment” It is a light gel containing 2% Encapsulated Salicylic Acid in a slow release delivery system called Liposome technology that quickly clears away blemishes with out drying out the skin. It targets sebaceous glands, reducing sebum and helping prevent new breakouts. These two product will put you on the right path to healthy clear skin.