Can Facial Steaming Help With Acne?

Facial steams have been popular as a beauty treatment for centuries, with spas and salons providing luxuriant treatments.

Now you can get the same results in the comfort of your home by using a home facial steamer.

It’s both rejuvenating and relaxing—plus it leaves your skin looking brighter and more supple. But when it comes to acne, is a facial steam really the right option?

While face steaming is effective at cleansing pores and promoting circulation, it might not be effective when used on inflamed or irritated skin—like that which is caused by acne.

In this article, we shall discuss further whether facial steaming helps clear acne or not.

Facial Steaming for Acne-Prone Skin

People without acne-prone skin like normal and combination skin types might find that face steaming works well for reducing oiliness and deeply cleansing their pores.

Aromatherapy Benefits

There’s also evidence suggesting that certain herbal ingredients like lavender, have aromatherapy benefits as well as skin-calming properties which you can add to commercial facial steamers.

This can help reduce bacteria levels on the skin—which could prevent further breakouts from occurring.

Steaming your face as a skincare routine may feel indulgent and helpful for some skincare woes, but it’s not a reliable treatment for acne.

While it can be relaxing to steam your face or get a facial steam treatment at the spa, this will only have temporary benefits.

Skincare Benefits

Steaming alone won’t clear up acne or stop new breakouts from happening—it’s just a supplemental measure that can be beneficial when used correctly.

On its own, steaming has no effect on inflamed pimples and larger blemishes like nodules and cysts; meaning you won’t be able to extract these deep blemishes with steaming by means of DIY skin treatments. 

It is better to consult with a skincare professional like a board-certified dermatologist or a licensed esthetician to help you with this common skin condition.

That being said, there are other facial steaming benefits such as being able to loosen up trapped sebum for easy extraction and clearing your problem area. 

You just need to be careful and not use this skincare treatment when you have acne breaking out.

Risk of Excessive Steaming & Overstimulation

You should also use caution when using steam as part of your skincare routine: steaming too often or with steam that is too hot can actually make inflammatory acne look worse by increasing redness and inflammation.

Not forgetting to mention the risk of having dehydrated skin instead. While there are plenty of extra benefits in using a facial steamer for acne-prone skin types, you should take caution when doing a facial treatment like this.

Be sure to ease into it slowly to avoid overstimulating your skin so much that breakouts worsen.

You should always follow up with a light moisturiser after steam treatments as well since drying out the skin further could aggravate any existing conditions.

Facial steaming should only be used as a supplemental measure when treating acne.

Conclusion

Facial steaming can be a luxurious and calming experience, but it should not be considered a reliable treatment for acne breakouts.

While it can help reduce bacteria levels on the skin, it cannot clear up inflamed or deep pimples. It’s best to consult with a skincare professional before using facial steamers to treat acne and use a gentle exfoliating cleanser to reduce the buildup of sebum, which can contain acne-inducing bacteria.

Frequently Asked Questions