How Do Pimple Patches Work? Right here’s All the things You Have to Know

How do pimple patches work? Again within the day, getting a zit meant caking on disguising layers of basis, concealer, powder …or possibly only a strategically angled coiffure. However now, the sport has modified: Why cover a pimple when you’ll be able to costume it up? No frantic mixing or pore-clogging merchandise are required. Right now, we’re embracing a radically completely different (and refreshingly low-key) strategy to clogged pores: slapping a brilliant yellow star-shaped sticker on it and calling it a day.

Welcome to the period of the pimple patch, the place blemishes aren’t shameful secrets and techniques to hide however simply a part of the human expertise. Whereas placing a literal sticker on a zit could seem daring, it’s additionally an efficient strategy to deal with blemishes. Right here, we dive into the science, advantages, and greatest methods to rock a hydrocolloid pimple patch.

For those who’re concerned with pores and skin science, remember to take a look at our guides to pink mild remedy masks and LED gadgets, exosome therapies, and the traditional historical past of snail mucin.

Up to date July 2025: I’ve added Dearcloud Hydrocolloid Blemish Patches, CeraVe Hydrocolloid Blemish Patches, and Peach Slices Pimples Spot Dots as new picks. I’ve additionally up to date data, costs, and hyperlinks.

What Is a Pimple Patch?

In easiest phrases, pimple patches are tiny, adhesive stickers made to sort out various kinds of zits, one blemish at a time. These patches unclog pores and take in extra fluid, velocity up wound therapeutic, and preserve you from choosing at your pores and skin—no small feat. Pimple patches are available in varied formulation, with completely different substances for various breakouts, however the most well-liked are hydrocolloid zits patches.

How Do Pimple Patches Work?

Hydrocolloid patches are a kind of wound dressing that helps retain moisture and create a moist, therapeutic atmosphere for pimples, burns, or lesions. “They’re manufactured from a water-attracting materials, which is connected to a very skinny plastic movie,” says beauty chemist Michelle Wong. “So when you have an open pimple, for instance, it will possibly suck out the pus.”

Though hydrocolloid dressings has been used for wound care for the reason that Sixties (the dressings had been initially developed within the Nineteen Thirties by a dentist), it wasn’t till the early 2010s that pimple patches began exhibiting up on skincare and sweetness cabinets.

When utilized to an infected pimple—sometimes one with fluid—the heat of your pores and skin softens the liner of the sticker, serving to it suck out the impurities and gunk. It additionally acts as a protecting barrier that shields the blemish from additional irritation or unfold. For those who’ve ever pulled off a patch to seek out the underside coated in an icky white substance, that’s a mixture of the hydrocolloid gel and the surplus oils pulled from the pores and skin. This therapeutic course of additionally prevents you from choosing on the pimple—a behavior that may result in longer therapeutic occasions, an infection, and scarring.

Our Favourite Pimple Patches

Different Spot Remedies

“Spot therapies [tend] to include benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, or witch hazel,” writes Lindsey Zubritsky, a board-certified dermatologist at Premier Dermatology and Pores and skin Most cancers Heart, in an e-mail. “These are lively substances—whereas they might work, they’ll additionally doubtlessly trigger dryness and irritation.” Pure hydrocolloid patches, alternatively, don’t include lively substances, which makes them ideally suited for delicate or reactive pores and skin varieties.

How Typically Can You Use Hydrocolloid Patches?

{Photograph}: Yuliya Sheynina/Getty Pictures

In keeping with most dermatologists, you need to use pimple patches as wanted. Zubritsky (aka @dermguru on TikTok) suggests sporting them for as much as 12 hours, ideally in a single day. However they may also be worn in the course of the day. They’re notably efficient on fluid-filled pimples, reminiscent of papules, pustules, or cysts.