If you’ve ever spent months following an acne treatment routine perfectly, achieving your ideal, clear skin, only to see it break out again, you know how demoralizing it can be. You put in the work, felt the benefits, but all of a sudden, you’re once again left wondering how to have clear skin. You’re not alone! If you stop using your products for clear skin, it’s completely normal for pimples to reappear. Wondering how to maintain clear skin? Keep on reading.
Why can pimples reappear after acne treatment
If pimples reappear after you stop using your acne treatment, it’s not a sign your acne system isn’t working, especially if you had clear skin when you last stopped using your treatment. Acne treatments aren’t meant to be cures for acne – they don’t stop the factors that contribute to acne when you stop using them. Instead, they help clear and control the factors that cause acne to reduce the severity and frequency of breakouts. So, you need to keep using the products to not only clear acne, but to maintain clear skin.
Acne is caused by excess oil (sebum) on your skin mixing with dead skin cells to clog pores. Acne-causing bacteria can get inside the clogged pores to create acne. Different acne treatments work in different ways to disrupt this process, targeting the excess oil, dead skin cells or bacteria. For example, the ProactivMD® 3-Piece System uses Adapalene Gel to target current breakouts on a cellular level. The treatment achieves its results by targeting multiple steps in the acne formation process.
It’s important to remember that if you stop treatment, the process can start up again, leading to new pimples – especially if your acne is caused by hormonal changes that can last for years, or lifestyle and hygiene habits you haven’t addressed.
How to clear skin after acne treatment with a long-term plan
The key to maintaining your clear skin for the long-term is to maintain a long-term skincare routine. These general tips to prevent pimples can serve as a great place to start. Make sure to also consider how far your skin has come and remember to stay faithful to your skin-clearing routine.
The ProactivMD 3-Piece System includes everything you need to maintain your skincare routine on an ongoing basis. The Ultra-Gentle Cleanser is specially developed for acne-prone skin to leave you feeling refreshed and hydrated. You can continue applying the acne-fighting Adapalene Gel — it helped you achieve clear skin and it can also help you maintain it. The Ultra-Hydrating Moisturizer is just as important to maintain balanced oil levels while you have clear skin as it is during a breakout because if your skin gets too dry, it will produce excess oil to compensate which can lead to new acne.
There are also a number of lifestyle tips that can help you maintain clear skin. Make sure to get plenty of sleep and try to reduce stress. Daily physical exercise, meditation and breathing exercises have all been shown to help with sleep and stress. As with any lifestyle changes, start with a tiny change, and then scale up as you ease into it.
Clear skin products
Products for already-clear skin include what got your skin to that point in the first place. In other words, the best way to keep your skin clear is with the products that helped make it clear!
The bottom line
Proactiv offers solutions that make fighting acne and maintaining clear skin as simple as 1-2-3. By answering a few short questions in this skincare quiz about your experiences with acne, you can find a personalized solution that can help you achieve your clearest skin, and keep it that way, with the right products for you.
