Dermatologist Dr Dray on the best products to FADE POST ACNE REDNESS (PIE). How to heal post acne red marks . Treatments for post acne redness and the best ingredients to heal post acne redness.
Hey guys in today’s video i’m going to be talking about post acne redness or post inflammatory erythema i did a video on this a while ago but i have some updates and you guys have been asking for a new video i know a lot of you all deal with this what is post-inflammatory erythema it’s persistent redness after your acne has healed and gone away and this can
Actually last a very long time it’s a little bit different than another type of post acne mark post inflammatory hyperpigmentation which is when the acne heals with a dark mark instead with post-inflammatory erythema it heals with either a red or pink or purplish mark down in the deeper layers of the skin there is damage to the blood vessels and so there’s
Persistent redness as opposed to post inflammatory hyperpigmentation where you have pigment that kind of leaks out into the skin and creates that stain this is a little bit different both processes post-inflammatory erythema and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation are the result of the inflammation that acne generates in the skin so that’s why it happens and
Both processes heal very very very slowly with time and patience there are some things however that can aggravate post-inflammatory erythema make sure you stick around to the end of the video i’m definitely going to be sharing with you guys some good products for this condition a lot of people have a combination of post-inflammatory erythema and post-inflammatory
Hyperpigmentation and while they’re different conditions some of the ingredients that are used to help them resolve are shared so you know that’s that’s a good thing but if you’re curious and you can’t quite tell maybe your spa is kind of purplish dark you’re not sure one way to tell if it’s erythema is to just press on it and if it temporarily blanches fades uh
Then it’s most likely post-inflammatory erythema as opposed to post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation which shouldn’t fade with touching you know pressing pressing on the on the spot the other thing that’s important to point out is that a lot of people have a combination of both post-inflammatory erythema and actual true scars and true scars they require procedures
Resurfacing lasers and things like that to actually flatten them out smooth them out and whatnot so if you’ve been dealing with this for years and you no longer have active acne it may be that you actually have acne scars i recommend seeing a board certified dermatologist to discuss what treatments are going to be most appropriate to get you the results that you’re
Looking for but post-inflammatory erythema by itself believe it or not it’s a relatively newly defined uh term it was first described in 2013 so there’s not a lot of data on treatment for post-inflammatory erythema we don’t have like a lot of randomized controlled trials and studies but it does fade slowly with time as those capillaries that are ruptured resolve are
Reabsorbed the inflammation dies down i mean it’s a slow healing process so what can you do well you want to make sure that you protect your skin from the sun i know i harp on this in every video but it’s so important ultraviolet radiation slows down the healing process so that’s going to make both post-inflammatory erythema and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation
Last a long time so make sure that you wear a broad spectrum sunscreen every single day reapply it a few times a day while you’re indoors or if you’re going to be outside you want to reapply it every two hours to make sure that you’re getting ongoing good protection and then you also want to make sure that you’re wearing sun protective clothing and not staying
Out in midday sun too long these are things that will help with the healing process the other thing that’s really important for healing of post acne marks regardless of the type is you do not want to pick your skin when you pick the skin it generates more inflammation that contributes to further you know breakage of those capillaries more redness more irritation
More hyperpigmentation so no squeezing no picking no popping the other key aspect is that if you have any active acne so long as your acne is active you attempt to treat the post-inflammatory redness or hyperpigmentation it’ll be very difficult to get on top of that so you want to make sure that you’re treating the acne but for a lot of you the acne is a thing
Of the past and it’s the redness or the hyperpigmentation that you’re still still dealing with there are some wonderful ingredients that can help this condition niacinamide applied topically can be very helpful for redness the studies look maximum at five percent strength so there’s no need to seek out a niacinamide product that is a higher percentage higher
Does not mean better but looking out for the ingredient niacinamide and skin care products that can help out your redness quite a bit and it also helps with hyperpigmentation another great ingredient for redness is licorice root it’s anti-inflammatory so it helps put the breaks on any residual inflammation in the skin and it helps with redness quite a bit and
Then another ingredient that is based on something that we give by mouth for melasma tranexamic acid there’s been a lot of interest in applying tranexamic acid topically to the skin to treat diseases of hyperpigmentation but what we’ve noticed is that topically applied tranexamic acid while the data is still out as far as its efficacy for hyperpigmentation it
Actually seems to be helpful for improving redness especially the type of redness that you’re dealing with after acne has healed because tranexamic acid it it interferes with blood clotting so that makes some sense that it would target the redness so that is definitely an ingredient to look out for i don’t think i mentioned that in my last video a few years ago
