Dr. Pimple Popper Reveals Amazing Tips For Avoiding ‘Maskne’ During The Pandemic

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Dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee, MD, a.k.a. Dr. Pimple Popper spoke EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife about all things skincare and shared her top 3 tips for avoiding acne and irritation from wearing a mask.

“Think about it as if your mask was a pair of underwear,” she said, “you don’t really wear the same underwear day to day so change it up every day. It gets humid under there, so of course we’re prone to getting acne that way. So, changing out your mask can help to keep the area clean.”

“My other one would be to get an over the counter salicylic acid spray,” she continued, “and what you can do is spray the inside of your mask. It’s meant for acne, you know, for the body, but in this case if you spray the inside of your mask and then kind of wave it dry, that really works because for a lot of us, especially when we wear makeup, we don’t want to put something on our face under our mask. So spraying the inside of your mask with a salicylic acid will actually help it settle down in your pores and help to keep them clear of debris and oil and things like that.”

“And, the third one,” she added, “is probably to try to think about using a more of a cotton mask when you’re out and about and you’re not like in a hospital where you have to wear something more protective because cotton will wick away moisture, which will help.”

Of course, there are no guaranteed ways to avoid break-outs so if you do get a bothersome pimple the number one thing to do is to avoid touching it. And, if the pimple is really bothering you, a quick trip to your dermatologist is the fastest way to clear it. “If it’s a really active angry one we can usually give it a little shot of steroids and that will help to make it go away within 24 hours,” she said. “If you can’t do that then the best thing to do is try to keep your hands off of it.”

“You can get an over the counter acne spot treatment like benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid or sulfur, and you just want to dot the area and make a little localized zit mask and that will help to treat the area,” the celebrity dermatologist explained. “And, it will help to keep your hands off of it. Because, if you have a little dollop of cream on the area, when you reach up to your face you’ll realize that and then it’ll be a reminder for you not to pick at it. And I think that is one of the issues that happens to me, and probably to a lot of people, that you don’t realize you’re picking at something until it starts bleeding or it feels like it’s getting worse. So it’s a good way to remind yourself to keep your hands off the area.”

If blackheads are an issue, Dr. Lee recommends two products to clean out your pores. “One would be salicylic acid,” she said. “It’s a chemical peel acid that is small enough to settle within your pores to help prevent new acne, so it’s sort of like a little roto rooter, it helps to clean out the pores and keep them clear of debris and dead skin cells and oil.”

“And the other over the counter is retinol,” she continued. “We’ve heard about that a lot. It’s been around for many years. It’s one of the mainstays in acne treatment because it helps to increase the efficiency of skin cell turnover. And it also helps to keep your pores clear so that you develop fewer black heads and white heads.”

Dr. Pimple Popper airs on discovery+ with new episodes dropping every week.