Wedding Prep for Adult Acne

The fact that right now is not “wedding season” is precisely the point of this post. 

In the 20+ years that I have been specializing in Adult Acne, I’ve had people contact me just a few weeks before their wedding (a few people, even just 2 weeks ahead), to book a facial to get rid of their breakouts.  

If someone tells me her breakouts are very recent from stress, that’s one thing.  In that instance I tell her a facial will exfoliate, calm and hydrate her skin to prep for better makeup application, but when it comes to clearing her breakout, I tell her it’s actually best to treat it at home with my Ice Therapy technique twice a day.

But when it comes to clearing an ongoing acne problem that's been there a while, it pains me to have to tell people that this is something they should have thought of months ago, not a mere 2 weeks before their wedding.  Acne clearance takes time!

The need to plan ahead when it comes to getting your skin clear and glowing for your wedding is paramount.  Always remember - as long as it took for your skin to break out, it can take three times as long for it to clear up! 

Every pimple starts out as a microscopic blackhead, known as a Microcomedone.  Not every Microcomedone becomes a pimple, most either stay microscopic or become the blackheads we’re all familiar with or, in the presence of pore clogging from products, eventually become impacted and closed in.  We call these closed-in impactions, "Closed Comedones."  You know those little colorless bumps that seem like they’re right under the skin, that when you squeeze them off-white squiggly stuff comes out?  Those are closed comedones.  It takes 4-6 months for a pore clogging ingredient to cause a breakout of closed comedones and pimples.

Now, if there is any kind of inflammation in a pore, for any reason, however little, the Microcomedone inside will exacerbate that inflammation as it grows into a blackhead.  The time this takes is about three weeks.  With marked dehydration, however, this can take a lot longer.  

So, a current breakout can be from something you used last week that bothered your pores (what we call an "acnegenic reaction"), a stress bomb yesterday, or a clogging product used 6 months ago.  A full investigation is needed just to guess what your current breakout could be from **and how to clear it**.  Yes, it does matter what caused your current acne troubles, because I need to be able to advise on products at home to get rid of and what is best to use instead.

So you see, this is the reason you have to start planning early to clear your skin for an important event.  Even if clearing can start right away, you could still continue breaking out over the following few months, clearing more and more as time goes on.

There are two steps to this clearing.  Facials and home care. 

First - Home Care

Not much different than any other need for acne clearing, this involves getting rid of anything and everything that is clogging your pores, whether it’s skincare, makeup, body care, hair styling products or residue from dryer sheets and liquid fabric softeners.  Next is replacing all of those pore cloggers with products that not only don’t clog, but that hydrate, gently exfoliate, and calm.  The best way to go about this is through my Eval by Email® Online Skincare Consulation.

In the case of prepping for your wedding, masks will be employed very strongly, as will AHAs, and possibly Benzoyl Peroxide (BPO).  BPO requires a very strict protocol with lots of keeping in touch by email, so it’s very important that we track your progress regularly.

The masks involved at home are included in a twice weekly self-facial, with an exfoliating mask, and either a soothing, hydrating gel mask or an acne clearing clay mask.

Second - Facial Schedule

Here is the schedule I recommend for facials leading up to the wedding:

• One week before the wedding - exfoliating facial without extractions;

• One and two months before - deep pore cleansing facial with extractions;

• Optimal - facial once a month before that, preferably starting 6 months or more before the wedding date

Schedule I created last year for a client

I prefer to not do a peel at the first facial unless alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) has first been introduced into your daily skincare routine.  AHAs, which come in serum form and are applied before sunscreen or nighttime lotion and left on, get deep into your pores to flush them out and loosen impactions, and get the skin softened and exfoliated.  A Peel is one or more AHAs (or BHA) in serum form that is applied for about 5 minutes and removed, and is much, much stronger than what is used at home.  We get the skin prepped for peels by starting at home first, so that there are no shocks to your skin’s system and we can have a good idea already of what your skin can handle. 

Peels are a very good idea for every facial for wedding prep.  In the case of a more severe acne problem, I’ll sometimes propose (ha! get it?) alternating every two weeks between 75 minute full facials with a 30 minute peel-only facials.  This way we’re doing a peel every two weeks, but only doing extractions once a month.  I recommend this for at least 6 visits.  Facials can also include LED light therapy, ultrasound vibrations for deeper penetration of calming or anti-redness serums and antioxidants, and high frequency Tesla currents for zapping those inflamed zits.

Just understand, please!  You can do all the best possible facials in the world, whether with me here in Chicago, or anywhere in the country.  You can even have the most amazing, magical prescriptions.  But without proper skincare your adult acne WILL NOT get clear or stay clear.  You must do the necessary work at home!

Your acne problem has a source, and clearing your skin requires finding that source and either eliminating it or healing it.  You can start that right now by filling out my Eval by Email® Online Skincare Consultation Form created specially for ages Gen-X to Baby Boom!

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Stay warm, stay dry, stay safe !  And MAZAL TOV !! :)