On post acne redness but that is certainly an ingredient to consider incorporating into your skincare routine and i do have a video all about tranexamic acid if you’re curious about it another ingredient that we’ve come to learn is very helpful for healing is going to be centella now we have data showing that it’s helpful for healing and improving the look of
Scars and so that logic would follow that would likely be helpful in this situation as well scentella is present in a lot of moisturizers and it’s also present in certain serum some of which i will mention here so that’s another ingredient to consider and then of course there’s also azoleic acid azolic acid is anti-inflammatory and can help fight off redness and
Irritation and if you’re dealing with hyperpigmentation it’s going to be helpful for that as well and retinol or retinoid now you guys know i have a ton of videos on retinols and retinoids and what the differences are but long story short they certainly can help with the redness when you continue when you use them continue to use them a lot of people use these to
Treat acne once the acne goes away you may have stopped them but continuing to use them can be beneficial for hastening the resolution of both post-inflammatory redness and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation for the redness um retinols and retinoids they can actually help boost up collagen production in the deeper layers of the skin which kind of helps fill in
Any of the defects and helps with resorption of those ruptured capillaries so that’s definitely something you want to keep on board for sure if so long as you tolerate it you guys know retinols can be can be drying and irritating so so long as you tolerate it keep using retinol or retinoid or what you know if you were using one to treat your acne keep using it
And i’m going to mention some in today’s video so don’t worry about that this does fade with time but as i said at the beginning of the video if you have true scars those are not going to fade with time and you want to see a board certified dermatologist to talk about what can be done there’s really nothing that you can buy in the store there’s nothing that you
Can you know mix up in your kitchen that will take away a true scar there are a lot of cosmetic procedures though that can really improve the look of post acne scars usually a combination of cosmetic procedures is required i do have videos on different types of treatments for acne scars lasers uh for just the plane for just post-inflammatory erythema that will
Slowly fade with time if you want it to go away faster you can see a board certified dermatologist for a laser treatment pulse dye laser is an effective treatment to hasten the clearance of post-inflammatory erythema so if it’s really bothering you you might want to invest in that that will help help it go away faster all right a product that i happen to think is
Good to consider for post inflammatory hyperpigmentation or redness is this newer product to me by good molecules i mentioned it in my review of the brand it’s their discoloration correcting serum this has four percent niacinamide which can be helpful for calming down redness and again for treating any hyperpigmentation and it also has uh tranexamic acid in it
As well remember i said that that has is showing a lot of promise for treating redness so consider this the way to use this is you can use it up to twice a day after cleansing the skin go ahead and apply it to the skin while the skin’s still damp that will help increase the penetration of the active ingredients in this and then just layer a moisturizer on top if
It’s the morning time just go ahead and layer your sunscreen on on top that’s fine too this product’s pretty moisturizing as well um it’s very lightweight absorbs into the skin very quickly so that’s a good one to consider now i mentioned the scentella it’s been shown to be helpful for healing you guys this particular um soothing ampule cintella aqua soothing
Ampule from cosrx their entire scentella line actually is very very good but this in particular is very strong it’s got not only does it have centella asiatic extract in it but actually has the active compounds with from the centella uh the az the asiatic pennyward it’s called uh it actually has the bioactive compounds actually has the active compounds from
That plant isolated extracted and included in the product plus it’s got chondrous crispus extract a marine extract it helps add hydration so that’s going to help your moisture barrier as well so this is a very good product similar to how you would use a discoloration correcting serum you just want to apply it to the skin either while the skin is still damp after
Cleansing or you know you can apply it to dry skin but again to damp skin it’ll increase the penetration and then apply a moisturizer on over it that centella will get in there and can really help in facilitating the healing process yeah i love costa rx it has some fantastic products and that one is definitely a good centella product to consider for hastening
Healing um all right licorice root is really good for redness it’s also good for hyperpigmentation i i have been so impressed with the it’s skin li effector this serum is fantastic for calming down redness brightening up hyperpigmentation so many of you have tried it out since i’ve been talking about it i’ve been talking about it now for a year actually it was
A year ago because i went back to my instagram uh i was like oh my gosh i’ve been using and talking about this for over a year now um yeah really good for calming down redness uh and similar to to the other two serums you just apply it to the skin up to twice a day um uh you know underneath your moisturizer or underneath your sunscreen it’s very good uh free of
Fragrance if i didn’t mention that already all these products i’m talking about in today’s video are free of fragrance now polish choice azolic acid booster not only does this product have azelaic acid in it which can calm down redness and it’s anti-inflammatory but it’s also got licorice root in it and it has salicylic acid now salicylic acid is anti-inflammatory
