Anyone else get spots like this?

[WestEaste]

I’m in my 20s and I have pretty good skin, it is combination but I don’t have acne or regular breakouts. My skin is quite clear and it’s not often that I do get blemishes.

However, every 2 months or so, I get raging spots in specific areas, nowhere else. It tends to be the centre of my chin, or around my nose. Is it because my skin is greasier in these areas?

By raging spots, I mean very red, sore, visibly swollen/protruding. It lasts for around 2 weeks and eventually turns into a white head, sometimes with multiple heads although not much pus comes out. It just seems to take a lot longer to pass, than other spots I get occasionally! Sometimes I use a blister plaster to try to speed it along. It’s not always in exactly the same spot either, it’s not the same spot flaring again, just the general location.

Probably hormonal. Use an led blue light zapper to take them down

Are they synchronised with your periods perhaps?

Chin spots are hormonal

Hi OP. The fact that they're happening in specific zones (chin and around nose) on a roughly 2-month cycle screams hormonal acne to me, especially the chin, which is a classic hormonal breakout area. The chin and nose also have higher concentrations of sebaceous glands, so they're naturally oilier and more prone to inflammation when hormones trigger excess sebum production. The reason these take so long to resolve and are so painful is because they're forming deep in the skin. For this type of breakout, topical treatments like salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide can help prevent them if you use them consistently in those prone areas, and niacinamide is great for regulating oil production and reducing inflammation. But it's best to ask your dermatologist for possible treatments.

Look at Perioral dermatitis, be gentle with your skin barrier don’t go hard at it with actives it’ll cause more disruption to the skin dry it out and then compromise your barrier. Treat it as sensitive skin, you can use an active only on the spot itself but I wouldn’t use it around the whole area.

Look at your hormones and gut health.

Interesting. I don’t think my period or acne is relevant. If you saw me, you wouldn’t think acne, just one blemish. And there doesn’t seem to be a period trend with it either.

It could be weight related I suppose or hormones, I have gained 5kg recently. when I am my normal weight I do recall getting these though and my bmi is still in healthy range now. But I do think, my body is just not its usual self with weight gain, and my skin suffers as a result. Maybe it’s diet too.

I used a blister plaster last night and it has calmed down a bit luckily.

What you're describing sounds a lot like hormonal breakouts rather than regular congestion, the chin and nose area pattern combined with the two month cycle, the deep inflammatory nature, and the two week lifespan are all pretty classic signs that androgen fluctuations are triggering sebum overproduction in those specific zones which are more hormonally responsive than the rest of your face.

What’s the solution though, like how do you tackle hormonal changes like this? I wouldn’t even necessarily know anything has changed with hormones to anticipate this.

What contraception are you on if any?

@Legolaslady I’m not taking any/not pregnant either.

I used to take the contraceptive injection, although these spots would occur back then too. It’s been years since I last had an injection so doubt there’s any residual impact.

Honestly the most practical approach without going the prescription route is tracking your cycle alongside when the breakouts appear because the pattern is usually pretty consistent once you map it out, and once you know roughly when they're coming you can start applying a targeted salicylic acid treatment to those areas a few days beforehand as a preventative measure rather than waiting until the spot is already inflamed and much harder to calm down.