My acne isn’t horrible, but it’s consistent. Times of the month, stress, and probably too much sugar in my diet make my chin area a battleground for pesky breakouts and blackheads. As you may know by now, after extracting a pimple, Cosrx Pimple Patches are my holy grail — they suck up all the excess oil (gross, but intensely satisfying) and make the area as flat as possible. But what is one to do before the pimple is extractable?
LED light treatments have been popular in dermatologist’s offices for some time, but in the past year or so, at-home versions have been popping up everywhere (red light stimulates the skin’s natural healing process, while blue light kills acne-promoting bacteria). About a year ago, I started using the Neutrogena light mask and saw great results after a few weeks but, simply put, I found it uncomfortable. I didn’t like that its lights were so bright that I could barely do anything besides sit still and maybe take selfies while using it. When the activator expired (as it does) after 30 uses, I decided not to purchase a replacement.
Recently, though, I discovered the Dr. Dennis Gross SpotLite LED gadget: a smaller, more targeted device that you can use on individual spots, rather than on your whole face. It’s more expensive than the Neutrogena model, but I’ve had such luck with the brand’s Alpha Beta Peels that I figured I’d give it a shot.
Reader, if bumpy skin, closed comedones, or cystic spots are an issue for you, I cannot recommend this product enough. In the first days of a zit’s formation, holding this little gadget to the problem area for three minutes will mitigate inflammation and redness. You might not see its effects immediately, but the morning after, you will notice a change in the size and angriness of your spot. This treatment calms and soothes a blemish without irritating it or drying it out. I have had spots COMPLETELY disappear as a result of this little doohickey. And even if a spot I treated does come to a head, its eruption process will be far less painful and bulging. It’s now the first thing I reach for any time I feel a zit coming — that annoying wait-it-out stage is now a time for preemptive action. And it’s actually cheaper than the Neutrogena model, because there’s no activator to buy; it runs on triple-A batteries. Just be sure to clean it with rubbing alcohol after every use.
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