Swelling up with a spot...

[rollonthesummer]

I have generally good skin (as in I don't have spots all over my face) but when I do get one, I swell up! You can't even necessarily see the spot-but the area around it swells up like an egg. If it's around my mouth/lips where there's lots of tissue-I look like I've been punched! They are odd spots that never or rarely come to a head and just take weeks to go down :(

Can anyone explain why/what these are and if there's anything I can do?

They sound like cystic spots. They don't go away easily, but Freederm gel, which has nicotinamide as the active ingredient, works better than salicylic acid treatments. Mario Badescu Buffering Lotion is very good, but not sold in many places. I buy mine from BeautyBay.com.
Additionally, taking ibuprofen - which is anti inflammatory - will reduce the swelling.

That's useful, thank you. Which Freederm is good-I've just googled and there are loads of products?
Which would you say is better, the Freederm or the buffering stuff?