Acne on my face now that I am older

[Sweetvelocity]

I am 29 year old female and I am having an issue finding something for the black heads on my face. The are small and all over my chin and nose. I wash my face daily with antibacterial soap and use glycolic acid toner and cleanser that dries my skin out like crazy. I also use a niva visage spf 15 anti wrinkle cream daily.

My pores are huge and and they seem to hold dirt well and now I have dirty looking skin from all of these little bnack heads on my face.

What is a good cleanser for black heads and good moisturizer that wont cause black heads.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
For blackheads, cleanse the area thoroughly and apply a good mild exfoliating scrub on that. Apply a medicated cream or gel containing resorcinol, salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. This helps is soaking the oil and helps in peeling away the blackheads. If benzoyl peroxide leaves your skin dry, apply an oil-free moisturizer after 10 mins of applying benzoyl peroxide.

Large pores can be easily dealt with proper cleansing and frequent toning and moisturizing of the skin. Other treatments to consider include microdermabrasion, skin resurfacing lasers and chemical skin peels.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[rashrashrash]

The Biore 5-in-1 (I'm not sure what it's called, but it has a cleanser, toner, etc. all in one) plus the Clean and Clear purple one works for me.

I would lay off the antibacterial soap, and the acid toner. Find a gentle toner, like the one above, or something without peroxide or sal. acid in it. The sal. acid and benz. perocide treatments seem to work better for teens than adults. If you dry out your face too much (especially with that glycolic acid toner) daily, you'll cause more acne than leaving it alone.

Things to try:
- Facial steamer (or hot steam over stove), followed by a gentle face wash
- Cleansing pore strips
- Face masks, like cucumber, that are soothing
- Clay mud masks to detoxify
- Use something with sal. acid or peroxide 1-2 a week, no more.
- Try an aloe vera or light face lotion or gel that's for non-oily skin (but not an acne treatment one, as your face is probably super dry)