When you get a spot what product do you reach for?!

[Waiting4baby2]

Just that really!
I don’t get spots often but when I do they are of the huge and sore variety and nothing i ever use seems to help!
Would love to know any tips for products you lot rate!
thanks x

Anything with salicylic acid - I like the Inkey list one. It’s like a toner and I just dab it on the spot. It dries it out and sometimes if I catch it early enough it doesn’t develop and disappears overnight.

I swear by...
This!

a cream with benzoyl peroxide
www.nhs.uk/medicines/benzoyl-peroxide/

you get it over the counter in the pharmacy. and it works.

Rosehip oil. Me and the teen swear by it!

Origins spot remover - burns like hell though!

For one that is really big and sore, particularly if it is still under the skin, I pop into the dermatologist for a cortisone injection. The pimple is gone entirely in 48 hours and much much lessened in 24. Plus it stops any scaring.
For smaller blemishes, I used the marine serum from Sabbatical beauty. This is amazing for redness and soreness. It is based on Korean skin-care and you only use a tiny bit as the ingredients are really concentrated. The Sabbatical beauty products have cleared the acne I would get that was linked to rosacea, and the little spots around my nose, mouth, and eyes, that I thought were acne but were actualy peri-oral dermatitis.

Niacinimide from The Ordinary is my current favourite. I have well controlled cystic acne, but my usual GP prescribed cream stopped working. I developed a spot that simply would go away and started breaking out in other areas. I bought this out of desperation and it's been wonderful. The spot started to die immediately and cleared within a few days without being harsh on my skin.

Sudocream

Same. Though my favourite (Quinoderm?) doesn't seem to be available over the counter any more. Or if it is, it's not as strong (the original does feel quite burny at first).

Teatree oil, Germolene or Sudocrem, whichever is handiest.

Are they a lump under the skin or bursting out on top? If the former, maybe a warm compress?

How do you apply the rose hip oil?

Liz Earle hot cloth cleanser and then cotton wool ball with Liz Earle toner and drop of tea tree oil.

Toothpaste. I cant be the only one surely?

The ordinary 10% lactic acid

Tea tree oil, always. It’s cheap, easy and affective.

One of the zillion potions my 2nd teen tried & discarded.
They all have any combo of ingredients PP listed.

Clean & Clear Advantage Spot Control Gel
Works really well :-)

For the big and sore ones, especially when they’re still kind of under the skin, I use the compeed cold sore patches. They don’t grow massively, don’t get infected and with a patch on, they’re really easy to cover up with makeup.

omg thanks for the amazing replies!!
@linenalltheway the ones I get are sore lumps under the skin, normally when I’m stressed! I have three threatening to come out at the moment so I need to try out some of these!!!

I'm old school, always go for a dab of TCP liquid

@Ruthietuthie i got one of those injections before a big event once, it brought the spot down and then it was such a monster it came back 24 hours later!! 😱 I was gutted! May have been too far gone for it to work well, think it might be a case of needing to zap them early!

You're not alone, @StrictlyAFemaleFemale. I use toothpaste, too!

no! Has to be the right kind though - my sensitive toothpaste doesn’t seem to work.

or a dab of perfume but that really stings!

After over 30 years of fighting spots, I use one or more of the following:

1. Aspirin, crushed up and mixed with a bit of water applied for about 15 mins. Takes the sting right out of them and they tend to go back down almost immediately. Apply as soon as they start throbbing
2. Thick moisturiser, as emollient as possible, overnight which soothes the skin and encourages it to come to a head, at which point I squeeze
3. Spot patches, which also draw out the infection and help it heal faster. Really effective and stop you picking if you wear them in the house too

I find things like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide are much better in preventing spots than actually treating them once they are here.