How to use a pimple patch

No. Squeezing a spot pushes some of the contents deeper as well as out, and that is what turns a two day spot into a two week one.

Piercing it first with a needle or a lancet is a common habit and we would not do it either. You are making an open wound on your face to save a night, and the risk is an infection or a mark that lasts far longer than the spot would have.

If a spot has already opened on its own, that is different, and it is the single best moment to put a patch on. There is fluid right at the surface and the patch has something to take.

Six to eight hours, or until it turns white, then peel it off. Overnight is the simplest way to get that. One buyer sums the deal up: “Great for anyone with blemishes willing to wear for 6-8 hours to allow them to work.”

Longer is not better. Once the hydrocolloid is saturated it has stopped absorbing, and it is just occlusion from there.

At least 14 hours. Back to back patches on one spot, night after night with no gap, is what makes skin sore and flaky. Give it a full day cycle to dry out and settle.

Yes, with a thin day circle. Put it on in the morning, on a clean dry face, before anything else goes on. It will happily last a school or work day.

You can press a little concealer or powder over the top of it, as long as you press rather than drag. Never the other way round: a patch will not stick to foundation, sunscreen or moisturizer.

A shower is usually fine. Keep the spray off your face where you can, and do not scrub over the patch. Plenty of people report washing their face with one still on and finding it still there afterwards.

Heavy sweat and swimming are a different matter. Salt, chlorine and a steady sweat all work at the edge, and a hot humid day is the single most common reason a patch gives up early. For sport, patch afterwards rather than before, and use a strip rather than a circle on a spot that sits where a helmet, strap or mat touches.

It should not. Peel slowly from one edge, keeping your hand low and flat rather than pulling straight up, and hold the skin beside it with a finger so it is not being stretched.

If it feels like it is gripping, warm water loosens the adhesive. Wet the patch, wait a moment, then peel. Never rip one off dry and fast.

One group needs to be more careful than everyone else: if you use a retinoid such as adapalene, tretinoin or retinol, your skin surface is thinner than it was, and a patch pulled off quickly can take some of it with it. Wet it first, every time.

You can, but be realistic about what it will do. At that stage there is nothing at the surface to absorb, so the patch is working as a cover rather than as a sponge.

That cover is still worth something, because the thing most likely to make a new spot worse is you touching it. Just expect the patch to come off clear, and save the real overnight one for when the spot has come to a head.

Yes, as long as nothing is under the patch. Do your routine, then put the patch on a clean, dry spot. Easiest version: treat everywhere else as normal and leave the spot itself bare for the patch.

If you use something strong on the spot, like benzoyl peroxide, a retinoid or an acid exfoliant, do that on the nights you are not patching it. Sealing an active under hydrocolloid for eight hours is how people end up with a raw patch of skin, and it is the mistake nobody warns you about.

No. That is the moment a patch is most useful. Stop squeezing, rinse the spot, pat it completely dry, and put a patch on straight away.

An open spot has fluid right at the surface, so the patch has plenty to absorb, and it covers the open skin so you cannot keep going back to it.

As many spots as you have. There is no limit, and there is nothing to build up. If several spots sit close together, one strip or one square over the lot holds better than a row of circles with edges between them.

Two things not to do: never stack one patch on top of another, and do not use them like a face mask across skin that has nothing to draw out.

Usually two or three, with the 14 hour gap in between. One night flattens most of what it is going to flatten, then the following nights take a bit more.

Anybody promising you one night on every spot is selling you something. A buyer of ours put the honest version well: “They aren’t an overnight fix, but I can definitely see improvement.”

Keep it covered. An open spot left to dry out forms a hard scab, and a hard scab is something you will pick. A fresh patch over it does the same job as it did before: absorbs what is still coming out and stops your fingers getting there.

Leave the rest alone. No squeezing to clear it out, no dabbing alcohol or hand sanitiser on it, no scrubbing over it. Wash normally, dry it, cover it, and stop once a patch comes off clear.

No, and it is worth saying plainly so you do not waste a patch. A blackhead is hardened oil sitting in a pore, not fluid, so there is nothing for hydrocolloid to absorb. The small closed bumps people call texture have no opening at all, so the same applies.

A patch is a finisher, not a starter. It earns its place on a spot that has come to a head or has already opened.

Yes. Large squares and strips are the sizes that make sense there, and you can trim a square to the shape you need. Skin on the back is under more friction from clothing, so press for longer and round off any corners you cut.

Hydrocolloid, infused with salicylic acid, tea tree oil and calendula oil. The hydrocolloid is the part that absorbs. They are vegan, cruelty free, paraben free and fragrance free, and the scent you notice is the tea tree oil itself.

Partly, and this is worth being straight about. Hydrocolloid turns white wherever it absorbs moisture, and that includes sweat and skin oil, so a white patch on its own is not proof that anything came out of the pimple. A faint haze, or a ring at the edge, is usually just moisture off your skin.

What counts is a dense, slightly raised patch of white sitting directly over the spot. That is fluid out of the spot, held in the hydrocolloid, and it is why a used patch looks speckled rather than evenly coloured. We would rather tell you that than let a white circle do the selling.

Normal, and temporary. Skin that has been sealed for eight hours holds water, and the edge of the patch leaves a faint impression for a few minutes. It evens out as the skin dries.

That is usually too many patches, too close together, on the same spot. Go back to the 14 hour gap, and moisturize the area on the days you are not patching it.

Try one a day for three days first, and see how your skin answers before you use them regularly. Livaclean patches are dermatologically tested and clinically proven gentle on skin.¹

They contain tea tree oil, so if you already know you react to it, these are not for you. Stop at any sign of stinging or a rash.

If you are not sure what you need, the variety pack: it has all four types in ten sizes, so you find out what your skin and your routine actually want without buying four boxes. After that, most people reorder the one type they kept reaching for.

See every patch we make.

Cool, dry and sealed, out of direct sun. Heat is what softens the adhesive, so a sheet that has lived in a hot car or a steamy bathroom window will not grip like a fresh one. Keep unopened sheets in their sleeve until you need them.

Email support@livaclean.com and we will sort it out. A replacement or a refund, whichever you would rather have. See returns and exchanges for the details.