Pimple Patches – A Complete Guide on How to Use Acne Patches Successfully

What are pimple patches / acne patches / zit stickers?

Pimple patches, also known as acne patches or zit stickers are small stickers that contain acne-fighting ingredients. They help diminish the appearance of pimples, while also offering numerous other advantages: protection against bacteria, soothing of the inflammation, faster healing and protection against picking.

Pimple patches are a type of spot treatment and they’re usually round (but not only), with various dimensions depending on your needs, meaning the size of your zit.

Acne patches look exactly like stickers and they’re made of two main components: a thin waterproof sealing and a gel-like substance where the acne-fighting ingredients are located such as salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. This substance gets in direct contact with the pimple, drying it and helping it heal faster. Thus, the outer layer creates a sealed, moist area that will protect your blemish and that will create a propitious medium for healing.

Zit stickers are affordable, easy to use and actually useful in treating acne on the spot. Maybe not overnight, but they can definitely speed up the process thanks to their active ingredients and protect your blemishes from external factors at the same time.

Types of pimple patches

There are various types of pimple patches out there and we can group them depending on the chosen active ingredient:

Pimple patches with acne-clearing actives / spot treatments

These are the most common type of acne patches used for treating active acne. They contain actives that are known to fight against acne such as an acid or an herbal extract. One of the most common ones are pimple patches with salicylic acid. There are also pimple patches with tea tree oil or benzoyl peroxide, all three of them being very effective against zits and blemishes.

Pimple patches with salicylic acid or tea tree oil fall into the category of medicated acne patches. The active ingredients inside these patches will help soothe inflamed pimples and can also be useful in treating cystic acne spots.

Hydrocolloid pimple patches

Hydrocolloid pimple patches are non-medicated acne patches used for healing acne instead. Hydrocolloid is a gel-like substance that absorbs moisture and helps preventing acne scarring and marks. Hydrocolloid is also used for post-surgical wounds, as it helps with faster healing.

In short, hydrocolloid pimple patches contain a substance that absorbs moisture, oils and impurities, thus helping your blemish dry faster without damaging its surface.

Hydrocolloid acne patches are very thin and almost unnoticeable – and the best part is that they’re just as easy to use as any other acne sticker. These can be left on the skin overnight or even for 24 hours; no need to change them often, wash the skin or apply other creams or ointments. In fact, it is recommended to leave the hydrocolloid patch on the pimple for a longer time to help with faster healing.

Micro-needle pimple patches / Micro-dart pimple patches

Micro-needle pimple patches are, in short, pimple patches with needles, made to treat cystic or nodular acne. No need to get scared, as these needles are 100% pain-free. The surface of these stickers is covered in microscopically-sized needles that will penetrate the surface of your inflamed pimple, then dissolve and thus help the active ingredients reach a deeper level of your skin. This type of micro-needle pimple patches isn’t guaranteed to work for everybody (it really depends on the cause of your acne, after all), but they’ve been proven to be useful for some people. In short, it never hurts to give them a try.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pimple Patches

Although pimple patches are very famous, there are still some grey areas that most people don’t know about – such as the actives, the hydrocolloid, their efficiency on blackheads or cystic acne and more. Below you’ll find some of the most popular questions regarding acne patches, together with their in-depth answers:

1.     How do pimple patches work?

Acne patches work on a very simple and easy to understand system: regardless of the chosen active ingredient, the stickers will absorb any liquid, oil or drainage from the inside of your blemish, while also protecting the entire area from picking, bacteria and even UV rays. With these two advantages combined, pimple patches will help your blemish rapidly heal in an air-tight, waterproof area, away from external factors that might cause even more inflammation.

2.     Do pimple patches work on blackheads?

“Are pimple patches good for blackheads?” – this is one of the most common questions asked on forums and around the web. The answer is, unfortunately, no. Pimple patches are only useful for whiteheads or other types of zits that have a puss-filled “head”. As we mentioned above, the active ingredients inside the acne patches will dry the inside of your pimple, which is why they only work on white or yellow zits.

3.     Why do pimple patches turn white?

In order to explain this process, we must first understand how to use pimple patches. A zit sticker must be applied on clean, completely dry skin; then the patch is left on for as long as the package mentions, time during which the active ingredients inside will absorb and dry the zit.

Hydrocolloid pimple patches do, in fact, turn white when the hydrocolloid starts doing its job. This active substance has a gel-like consistency; when applied on the surface of your pimple, the gel will start absorbing all the fluids inside your pimple and will hydrate itself. This is why it will turn from transparent to an opaque white. The white “stuff” is, in short, hydrated hydrocolloid that has done its job of drying your blemish. 

4.     Do pimple patches work on cysts / cystic acne?

Pimple patches for cystic acne is another popular subject. Although it is not 100% guaranteed to work, micro-needle acne patches might be useful in treating cysts. This type of pimple patches contain very tiny needles filled with active ingredients that will penetrate the deeper levels of your skin and then dissolve. Thus, the acne-treating ingredients are said to be even more effective.

5.     What are pimple patches made of?

Pimple patches are made of two main components: a waterproof sealing and a gel-like layer that contains all those active ingredients we’ve been talking about.

As for the actives, pimple patches can be made of hydrocolloid or some other popular acne-fighting ingredients such as salicylic acid, tea tree oil or benzoyl peroxide. Acne patches might also contain some other useful ingredients such as aloe or hyaluronic acid which will help hydrate the skin while your zits are healing, so your skin won’t be damaged or irritated in the process.

6.     Are all pimple patches hydrocolloidal?

Although the most popular pimple patches out there contain some type of hydrocolloid, the truth is that not ALL of them are made the same way. There are hydrocolloid patches that absorb moisture, micro-needle patches with harmless micro-darts and active acne patches that contain salicylic acid or other similar ingredients that will dissolve the sebum and dead cells and exfoliate the skin. In short, these 3 types of acne patches are the most common ones found in pharmacies and drug stores, with hydrocolloid being the most famous one nowadays.

Conclusion – Pimple patches really work!

After all this thorough information about the way pimple patches work, about the active ingredients they contain and the entire science behind them, it surely is safe to say that pimple patches really work!

They are especially useful when used on the right type of acne – whiteheads, cystic acne or blackheads, we have covered them all in the article above – and following the step-by-step instructions. Pimple patches are an efficient way of helping your zits heal faster, while also protecting them from external factors such as your fingers (yes, we’re talking about picking and popping!), bacteria or UV rays, all of them known as damaging factors that will only aggravate the inflammation.

Remember: always make sure you use the right pimple patches for your blemishes and, in case you have a case of hormonal acne (or if you’re not sure), make sure to check with your dermatologist before using this type of spot treatment.

Where to buy pimple patches from

Check out our collection of pimple patches, for both deep zits and whiteheads.