Maskne and how to treat them

The COVID19 pandemic has changed the world and changed our lives in so many ways. Wearing a mask when we are out has become the new norm. Working from home has become the default for a lot of us. These changes inevitably cause some of us to alter our lifestyle drastically, including staying up late, eating unhealthy meals and forgetting to exercise. This indirectly causes our skin quality to deteriorate and become more prone to acne and scars. In addition, wearing a mask in our hot and humid climate leads to developing mask-related acne, or commonly known as maskne.

How do we deal with these adverse skin changes due to mask wearing and poor lifestyle? Here are the 5 tips that can help improve and maintain your skin quality during this period.

Invest in good skin care products

We often ignore the importance of skin care (and skin care products) when we are not meeting people regularly. It is as if we take care of our skin just to look good in front of others. Like it or not, how you look does affect your self esteem and confidence. Good skin makes you look and feel good about yourself.

Invest in yourself – by investing in good and suitable skin care products. Use quality cleanser, moisturiser, sunblock and skin anti-ageing serum such as vitamin C and peptide serum diligently. This will keep your skin under control on good and bad days, and reduce the likelihood of having acne breakouts and acne scars.

Protect your skin from the sun, and cleanse your face thoroughly each time after you workout. This can prevent bacteria proliferation around the facial skin that leads to acne.

Have good regular facial treatment

Due to prolonged mask wearing, there is often trapped moisture around the face. This causes congested skin and pores, which becomes a perfect breeding ground for bacteria that inevitably leads to maskne. It also does not help that some people do not change or wash their mask regularly. This explains a sudden increase in acne breakouts during this pandemic period. Therefore, what you do at home (cleansing) may not be sufficient sometimes.

Go for a regular facial treatment, such as the popular Hydrafacial. Hydrafacial is an effective multi-step treatment that combines the benefits of hydra der­mabrasion, a chemical peel and painless extractions with a special delivery of antioxidants, hyaluronic acid and peptides. This helps cleanse the facial skin more thoroughly and improve overall skin hydration and skin health.

Use retinol

Retinol is a form of vitamin A, which is one of the body’s key nutrients for boosting cell turnover. It is commonly used to treat acne and reduce wrinkles.

Retinol works by triggering the skin cells to turnover faster so that new skin cells can generate. By doing so, it also helps increase the production of essential chemicals such as hyaluronic acid and collagen that help improve overall skin quality.

Retinol helps improve acne skin by accelerating cell turnover and reduces oil production. Decreased oil production prevents oil from clogging up pores and helps to prevent acne.
Collectively, this results in a smoother skin with less acne. Add a retinol in your skin care routine!

Try facial laser

Facial laser treatment has set a new standard for skin rejuvenation treatment. Laser helps improve skin pigmentation, pores, acne, overall skin tone and skin texture.

Gentlemax Pro laser helps improve acne, acne redness and acne scars.It can be done regularly to keep your skin under control.

Pico laser toning is a lunchtime laser treatment that you can do on a monthly basis to help improve your overall skin quality and maintain a radiant and glowy skin tone. It is almost painless with minimal to no downtime, perfect for individuals with busy schedules.

See a doctor

If you struggle with keeping up with your adverse skin changes, perhaps it is time to seek professional help. Sometimes, in more severe cases, you may require medications such as antibiotic cream, retinoids (stronger version of retinol) and antibiotic tablets to treat maskne. These can only be prescribed by doctors.

Let your doctor assess your skin condition and prescribe the most appropriate medication and treatment for you.