We all get breakouts from time to time, but if your acne seems to focus around your mouth, it can be frustrating to find a fix.
Not only is acne around the mouth really noticeable, it’s often seriously irritating. Picking at bumps around your mouth can be excruciating, and only leaves you with larger areas of irritation that grab the wrong kind of attention.
You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for a way to treat acne around the mouth. From learning why you get bumps around your lips to discovering new ways to help get rid of them holistically, we’ve got you covered.
What Causes Acne Around the Mouth?
Some people get acne bumps all over, but most of us tend to break out in the same areas. If you’re constantly getting bumps in a certain area, you’ve probably wondered what’s making it happen.
Here are some of the most common causes of pimples and bumps that develop around the mouth.
1. Hormones
Acne that forms on the jawline, chin, and around the mouth is directly linked to hormone fluctuations, which is why many menstruating people tend to get mouth acne on a monthly, recurring basis.
Androgens are the hormones that appear to be most responsible for breakouts. Testosterone, the most well-known androgen hormone, fluctuates during your monthly cycle, reaching a peak around days 14-18, or near ovulation.
Testosterone can cause your sebaceous glands to produce excess sebum (oil). The sebum produced as a result of testosterone is also thicker and stickier than the sebum your skin usually produces. This makes it more likely that the oil will attach to dead skin cells and clog your pores, forming acne bumps.
Rising and falling levels of estrogen can also be responsible for the acne around your mouth, especially as estrogen levels fall. When estrogen levels fall, testosterone levels simultaneously rise, causing excess oil production.
2. Devices and Instruments
Mouth acne is particularly tricky to eliminate because your daily activities could be creating more bumps.
For instance, if you play an instrument that rests against your mouth or cheek, you could be spreading germs from the instrument to your mouth and creating acne bumps. Likewise, holding a smartphone (which is a notoriously dirty object) to your face can also create a germ party that will leave you with bumps around your mouth.
Even sleeping on one side of your face can create breakouts, especially if you don’t regularly change your pillowcase, or if you go to bed with makeup on.
Touching your face constantly can also spread dirt and oil to your skin, creating the setting for bumps to develop. Try to avoid touching your face as much as possible, and when you do touch your face, do so with clean hands.
3. Masks
Face masks have been a necessary and essential part of battling the pandemic, but they’ve also created the perfect storm for some of us who were already struggling with bumps.
“Maskne” became a familiar term as many of us began developing more acne bumps and breakouts in the area our face masks covered.
Even if you never experienced breakouts, chances are the combination of different fabrics and dyes against your skin while you breath created a damp, dark environment where pimples could thrive.
4. Improper Skin Care
We have great intentions to take care of our skin, but sometimes we just forget, or end up too tired at the end of the day to take off our makeup. It happens.
But when you consistently forgo your skin care routine, you create more problems for your skin.
Forgetting to take your makeup off a few times isn’t going to cause you to experience a major breakout, but if you repeatedly sleep in makeup, ignore using a moisturizer, or use products that aren’t good for your skin, you’ll end up with even more acne around your mouth.
5. Lip Products
You absolutely adore your favorite nude gloss, but if your breakouts are occurring directly around your upper and lower lips and the corners of your mouth, that glossy goodness could be to blame.
Lip products are naturally oily and filled with emollients to keep your lips hydrated and shiny. What works for your lips, however, doesn’t work great for the rest of your skin. The ingredients in your lip products can be too heavy on your skin and clog pores creating bumps.
Lip balms, too, are capable of causing breakouts. Lip soothing ingredients like menthol, certain waxes, and even fragrances can all cause skin irritation that leads to breakouts.
How to Treat Acne Around the Mouth
How can you make your pout pimple-free again? We’ve got 5 methods of dealing with acne around the mouth that can help you get a more clarified kisser in no time.
1. Clean Your Devices/Pillows?Etc.
If you spend a lot of time on the phone, playing an instrument, or simply sleeping on one side of your face, regularly cleaning your devices and hands with sanitizing wipes can dramatically reduce the amount of germs transferred onto your skin.
Keeping your hands and devices clean can help you see fewer acne bumps around your mouth, but be sure to check with your device manufacturer to make certain it’s safe to to clean your devices and look for special instructions for how to clean them.
2. Better Skin Care
If you don’t have a skincare routine in place, we can help. Rael offers an easy to follow, three step skin care system that is gentle yet effective for all skin types.
Our skin care is plant-based and doesn’t contain harsh ingredients that could strip your skin of natural moisture and cause further irritation. Our cleansers, toners, and moisturizers are developed to help keep your skin drama-free during your entire cycle, no matter how your hormones show up on a particular day.
Using the latest in K-Beauty technology, we bring you the most effective skincare that helps keep skin hydrated while making sure pores are clean and clear.
Our skin care is powered with fullerene, an antioxidant 172X more powerful than vitamin C to help fight free radicals which can prematurely age your skin and even cause breakouts.
Hyaluronic acid keeps your skin hydrated to the deepest layers, so your sebaceous glands don’t have to go into overdrive producing excess oil that could clog your pores.
4. Sheet Mask Defense
If you typically experience acne around your mouth just before your period, you can play defense by using a tea tree infused sheet mask a few days before your period.
Rael’s sheet masks help keep your skin clarified and clear by delivering tea tree oil to your pores to help clear out blemish-causing germs and helping to eliminate excess shine you might experience before your period.
Soothing chamomile ensures that your skin stays hydrated and free from irritation. Sheet masks are a calming way to keep your skin clear and your head cool before your period.
It’s like a mini spa treatment right when you need it most.
5. Pimple Patches
Even if you’re really proactive, you can sometimes end up with a breakout of acne around your mouth. When that happens, you’ve got to grab a pimple patch.
Pimple patches are small, barely noticeable adhesive patches you apply over your bumps to help erase them. Pimple patches use hydrocolloid technology to cover your blemishes and gently pull pus and fluid from them, leaving the skin underneath clarified and clear.
When you’re dealing with a larger area of bumps, like the kind you get with acne around the mouth, you need Rael’s Spot Control Cover. The spot control cover uses the same hydrocolloid technology as our regular pimple patches to protect blemishes from external stressors (like your own fingers) and remove the germs and oil from your bumps.
Spot Control Covers are larger and able to cover clusters of breakouts at one time. You place the patch on your skin and remove it a few hours later to reveal healthier, cleaner, clearer skin.
Feel a bump coming up that hasn’t broken through the surface of your skin yet? There’s a patch for those, too. Our Microcrystal Spot Cover uses tea tree oil and microcrystals to gently penetrate through to the deeper layers of your skin. Totarol helps fight blemish causing germs while hyaluronic acid ensures your skin stays hydrated, never irritated.
The Takeaway
Your mouth says a lot about you (literally) and if acne around your mouth is making statements you don’t like, you can do something about it by treating your pimples with gentle, holistic remedies that really work.
Rael offers the products you need to support your skin and body all month long. We help you embrace the power of your monthly cycle, and everything it brings. Feel empowered by your period, with Rael.
Sources:
Emerging Issues in Adult Female Acne | NCBI
Your Cell Phone is 10 Times Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat. Here's What to Do About It | UMICH.edu