Back to school season is here again! Some of you may not be too happy to say goodbye to your summer schedules, but there’s no denying that feeling of opportunity that comes with a new school year. It can be invigorating to start off with a clean slate: fresh supplies, fresh schedule, and a fresh face! We can’t help with the first two, but fresh faces with clear skin are our business at Northeast Dermatology.
If you’ve spent any time online this summer looking for skin care tips it’s clear that skin care is a popular topic (#skintok, anyone?). Here’s a roundup of the good and bad social media acne advice trending now. See how the influencers you follow stack up and remember that if acne is getting in your way, we are here to help guide you - no need to wade through all the excessive advertisements and “expert” recommendations online.
The Good Social Media Acne Advice:
Generally all of the terms below are slicker names for techniques that have been recommended in dermatology clinics for decades.
Retinoid/ol Sandwiching: Retinoids are a family of Vitamin A derivatives (retinoid is prescription strength, retinol is over the counter) used to treat acne and early skin aging. They work by regulating skin cell turnover. It is a normal side effect to experience minor irritation with dryness and redness, and a temporary one if used correctly. Retinol sandwiching is a fun way to say, “apply moisturizer, then the medication, and then another layer of moisturizer.” This order of topicals helps to minimize skin barrier disruption and allow use of more aggressive topicals with minimal irritation.
Skin Slugging / Flooding: Here’s another fun way to talk about moisturizing! Skin slugging refers to the process of utilizing a thick occlusive to minimize water loss through the skin and maximize product absorption. Generally this term is used when a person first applies a thick cream moisturizer (ex. Cetaphil Cream) and then covers with an occlusive moisturizer (ex: Aquaphor). The cosmetic, albeit very temporary, result is an overall more youthful appearance with skin plumping and minimization of fine lines. This can be a helpful technique to hydrate very dry, irritated skin and can help with tolerability of harsher treatments.
Skin Cycling: This is a new term for the classic idea that product use should be scheduled in a way that helps them work harmoniously (in fact, this term is now trademarked!). Skin Cycling puts the general principle of a gradual ramp up into an actual weekly schedule: exfoliation on night one, retinoid use on night two, only moisturizer use on nights three and four, and then a return to exfoliation on night five thus repeating the cycle. Night one’s exfoliation enhances the penetration of night two’s retinoid, and nights’ three and four moisturizer soothes or prevents any irritation from the previous two nights of treatment. This is generally the counseling that is already given in the dermatology office when retinoids are being prescribed for acne, but the term is nice and fast to convey the idea and there are some nice graphics to guide you online.
The Bad Social Media Acne Advice:
Beware of marketing - We are in the era of the “Sephora teen” and it’s great to see that young people have a lot of interest in and enthusiasm for makeup and skin care. Youtube and TikTok tutorials, “go to bed with me,” and “get ready with me” videos rack up high views.
To capitalize on this, influencers and celebrities are branding their own skin care and makeup lines. At their best, their products are based on tried and true formulas but marked up in price due to colorful, fun packaging and famous faces in marketing campaigns. At their worst, the formulas are harmful to the skin with excessive added fragrance, allergenic preservatives, glitter, and incompatible ingredients. My best advice is to focus on the contents and not the package.
Good and Bad Social Media Acne Advice:
Pimple patches - These thin hydrocolloid bandages, sometimes also imbued with medications, have been all over social media feeds and store shelves. They started off in clear and skin-toned varieties, but have now become popular fashion statements in fun designs (stars, rainbows, emojis, you name it!).
Fun patches are a great way to embrace the annoying skin issue of acne that nearly all of us have faced at some point in our lives. What I LOVE about pimple patches is that they provide a great healing environment for the skin so they can minimize inflammation and, most helpfully, keep fingers off a breakout when you'd otherwise be tempted to pick. The downside that I see with them is they are reactionary - you await a breakout before treating it.
At their price point they are not a cost-effective way to handle active acne. Additionally, when you already have a topical regimen in place where the active ingredients are used continuously to prevent breakouts before they form, these patches interrupt that prevention since the skin must be degreased with alcohol and have no other topicals in place prior to application.
The Benefits of Seeing a Dermatologist
Prescription-strength powerhouses: Why it is worth logging out and heading in:
Cabtreo: This is the newest FDA-approved topical treatment for acne, first available only early this year, and we are always excited to have another weapon in our arsenal. Cabtreo is a technological innovation in that it is the first time we've been able to combine three common treatments for acne in a stable and well-tolerated formula. The greatest benefit of Cabtreo is that it enables a really simple routine with a single application providing both prevention of future breakouts along with treatment of active flares. It still plays nicely as part of a multistep routine, but in many cases no other steps are needed!
Winlevi: This topical has been available for a bit longer, since 2020, but it is still a new and game-changing topical innovation. This medication works to block hormonal, acne-causing signals to the hair follicle-oil gland unit so it prevents a breakout at the earliest moment possible. We have had oral medications that do this, but they are only safe for female patients and have more possible side effects. Winlevi is safe for all genders and, as a topical, is very well tolerated.
Keep these points in mind the next time you’re scrolling, and make sure to reach out to us at Northeast Dermatology for any of your skin care questions or concerns!
References:
Draelos, ZD. Social Media Dermatology Trends. Dermatology Times, January 2024 (Vol. 45. No. 01)
Fabiola M. Echevarria, BS; Andrea Cespedes Zablah, BA; Andrea M. Rustad, MD. Top 5 Skincare Trends on Social Media: What is Truly “Verified?” Practical Dermatology, June 2024. https://practicaldermatology.com/issues/june-2024/top-5-skincare-trends-on-social-media-what-is-truly-verified/26556/
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