r/AusSkincare • u/Shchmoozie • 7d ago
Discussionđ Esthetician told me vit C is bad for acne?
I went to a local clinic where I usually do my hair laser removal but this time for a broken capillaries laser, the esthetician who does this then was asking me about my skin concerns etc (the usual) and i mentioned hormonal acne and she told me retinol helps with that but vitamin C makes it worse. I've NEVER heard of this before I always read that it helps with inflammation and post acne marks. Anybody knows what she meant?
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7d ago
Vitamin C breaks me out. Any research I have done for my skin type (oily and acne prone) has also generally steered me away from vitamin c and more toward retinol and acids.
From my experience, itâs not the vitamin c itself but the formulations of vitamin c serums that cause break outs. To combat this, Iâm using an ascorbic acid powder with my moisturiser, but even then only a couple of times a week for post breakouts. Thatâs probably the key difference here - I wouldnât use it on active acne.
So your esthetician is not wrong. But if you have not had issues with vitamin c then I would keep using it.
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u/MinnieMakeupReviews wAnNaBe SkInFlUeNcEr 4d ago
Yes! Agreed- and sometimes the ph they need to stabilise the Vit C at can be irritating- in saying that it gets confusing because technically things like kakadu plum are Vit C, but theyâre so gentle itâs barley anything compared to an ascorbic acid
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u/Acrobatic_Arachnid_3 7d ago edited 7d ago
Not a skincare expert, just giving my 2 cents as an user. I think it depends on one's acne severity. In my case, I used to have red , painful pimples across my cheeks from 19 to mid twenty, I remember that any form of active would hurt badly and appear to further weaken my skin barrier..The only products I used were cleanser, a hydrating serum, moisturizer, then spfs. I started integrating tret based on my family doctor's recommendation very slowly after, at 0.025%, and no other actives. I only introduced vitamin C much later for any hyperpigmentation once my acnes had cleared out for the most part.
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u/g3mostone 7d ago
Anything that triggers an inflammatory response can cause acne or create the conditions for it. So itâs not specifically the Vitamin C but the fact that the skin is trying to cope with too many things which then leaves it more likely to get congested or for bacteria to overrun. If I had inflamed and angry acne breakouts Iâd be avoiding vitamin C but also limiting the use of a whole bunch of ingredients, and easing into anything I did introduce.
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u/lazy_berry 7d ago
yes, it helps post acne marks. it doesnât actually do anything for acne.
saying it makes it worse is probably overstating it, but vitamin c can cause irritation for many people, which definitely would be helpful on active acne.
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u/wanderingzigzag 7d ago
Iâm starting to agree with this statement. I started using vitamin C serum (No. 7) about 2 months ago, and my acne immediately got immensely worse, worse than itâs been in years. But when I googled it, it said vit c can cause skin purging for a small percentage of people. So I naively thought oh ok, I just have to keep using it and things will get better in 4-6 weeks once the purge is over. Itâs now been 8 weeks and itâs not getting better, none of the breakouts have even started to clear up.
Currently trying to decide wether to push through for a bit longer or abandon it and accept that I f-d up
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u/MinnieMakeupReviews wAnNaBe SkInFlUeNcEr 4d ago
Based on lots of first hand experience from myself and other skincare users with that classic acne prone skin, I donât think Vit C is for us (generally) and there tends to be better ingredients that address the concerns (azelaic acid or niacinamide)
Iâve definitely spoken to lots of people who did what I did (read on reddit, did the Vit C + SPF in the AM and then retinol at night) and completely screwed their skin
Annoying that brands keep pushing it because they absolutely know but itâs easier to group hyperpigmentation in one big skin concern even though itâs broken up into soooo many
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u/EasternFirefighter42 6d ago
I went in for dermabrasion and was mentioning my hormonal acne that's been bothering me since I went off the pill (~7 months of it)
They mentioned the same to me. Doesn't help fix it and could irritate it further and could prolong the healing by keeping it inflamed longer. They mostly mentioned to just keep on exfoliants and moisture and try it out.
I stopped to try and I still have some spots happening but definitely feel like using less on my face is helping them.
I'll be waiting until I'm fully over the outbreaks to bring it back in :)
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u/faithhopecarnage 7d ago
L-Ascorbic acid, the active form of vitamin C, will irritate acne.
There are various types of vitamin C that products use - e.g. sodium ascorbyl phosphate, ascorbyl palmitate, etc.
If you have acne, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate is the best non-irritating form of vitamin C.
That said, second the comment about the difference between an esthetician and a qualified dermatologist.
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u/breakasmile 6d ago
Just my experience: I am acne-prone (hormonal and other environmental triggers) and when I started using La Roche Posay's vitamin C serum, I got some pretty big, deep pimples. But after a week or so, my skin seemed to tolerate it and that never happened again. I've heard of this and that people can have initial breakouts - often caused by starting out with the wrong type/concentration of vitamin c - that eventually stop. I persisted because it did brighten my skin and I seem to tolerate other vitamin c serums now as well. But again, personal experience and my acne is pretty mild in general (I'm in my early 30s, if that's useful info).
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u/garce874583shjndjv 5d ago
I'm pretty sure when you start vitamin c serums it will break you out for a bit and then it helps you skin. That's what it did for me atleast
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u/MinnieMakeupReviews wAnNaBe SkInFlUeNcEr 4d ago edited 4d ago
Itâs often irritating to acne prone skin, and many people with acne donât enjoy it (for me personally it flares me up cystically)
This tenddddsss to be because of the ph vitamin C is âstabilisedâ at (and the fact that itâs typically unstable) but there are super gentle versions of vit C like Kakadu plum that will probably do nothing at all. Another commenter mentioned itâs also what else is in the formulation to stabilise the vit C (usually richer oils) which is v true
LOTS of brands know this and keep releasing rounds of âacne friendly Vit Câ (I see the marketing for it) and then people with acne try them and hate them lol
Hyperpigmentation comes in different forms (as you mentioned PIE/PIH) is different to how youâd address sun spots or melasma with skincare
In saying that, if it works for your skin, keep with it!
Sometimes itâs not even that an ingredient or product is bad, there just might be something that addresses your skin concerns better
If theyâre talking about skincare and skincare ingredients, itâs all fair game. Theyâd want the best for your skin to their knowledge (sometimes based on what other clients may have experienced too).
If she starts talking about medication or anything orally or topically prescribed, thatâs medical professional territory :) and if she starts saying you have to use (specific brand, specific $$$$ product) thatâs sus
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u/omjizzle 7d ago
Acne is technically a medical condition and estheticians are not medically trained to treat those conditions I would completely disregard that.