Medicated acne patches: what the salicylic acid adds to the sticker

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Researched. We have not used this one long enough to give you a verdict, and we would rather say so than invent one. What follows is how it works, who it suits, and what it will not do. When we have used it properly, this page carries the verdict and the date.

PanOxyl Daytime Invisible Patches, Salicylic Acid

A plain acne patch does two things: it covers a spot, and it soaks up what comes out of it. A medicated patch adds an active ingredient to that. Whether the addition is worth having depends almost entirely on what kind of spot you are putting it on.

Two jobs in one sticker

The listing describes both. The patch works to "protect blemishes and absorb gunk" — the covering-and-soaking job that any acne patch does. And it unclogs pores with salicylic acid, which is the medicated part.

It is worth separating them, because they help different spots. We have written about what a plain patch can and cannot do overnight, and the short version is that the covering-and-soaking job only really helps a spot that has come to a head.

What the salicylic acid is for

Salicylic acid is a beta hydroxy acid, and its useful quality is that it dissolves in oil. That lets it work its way into a pore, where it loosens the plug of dead skin and sebum that a spot starts from. It is one of the longest-established acne ingredients sold without a prescription, and we cover how it behaves in more detail in what a BHA does, and what it does not.

So the acid is most relevant to the early stage — the closed bump that has not come to a head yet — and least relevant once a spot is open and draining, where the patch's absorbing job matters more.

Match the patch to the spot

A spot with a head, or one that has just opened: any decent patch will do the main work here, which is keeping it covered, clean and away from your fingers.

A small closed bump or a clogged pore: this is where the salicylic acid gives a medicated patch its reason to exist over a plain one.

A deep, sore lump under the skin with no head: neither part will reach it. That kind of spot sits too deep for a sticker, and if you get them often, it is worth seeing a doctor rather than buying more patches.

The daytime part

Most acne patches are made to be slept in. These are sold as thin and clear enough to wear through the day, and the listing says they can go on bare skin or under makeup. How invisible they look on you will depend on your skin and the light. The practical gain is simply that a spot gets covered for the eight hours when you are most tempted to touch it, not only the eight when you are asleep.

What else is in the box

Forty patches: twenty small and twenty large. The listing says they also contain centella and green tea extract, which it describes as calming and soothing, and that they are free of parabens, fragrance, sulfates, dyes and latex. Fragrance-free is the one of those we would care about most, on skin that is already broken.

What it will not do

It will not reach a deep spot, and it will not stop new ones forming anywhere it is not stuck. It treats the spot it is on and nothing else, so it is not a substitute for whatever you do to prevent breakouts in the first place.

And if you already use a salicylic acid cleanser or toner, adding a medicated patch puts more of the same active on one small patch of skin. Irritation in that spot is the likely result, so watch for it.

The product

PanOxyl is best known for its benzoyl peroxide face wash. This is the same brand's patch, and it uses salicylic acid rather than benzoyl peroxide. Buy it if your spots tend to be the small, clogged, early kind and you want something you can wear to work.

The one people are searching for is the PanOxyl Daytime Invisible Patches, Salicylic Acid, 40 ct.

PanOxyl Daytime Invisible Patches, Salicylic Acid

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Written by JamieG in Garner Town, Tennessee.