I’m A Skin Expert – These Are the Spot Patches I Always Use

For me personally, my breakouts are almost exclusively hormonal, triggered when I’m stressed (which spikes the hormone cortisol) or by my period (which sees an increase of testosterone). Starting off with a tender feeling deep within the skin and gradually growing into a hard and intensely sore pimple which lurks beneath the skin before finally coming to a head. “Hormonal breakouts are typically inflammatory lesions, for example pustules, papules and cysts,” says consultant dermatologist, Dr Zainab Laftah. “They commonly occur on the lower half of the face; lower cheeks, jawline and chin.” If this sounds familiar to you then you’ll know exactly what type of spot we’re talking about here. Not the tiny pimple that appears overnight and disappears just as quickly, but the ones that creep in annoyingly and linger, unwanted under your skin until eventually they erupt into a painful wound-like blemish which hurts every time you open your mouth. Oh, and sometimes it even feels like they have their own pulse? Yep, those ones.

90% of the time, I’m dealing with this kind of spot and 90% of the time, my regular spot treatments don’t cut it. In addition, picking and popping won’t work on under-the-skin spots. Another thing I learned in beauty school is that attempting to pop an under-the-skin spot is a guaranteed way to make the breakout last ten times longer and it will almost certainly scar in the process. Most estheticians won’t even touch this kind of spot until it’s broken the skin.