TikTok trends have brought us tons of beauty trends, some questionable and some actually pretty helpful, like the hydrocolloid bandages hack for pimples. Placing cut up pieces of hydrocolloid bandages over pimples and leaving them on for a couple hours really seemed to help suck out all the gunk from pimples, leaving behind a less swollen pimple.
While this is a pretty useful hack, there’s a much easier way to use hydrocolloid for acne. Hydrocolloid blemish patches come in optimized sizes to better fit pimples and many now have skincare ingredients to further help treat pimples.
What are hydrocolloid patches and how do they work?
Hydrocolloid is a gel-like material that extracts fluid from wounds while simultaneously creating a moist environment to help the healing process. These characteristics make hydrocolloid perfect for shrinking pimples. When you apply a hydrocolloid patch to a pimple, it helps catch excess fluid and reduces the size of pimples.
They also provide the additional benefits of reducing the urge to pick at pimples. With the hydrocolloid patch protecting the spot, you’ll be less likely to accidentally (or accidentally on purpose) pick at or pop the pimple.
How to use hydrocolloid patches
Hydrocolloid patches are pretty easy to use and incorporate into your skincare routine. After cleansing and drying the skin, place the patch on a pimple, then apply moisturizer. It’s important to place a patch on dry skin to let the patch better adhere to the skin. Then, all you have to do is wait, usually 6 to 8 hours. As the patch draws out all the gunk from a pimple, it’ll turn white. Finally, you can peel it and replace it if your pimple hasn’t fully shrunk.
And, since they are little adhesive patches they are super easy to leave on all night without worrying about transfer, like from a spot treatment, onto your sheets. You can also use them during the day, to help prevent outside bacteria from entering the pimple while you’re out and about.
Different kinds of hydrocolloid patches
There are a variety of hydrocolloid patches to help treat different kinds of blemishes, like our beloved original Blemish Patch which is best suited to surface pimples.
Some patches come infused with pimple-fighting ingredients like Salicylic Acid or Tea Tree Oil to better help minimize or soothe a pimple. Our Extra Strength Blemish Patch is made with Salicylic Acid to best combat stubborn, blind pimples while our Soothing Blemish Patch contains Tea Tree Oil to help soothe a troubled spot.
While hydrocolloid patches also help curb finger-picking, you sometimes just end up popping a pimple anyway. But, if you are a chronic pimple popper, you’ve probably noticed post-blemish marks left behind after the popped pimple has healed.
In this case, there are hydrocolloid patches that are meant to help improve the look of post-blemish marks. Our Dark Spot Brightening Patch is made with ingredients like Niacinamide and Green Tea to help fade the look of these spots. Plus, it’s made with microneedles to better deliver these ingredients straight to the source.
Apart from helping with dark spots, microneedle patches also help with deep pimples. When deep pimples form, they tend to stay beneath the surface and can be a bit painful to the touch. Our EraZit Magnesium Microneedle Patch is made with non-dissolving microneedles to help reach those deep pimples and calm the spot.
Hydrocolloid patches also come in a bunch of different sizes so you can customize the shape or so you can use on larger areas, like our Custom Blemish Patch. And, our T-Zone Pore Patch is shaped to fit the nose area perfectly to help extract excess oil, so you don’t have to use a bunch of little round patches all over your nose.
How hydrocolloid patches compare to other acne treatments
A lot of acne treatments focus on drying out the pimple in order to help it go away, but sometimes that can also dry out surrounding skin. As for hydrocolloid patches, you don’t have to deal with the same drying effect as some concentrated spot treatments. Since hydrocolloid patches work by creating a moist environment around the pimple, you don’t have to worry about drying out your skin.
Hydrocolloid patches are also super low maintenance, making them convenient and portable pimple care. Whether you want to wear them overnight or wear them while you’re out, hydrocolloid patches can be applied anywhere, anytime.
