In Search of the Best Acne Treatments
Lock in a solid routine for warding off (and fighting current) breakouts.
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Zits may be a rite of passage, but breakouts that bring you back to tween pimple-popping sessions get old as you get older. If you haven’t locked in a solid routine for warding off (and fighting current) breakouts, starting from scratch every time a spot rears its puss-filled head is frustrating, exhausting, and expensive. To help you avoid hopeless breakouts, we spoke to dermatologists to find out what the best acne treatments actually are.
FAQs
The Best Acne Cleansers
The foundation of any good acne routine is a gentle and effective cleanser. Dr. King is a fan of Peach Slices’ entire acne system — which includes a salicylic-acid cleanser, toner, and moisturizer — since the brand includes skin–supportive ingredients like cica, allantoin, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid. Similarly, CeraVe makes a trusted foamy cleanser that exfoliates and uses ceramides to boost your skin’s barrier. If you have oily skin, you may be a fan of the longtime best seller from Neutrogena; if you lean dry and sensitive, Kate Somerville’s gentle cleanser can help tackle hormonal and cystic acne without irritating your skin.
Peach Slices | Acne Clarifying Cleanser
CeraVe Salicylic Acid Cleanser
Neutrogena Oil-Free Salicylic-Acid Acne-Fighting Face Wash
Kate Somerville EradiKate Daily Foaming Cleanser
The Best Toners for Acne
Toners have long been thought of as the chief pore-minimizers of skin care, but good ones can also help rebalance your skin after a potentially harsh cleanse and hydrate it in preparation for the following steps in your routine. Dr. King suggests salicylic acid as a key ingredient if you are looking to clear out pores, and both the French skin-care house Caudalíe and French-rooted brand La Roche-Posay’s toners headline with it. For those who care about packaging as much as they do formulation, The Ordinary’s gentle exfoliator comes with a targeted topper, while Indie Lee’s toner comes in a convenient glass-spritz bottle. You can spray it directly on your face to use every precious drop or spritz it onto a cotton pad for targeted treatment. It also contains CoQ-10, which has some research behind it as an effective antiaging ingredient.
Caudalie Vinopure Natural Salicylic Acid Pore Minimizing Toner
La Roche-Posay Effaclar Clarifying Solution Acne Toner
The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution
Indie Lee CoQ-10 Toner
The Best Acne Serums
Those acne-fighting ingredients our experts referenced earlier? They don’t stop at cleansers. Serums featuring azelaic acid (Dr. Hibler’s favorite), mandelic acid, vitamin C, and lactic acid can help speed up cellular turnover, which renews your skin and can unearth a brighter, more even complexion over time.
iS Clinical Active Serum
SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF
Sofie Pavitt Face Mandelic Clearing Serum
Sunday Riley U.F.O. Ultra-Clarifying Face Oil
Best Moisturizers for Acne
When it comes to moisturizers for acne-prone skin, you need to get familiar with one word: noncomedogenic. It’s a broad term, but it means the product shouldn’t block your pores and cause further breakouts. If you have particularly oily skin, our experts agree that lighter-weight formulations (like gel creams or oil-free moisturizers) may lay more comfortably — especially if you’re layering over toners and serums. Paula’s Choice and Skinfix make crowd-pleasers that don’t clog and leave a bouncy glow. Cult-loved brand Dieux recently launched an airy moisturizer that’s good for combination to oily skin that still experiences dryness; the same goes for COSRX, a beloved K-Beauty brand that’s built an entire regimen around snail-mucin benefits.
Paula’s Choice CLEAR Oil-Free Moisturizer
Skinfix Barrier+ Triple Lipid-Peptide Face Cream
Dieux Skin Air Angel
COSRX Advanced Snail 92 All In One Cream
The Best Pimple Patches and Spot Treatments
Whether you’re more of a star or a splotch person, there are all kinds of targeted acne treatments that can get your pimples to show up and see themselves out. The cleanest and cutest of the bunch are pimple patches; Dr. King says hydrocolloid patches work by drawing excess fluid (and subsequently oil and dirt) away from the zit and are chiefly effective at stopping picking. This is good because “picking a pimple increases inflammation and healing time — and increases the risk for infection, discoloration, and scarring,” per Dr. King and the better half of your conscience. Her favorite is Peach Slices’ Acne Spot Dots and Eve Lom’s Dynaspot for something more potent, but tread carefully when using spot treatments, as these concentrated formulas can be irritating for those with sensitive skin.
Peach Slices Acne Spot Dots
Starface Hydro-Star + Salicylic Acid - 96
Eve Lom Dynaspot
Murad Deep Relief Acne Treatment
The Best Acne Skin-Care Devices
There are plenty of topicals that you can use to combat acne, but skin-care devices souped up with acne-busting power can kick things into high gear. Our best advice would be to talk to a dermatologist and schedule an in-office treatment (it’s clinical lasers that’ll really deliver), but if you’re a DIY person, an at-home LED light-therapy device may also help you in the battle against breakouts. Studies show blue and red wavelengths can zap bacteria-causing acne and heal hyperpigmentation long after pimples flatten out.
Dr. Dennis Gross SpectraLite™ FaceWare Pro
LightStim for Wrinkles
Our experts: