Have you ever used a skincare product with the hopes of treating your acne only to be presented with skin much worse than you anticipated? And then you got confused thinking if it’s breaking you out or is it purging? Should you keep going with the product or should you ditch it? Then read on, as today at Sphere Medium I’ll be sharing with you all the information you need to know regarding your skin to differentiate whether it’s a breakout or it’s a purge, and most importantly, tips to reduce purging and how to treat it.
Difference between purging and breakout!
Breakouts
Breakouts usually occur in new areas, and hence the word breakout, which means that something has gone wrong and your skin is having lot of acne.
- Large, painful, red, and nodular.
- Appears in new areas, in fact anywhere.
- Keeps getting worse.
Causes of breakouts
It’s generally caused by an increase in sebum production and bacterial activity, just like a normal acne occurrence. Factors which trigger S breakout are:
- Stress
- Food allergies: nuts, seafood, or maybe something that your body cannot accept.
- High-calorie foods like chocolates or deep-fried food. One of the biggest culprits of breakouts is sugar, due to the fact that sugar is high in calories, it will cause more breakouts than normal.
- Environmental factors:
- Hot and humid weather which causes lots of sweating. These are perfect conditions for bacteria to grow, hence there are high chances of breakouts.
- Dust, unhygienic areas like unhygienic pillow covers. In many cases Breakouts start to reduce just by a change of pillow covers.
- Allergy to ingredients: person could be allergic to fragrance, essential oil, or maybe some of the active ingredients in that product.
Treatment of Breakouts
Breakouts generally do not disappear on their own; they require medical intervention, and if you leave breakouts untreated, they will spread everywhere, so you need to look for a doctor to treat your breakouts who might prescribe a combination of a chemical peel with a quick laser, antibiotics, and a change in skin care products.
Skin Purge
Skin purge is a common man term that is used to describe sudden flare-ups of pimples. It’s more specific to treatment-related breakouts, and it often leads to better skin after the purge is complete. It starts in the 2nd week of treatment and ends by the 4th to 6th week of treatment.
- These are small, tiny bumps on your skin.
- Occurs on acne-prone areas of the face where new skin care product was applied, usually on the forehead, cheeks, and chin.
- The purging stays on an area, and it doesn’t really spread further.
- It gets worse before it gets better.
Causes of purging:
Skin purging is due to over-exfoliation or the ingredient that increases cell turnover. The product speeds up how quickly your skin renews itself, so the whole pimple cycle speeds up. Any baby pimple already in your skin will grow up faster, and you’ll see a sudden breakout. However, they also prevent the formation of new pimples. So once this part is over, your skin looks clearer.
When a new skincare product containing AHA or BHA, that is something along the lines of an exfoliating chemical with either glycolic acid, lactic acid, salicylic acid, or something like retinol or azelaic acid; they make your skin exfoliate.
Sometimes dead skin can accidentally get trapped in the pores, causing small, tiny bumps to form.
How to prevent purging?
- Start slow, introduce active ingredients once a week, and then move on to increase its frequency.
- Start activities with lower concentration and work your way up.
- Don’t use too many actives at once, so if you start purging, you’ll know what’s causing it.
Tips for reducing skin purging/how to reduce skin purging
1. Sandwich Technique
Sandwich technique means applying a product with an active ingredient like retinol in between two layers of moisturizers, so basically retinol will be sandwiched between moisturizers. This method works by trapping the active ingredient In between the two layers of moisturizer, thus preventing it from having direct contact with the skin. It doesn’t irritate much this way as it dilutes the amount of active ingredients, reducing the amount of active ingredients being absorbed in skin, causing a more slow release of active ingredients into your skin.
How to do the sandwich technique? After cleaning skin and using toners, before applying the skin care that can actually cause you to have the purge, it might be an acid or a retinol. Before that, apply a thin layer of moisturizer, first massage it into the skin, and let it rest for one to two minutes. Then apply a couple of drops of your serum or moisturizer that is causing the purge. Put on a very thin layer and let it rest for two to three minutes. After a couple minutes, reapply another moisturizer. Now it can be the same moisturizer or it can be a different one.
2. Clay mask
If you have been using the sandwich technique and still the purge does happen, then get yourself a clay mask.
A clay mask exfoliates the dead skin from pores without exfoliating all of the dead skin, keeping the epidermis intact. If you’re already using an active ingredient that is causing a purge, it means that it’s an exfoliating active ingredient and has already exfoliated the epidermis, so you do not want to use another product to over exfoliate it.
A clay mask will protect the epidermal layer while getting into your pores and removing whatever gunk dead skin cell and sebum has been stuck in the pores. So after cleaning the skin, apply your clay mask for 15 to 30 minutes every day once a day at night. After 15 to 30 minutes, wash it off with water. Followed by the sandwich technique, a combination of the sandwich technique and the clay mask should be sufficient to reduce your purging.
3. Reduce the frequency
Use the active ingredient or the skincare that’s causing the purge to once a week or twice a week. Allow your skin to renew slowly and allow your skin to be used to the new skincare ingredient, and once it’s used to it and you no longer get a purge, you can then increase the frequency.
4. Use low-pH cleansers
which won’t dry out your skin as they’ll in turn aggregate sebum production, clog pores, and cause more acne.
5. Use calming skincare products
like Centella asiatica and niacinamide, which could help with fortifying the skin barrier and help to heal the skin.
6. Stop everything
Generally, purging lasts between 1 and 3 months, but if you’re still purging after 3 months, then you need to stop using any active ingredient or the skin care that is causing you to have a purge. Even though that product might give you better skin because purging is still there, it means it has already damaged your skin and might require more time to fix your skin. So this particular skincare or active ingredient is no longer worth your time and money.
7. Pore extraction
if you’re still having a purge despite following the above steps, then you might have to manually extract your pores because the clay mask is now unable to actually get into your pores. And for pore extraction, please seek professional help! If you attempt this yourself, you might end up introducing infection to your skin.
For the sake of knowledge, your doctor or healthcare provider will use a tool, an extractor. One end of this tool has a sharp tip, which is used for poking the blocked pore. The other end of the tool has the round head; when pressed gently around the poked pore, all the sebum blocked inside along with the gunk is pushed out. But please seek professional help for this.
How do you know if it’s breakout or purging?
Following are the points to consider:
- Duration: Purging heals faster than a breakout. Anything lasting more than 4 to 6 weeks isn’t purging. It’s a signal that the products you are using are either worsening your acne or simply not working.
- Location: Purging only happens in locations where you typically get acne.
- Check ingredients: purging occurs due to active ingredients, which increase cell turnover.
Also note that breakouts, even after stopping skincare, stay there and might even get worse.
So there we have; hopefully now you’ll be able to understand the difference between breakout and purging, causes, symptoms and how to reduce purging. Also, if you are someone who often faces skin issues, then I suggest you read these articles too at Sphere medium,
“5 Telltale Signs Your Skincare Product is Not Working for You: Time to Switch?”
“From Clogged Pores to Acne: Top 5 Skincare Mistakes Oily Skin Types Need to Avoid,”
FAQs
Breakouts are usually large, painful, and nodular, whereas purge is having tiny bumps that aren’t painful.
Skin purging is small, tiny bumps that don’t spread further and are usually associated with the use of new skincare products with AHA or BHA.
Skin purging may last from 1 to 3 months.
Stop using new skin care products, especially the ones with the aha/bha. Give skin time to heal. Start with the sandwich technique.
Retinol purging looks like clusters of tiny bumps along with flaky skin
I am a dentist, baker, and fitness and health enthusiast with a passion for living life to the fullest. I am foodie and explorer, always seeking new adventures and flavors. Currently working on my own skincare brand.
