Vitamin C products, am I using them wrong, causes acne?

[Noshadelamp]

I'm early 50s with fairly decent skin for my age. I'm fair with sensitive skin.
Over the past few years I've tried both high and low end vitamin C serums and creams, and every time I end up with 1-2 painful acne spots around my chin.

I suppose I could not use them on that area but tbh that is the most aged area that needs something extra with enlarged pores and horizontal lines under the edges of my mouth.

Should I be using an exfoliant the next day after the vitamin C product? It would need to be gentle as my skin is quite sensitive.
Or concede it's not for me?

The Garnier one has salicylic acid in it too which would help with the spots. Have you tried that one?

Oh, I’ve had this happen to me. I haven’t had breakouts for years but as soon as I started the vitamin C up they popped. I’d heard that vitamin C can cause the skin to ‘purge’ at first so I thought I’d just see it though, but after a couple of months I was still getting spots on a regular basis. My skin looks worse than it did before.

Anyway, as it was an expensive one I bought from a dermatologist (who I was seeing for something else) I didn’t want to just throw it away, so I’ve been mixing a few drops every day into my moisturiser and using it that way. It seems to have done the trick with stopping the spots, although I suppose it might take longer to work.

I'm not sure tbh, I might have a few years ago, before I actively noticed the link. It sounds like it's worth trying again.

Thank you for the tip. Do you notice any difference with your skin compared to not putting it in your moisturiser?
I end up using the left over creams and serums on the back of my hands!

how active are the ones you’re using? I tried one before that was fairly strong and broke out so badly. When you say low end I guess you mean cheap? Try looking for lower potency

I am a MASSIVE vitamin C fan and I really believe its a gamechanger. BUT, I have noticed that a lot of them can be quite greasy and a bit, for want of a better word, "icky".

A couple of suggestions -
1 try buying a moisteriser that has vitamin c in it rather than using a serum.
2 Be very selective about the product you use. Personally, I have liked the Ordinary ones because they're not greasy or oily at all ( tried quite a few in Space NK the other day and most of the high end ones were quite greasy or oily and definitely not for me.). I'm actually currently using The Ordinary powder one - I mix it into my moisteriser and it seems to work really well.

3 I have always been obsessive about cleansing my face, but I do feel that as i've got older and used a few more products, I have to be even more obsessive to make sure that I'm not letting stuff sit on my face for too long. I use a balm cleanser at night and some kind of foaming cleanser in the morning, usually with some exfoliating effect (I have a bunch in the shower and choose depending on how I'mf eeling from traditional old-school exfoliator, to cera ve cleanser with salicylic acid, to a selection of Clarins ones that all have a slightly different texture but all make my skin feel super clean and fresh).

@Noshadelamp

Not yet! I’ve been doing it this way for about a month and I can’t say that I’ve seen any improvement so far.

Im on my fifth bottle. It's surprisingly good for the price.

I usually don't use moisturiser too in the day but if my skin feels dry I may use the Bobbi Brown Vitamin Base. That's got Vit C in it too and I think it's really good. Doesn't pill makeup and isn't greasy. Never had a spot while using it.

I have definitely had spots with vitamin C products. I've also been using the Ordinary powder mixed with my moisturiser and this seems to have eliminated the issue. It's also good to be able to adjust the dose, I use less than I started with and still have a good effect, with slightly less of that vitamin C smell.

I think the structure of ascorbic acid is quite unstable in solution, so the products need extra ingredients to stop it going off, which might cause some of the issues. Or perhaps it's just broken down vitamin C that causes the spots?