What is the best treatment to get rid of clogged comedones?

The problem you are facing could be due to a combination of environmental, hormonal or lifestyle factors. These need to be analysed carefully to come up with a tailored approach. Diet, stress, hormonal imbalances and skincare habits are some common issues.

Modifying your skincare regimen should already help your clogged comedones very much. Proper skincare using the correct cleanser, toner, serums and moisturiser can all affect the severity of your comedones. Using hyaluronic acid at night is a good step to keep the skin moist so that there is less sebum secretion and less clogged pores, but it doesn't seem to be enough in your case.

Certain skin topicals like benzoyl peroxide, fruit acids and retinoids may help, but which type to start depends on the skin type, and proper advice from a doctor on how to use it. If you are keen to try the OTC formulations without consulting a doctor, a doctor has offered some good advice here regarding Retin use.

Lastly, certain medical treatments may hasten your improvement. The right type of chemical peels and lasers are extremely useful for removing clogged pores and preventing excess sebum secretion (hence helping solve the root cause).

This article may provide a good idea regarding the various treatments available and which ones can really help comedones/pores.

Hope this helps!

Comedones form when our skin cells lining the sebaceous ducts proliferate abnormally. Combined with the increased sebum production that is common in acne-prone skin and some skin debris such as cosmetic residue, these debris can block the sebaceous duct and result in a comedo.

Certain topical medications that are “comedolytic” can help. Suitable agents include benzoyl peroxide and topical retinoids such as adapalene and treitinoin. Topical chemical peels containing glycolic and salicylic are frequently useful too. In severe cases oral medications such as isotreitinoin may be used.

You may also want to choose oil-free and non-comedogenic cosmetics and facial products. With regard to the products you are currently using, Hyaluronic acid is a very good component to improve skin hydration but does not have any exfoliating or comedolytic properties.

Do seek a consult with a trusted doctor for a more in-depth solution to your concerns. Hope this helps!

Best Regards,

Dr. Joanna Chan

Hello Cherry

You can consider adding topical agents that contain salicylic acid or retinoid to your skincare regime and you should be able to see some improvement after 1 to 2 months. You may need a prescription from a doctor for the retinoids (Differin/ Retin - A).

I will also recommend doing a series of salicylic acid chemical peel for stubborn comedones. Do consult a doctor first to get a proper skin assessment before you start anything. Hope this helps!

Regards,

Dr Jiwei Wu

It must have been frustrating to be going for facial for years and not get results. To address any skin issue, the first step is to get the correct diagnosis. It might be important for you to have a proper consultation with a doctor to confirm that you are having clogged comedones and not some other conditions that look the same.

If it is comedone, what are contributing factors and how is your skin condition. Not all small lumps are comedones. This is important as it will determine the skin care products that will be suitable for you. There are also many possible causes for comedone. Some may require test to find out the cause.

For example, if you have dry skin, using product or medication that exfoliates the skin may cause more dryness and worsen your skin condition. On the other skin, oily skin would benefit from the same products.

Beside the correct products, some treatment like chemical peeling and certain laser treatment like CO2, erbium or the latest PICO laser, may speed up the process and give you faster and better outcome. Before jumping into a treatment, have a good discussion with your doctor to work out a treatment plan to best suit your lifestyle and treatment goal.

Have some patience as it will be a continuous effect to keep the comedone at bay.

Stay positive and stay happy!

Regards,

Dr Elias Tam