03 April 2013

Does Makeup Hinder the Healing of Pimple Scars?


Ever been frustrated that when you finally get rid of that pimple that's been on your face since forever, you still have to look in the mirror and see the marks and scars left behind? These reminders of our pimples can either take a long time to disappear, or never go away at all!

There are mainly two types of scars caused by pimples. The first is a red mark or hyperpigmentation that is left behind once the pimple has healed. These marks tend to be temporary and will eventually fade on their own. However, this can take anywhere between a few months to a year (or more, gulp!), depending on the severity of the offending pimple. The second type is the pitted scar where a depression is formed in the skin. These are generally more permanent and can be really obvious under certain lighting.

This post applies more to the hyperpigmentation type of scarring and it is based on my personal observations.

Since I have sensitive skin, it scars pretty easily each time a pimple heals. Even though I am naturally tan, the red marks stand out very obviously on my face. Because of work commitments, I feel somewhat obligated to cover up these marks every day so as to look presentable. Since I don’t feel comfortable caking on a full face of foundation on a constant basis (just to let my skin breathe and reduce the risk of clogged pores), what I do each morning is to pat on my trusty MAC Studio Fix concealer only on those red marks. I pat on a thicker layer for the really red ones just because they are harder to cover up (duh!).

Now what I’ve observed between the marks that I do cover up and those that I leave alone is that the latter tend to heal and disappear faster! I don’t think this is a fluke observation as I have been testing this out on a few scars for quite awhile now.

On a side note, I realise that on weekends where I don’t bother with any makeup at all, my skin tone generally looks more even (albeit its like an oily, even tone… can I say ‘glowing’? Ha ha!). Whereas for days where I have makeup on, my skin actually looks patchy at the end of the day after makeup removal.

Maybe… Just maybe, allowing the skin to ‘breathe’ helps it to heal the marks quicker? Perhaps makeup actually hinders our skin’s ability to recover naturally? This would make sense as makeup is essentially made up of chemicals anyway and it can’t be good to continuously put these chemicals on our skin.

The problem then is… … I AM TOO VAIN TO GO OUT WITHOUT COVERING THOSE DAMNED MARKS!

What do you think? Have you had the same experience? Can you even face the world without makeup on? (I'm not referring to those of you with naturally even-toned skin, you guys probably don't even bother with makeup)

Love,
PockMarkFats

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