So that can help a little bit with redness and it also helps give some ongoing acne control so it’s beneficial that that is in there as well um this product i find is effective similar to the other two the other serums i consider this a serum i mean they call it a booster because they want you to use it to like boost some of your you know the outcomes of some
Of your other products whatever to me i would just say you know i say use this you can use it again up to twice a day underneath a moisturizer or underneath your sunscreen consider it like a serum to me you know serum is like something that you put on underneath moisturizer to really like take advantage of a specific active ingredient that may be missing from
Your moisturizer so this long story short this is very good and i do recommend it but another um another product that i’ve talked about i talked about in my last redness video but it’s always stood out to me is the procure aerosic hair this can be hard to find but it’s definitely worth seeking out if you were dealing with redness um or if you have rosacea too
You know a lot of people have have acne and then they also have rosacea the acne they’re more likely to have their acne heal with redness definitely try this out um it’s got licorice root and niacinamide in it and it’s green so it helps camouflage the redness this is very good super lightweight um it’s a hydrogel consistency it can be used actually by itself as
A moisturizer but if you have really dry skin you’re probably going to want to layer another moisturizer on on top of it it’s not it’s not like you know as as robust in terms of reducing what’s called trans epidermal water loss out of the skin but um yeah so you know depending on your needs you could use it just by itself as a moisturizer or you could use it as a
Serum underneath things again up to twice a day you can use it at night the green tint in this comes from the chromium oxides it doesn’t like stain things or rub off on things it’s not like makeup or foundation or anything like that so you don’t have to worry about like washing the green off like you know it’s not like makeup in other words um it just offers that
Cosmetic camouflage benefit it’s very nice you really do see reduction in redness for me personally i use it a lot when i get a lot of redness and irritation around my mouth from the mask and it’s really it’s really a helpful product for me in those situations but for those of you dealing with post acne redness definitely check it out okay i mentioned retinol at
The beginning you know whatever retinoid you were using to treat your acne fine to continue using it um that will help the the post acne redness and just in terms of healings you know retinoids that can help they can help improve the healing process for you but one that i think is particularly relevant to those of you dealing with post acne marks is a favorite
Retinol of mine it’s the cerave resurfacing retinol serum this is this is made to address not only the needs of acne with the retinol but also to deal with to deal with the bystander injury as i call it the hyperpigmentation the redness and the dryness that comes with using retinols it’s got ceramides in it which help the moisture barrier which ultimately
Is going to help facilitate the healing and recovery of the post acne redness this is a very good one to to also consider introducing into into your routine so that is that’s a phenomenal one uh honorable mentions too you know that i’ve shared in other videos the cetaphil redness relieving night moisturizer and day moisturizer are also fantastic they’ve got
Licorice root in them and ceramides those are standalone moisturizers one is to be used in the daytime it has a little bit of spf in it and it’s tinted the tint on that product doesn’t necessarily work though for people with medium to deep skin tones it’s better suited for people who are paler which you know incidentally tends to be people who suffer more with
Post acne redness but yeah i did want to mention that product i didn’t bring it out here but i love it and it’s a great one for people with redness who do deal with redness and then they have a nighttime version that lack you know doesn’t have the spf or the tint in it um you know you can use that at night time very good moisturizer for people with redness
Prone skin i’ve got so many comments on instagram and here on youtube saying thank you for recommending that to me it’s been a great moisturizer so yeah i definitely wanted to recommend it but these are some products that i think can really help you guys out who are dealing with post acne redness i know it’s very frustrating having acne is super frustrating it
Can really impact your self-esteem and all that but like i feel as though sometimes we should you know we shouldn’t just stop at the acne treatment and then you know think that we’re going to wash our hands out there’s still a lot of again bystander injury that needs to be addressed for the longest time products really just neglected that aspect of acne they
Really were just aimed at you know spot treatments and overnight treatments things that would get rid of a pimple fast type things that was the marketing and that’s how products were designed really to you know to prevent breakouts and to clear breakouts but there wasn’t really anything for the longest time aimed at addressing post acne fallout or you know the the
Bystander injury of dry skin hyperpigmentation and post acne redness these are things that you guys are are really struggling with so i hope these products and tips are really helpful and again if this is something that you have been you know dealing with for like over a year then definitely see a board-certified dermatologist and say hey is this just post-acne
Redness do i need to be a little bit more patient with this give it some more time or do i have some scarring here that we could you know consider treating all right guys i’m going to wrap it up here with my tips for post-inflammatory erythema or post acne red marks i hope this video was helpful to you guys if you liked it give it a thumbs up share it with your
Friends and as always don’t forget sunscreen and subscribe i’ll talk to you guys tomorrow bye you
Transcribed from video
Best products to FADE POST ACNE RED MARKS (PIE)| Dr Dray By Dr Dray