It Doesn’t Really Matter What Spot Treatment You Use

I woke up yesterday morning with a pimple in that space between my top lip and nose (the moustache, or ‘mo’ area on boys I guess). It’s one of those ‘normal’ zits, the ones that start off small and red then after a couple of days form a pussy white or yellow head.

The weird thing is, this pimple has appeared in this exact same spot about four times now in the past 3 months. Yes that’s right, exactly the same spot. The first time it appeared it was really nasty, almost like two of them together, snuggled side by side. It has been getting smaller every time but I’m damn sick of getting it. It’s even weirder that I haven’t had a pimple like this for a while now. I’ve been enjoying clear skin except for this little persistent spot on my mo.

I think my problem is I seem to be a bit careless with this area of my face. I often miss exfoliating there, and hardly ever remember to use spot treatments on pimples in that spot. Perhaps it’s because that area gets lost underneath the curve of my upper lip, or disappears behind the shadow of the tip of my nose. I’m not entirely sure why, but I have been neglecting it, so I guess I’ve been punished with a persistent pimple problem in that spot. At least it’s in a perfect beauty mark location. Maybe I could get away with coloring it in with brown eyeliner and disguising it as a beauty spot. Then again, maybe not.

So yesterday, I finally started to give that area a bit of attention. I pasted my BHA onto my mo, then applied my spot treatment directly onto the zit. This morning when I woke up, the pimple had started to dry out which is great, it means my pimple is healing. Which got me thinking, what active ingredients are in my spot treatment, and does it really matter which ones we use?

I’ve used many different spot treatments in the past, and to be honest, I have not found one that works a lot better than any of the others. The one I currently use, and my personal favorite, is a product from Miessence called the Purifying Blemish Gel. I love this spot treatment because it works and because it’s natural.

I’m on the plane writing this at the moment so I can’t look up what the active ingredient is in the purifying blemish gel, but I think it has a bit of aloe vera, and a few other natural healing essential oils that either work as a natural anti-bacterial, anti-viral or anti-fungal, or are just there to soothe and heal the skin. When it comes down to it though, whatever spot treatment we use has to accomplish one major goal. And most spot treatments on the market, including both natural and conventional treatments, fulfill this goal really well.

A spot treatment must kill the bacteria in a pimple, that’s the main goal we’re trying to achieve. So all your natural and conventional spot treatments that contain ingredients like tea tree oil, benzoyl peroxide or even apple cider vinegar, manuka honey or aloe vera, are all working in the same way - to kill the bacteria inside the pimple thus allowing it to heal.

The reason why I love natural spot treatments so much is because they’re doing exactly what the chemical spot treatments are doing, but without any side effects. So I can use Tea Tree Oil or my Purifying Blemish Gel with the satisfaction that it’s doing its job, and its doing it without harming the rest of my body in any way.

So next time you’re looking for a spot treatment, and you pick up something that looks good at a drug or health store, or even if you find a home made spot treatment recipe on the net - look for the active ingredient on the label or on the ingredients list. Then jump onto Google and look up that active ingredient on the web. If it says the ingredient is a natural anti-bacterial, then great, go for it because it contains what it needs to do its job.

Before I finish up this blog post, I want to explain one key important rule when it comes to using spot treatments. Exfoliating is very important. While spot treatments work by killing the bacteria in a pimple, exfoliating then keeps the pore clear of dead skin cells, oil and sebum. So if you’re using an anti-bacterial spot treatment, make sure you accompany it with some kind of exfoliation too, preferably both a surface and deep pore exfoliant. Paired up, these two treatments are an amazing combination that is vicious at fighting acne.

If you’ve got a favorite spot treatment, share it with us by writing in the response box below. I’m personally looking for a natural spot treatment in Canada, so I’ll be checking out Wholefoods for one soon. I’m sure there are others accross the globe too that are keen to find out from you what’s available and good in your local area.

Fran

Fran Kerr is the founding editor of High on Health. To cure your acne, sign up to Fran's FREE acne cure mini-course or download her latest how to guide, Eat Away Your Acne.

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