How to prevent breaking out after cosmetic procedures
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I recently had a client come in for her appointment completely broken out. This would have been normal for an acne clinic except for the fact that she had just graduated from our acne program and been completely clear just a few months prior. Her skin went from being practically 100% clear to being 50% broken out with pimples of all different shapes and sizes. She was almost as broken out as she was when she first started the program! As I do with all of my clients when they have a breakout, I did some detective work and discovered that she had recently done a thread lift. Thread lifting, like most cosmetic procedures, isn’t a potential acne trigger in and of itself. But if you are considering a cosmetic procedure whether it’s a laser, thread lifting, plastic surgery, or even just microdermabrasion, there are a few potential acne triggers that you might be exposed to before, during, and after your procedure that can cause a breakout.
WATCH OUT FOR THIS POTENTIAL TRIGGER DURING COSMETIC PROCEDURES
The main type of trigger you are likely to be exposed to before, during, or after a cosmetic procedure are pore-clogging products called comedogenic products. The numbing cream they apply to your face before the procedure or the products they apply during and/or after the procedure like a gel or an SPF can all contain pore-clogging ingredients that slip into your pores and contribute to the formation of microcomedones which are basically acne seeds. As I mention in my 8 Steps To Clear Skin e-course, it only takes one ingredient in one product to touch your face one time to break you out and once acne seeds are planted in your skin it can take months to years to purge those seeds out.
YOU MIGHT BE AFFECTED BY THIS TRIGGER TOO
Comedogenic products that directly touch your face are not the only potential triggers you need to worry about. Even when our clients are diligent about avoiding product triggers, we have had clients break out simply because they are not able to use our product kits for days or weeks after a procedure. This typically happens when you have intense procedures that make the skin raw and sensitized so the Doctor might tell you to avoid using any skincare products while your skin is healing. But if you are using skincare products like ours that facilitate the clearing process and you skip applying them for a period of time, acne seeds have a chance to form deep beneath the skin that won’t show up on the surface for months later. We call this an indirect trigger because you are not breaking out from something directly but you are breaking out from the effects of NOT doing something which, in this case, would be not using the products that facilitate the clearing process. You can read more about this in my post Direct vs Indirect Triggers: What You Don’t Do Is As Important As What You Do.
CONSIDER THE DELAYED REACTION TIME
Another concept I discuss in my e-course is that there are delayed reaction times between when you are exposed to a trigger and when you actually see visible acne on the surface of your skin. Basically, what you eat (or do or touch or don’t do) today is not going to show up tomorrow. Just think about how long it takes to eat food and to see it as visible weight on the scale. Just like with weight gain, it takes time for you to eat something or for a comedogenic product to touch your face and for that to contribute to the formation of an acne seed in your skin. And then even once that acne seed is planted deep inside of the follicle, it takes months for acne seeds to travel to the surface of the skin. So even if your skin looks clear the day after your procedure, you have to wait some time to actually determine whether whatever trigger you were exposed to did in fact contribute to a breakout.
PORE-CLOGGING PRODUCTS HAVE A SHORT DELAYED REACTION TIME
Each category has a different delayed reaction time that we discuss in the course but product triggers tend to show up quickly. So if your Doctor applies a numbing cream to your face that contains a comedogenic ingredient AND comedogenic ingredients are one your triggers (because everyone’s triggers are different) then you will likely see a breakout within days to weeks. The reason why product triggers tend to show up fairly quickly is because they enter the skin from the top down so by the time those cloggy ingredients slip into your follicles and contribute to the formation of an acne seed, it’s already pretty high on the surface of the skin. On the other hand, if you skip your product plan for two weeks you likely won’t see a breakout from that for weeks to months after since it’s an indirect trigger that has to get processed from the bottom up.
HOW TO GUARANTEE AN ACNE FRIENDLY PROCEDURE
First, talk to your service provider beforehand and let them know that you have sensitive skin and need ingredient lists for any and all products that might touch your skin before, during, or after the procedure. This includes any cleansers or toners. Don’t just ask them if the products they use are okay for acne prone skin because of course they are going to say yes. Most Doctors and Estheticians think they know all about acne but most don’t actually know squat about it so they will likely tell you that their products are great. Also, the more expensive and natural a product is, the more likely it is to clog pores so the higher end spas and clinics are even more likely to use pore clogging products than a cheap one that uses watered down products that are less thick and sticky in the follicles.
Then check every ingredient in each product against the list of comedogenic ingredients to make sure they don’t contain any of the no-no ingredients.
If any of the products contain potentially cloggy ingredients, ask them if they have alternatives or if you can bring your own. If they don’t have alternative products and you cannot bring your own, ask if they can avoid using that product on you. If they can’t, then you need to just prepare for a potential breakout weeks or months after the procedure and find a professional like us to help you get it under control. We have acne programs at our San Francisco Bay Area clinic and virtual programs so you can get help wherever you are.
