30. Anti-acne Toner

Doctor Jacob here, and we're talking today about anti-acne toner. Toner is an interesting part of the skin care regimen because it's kind of optional, but it can certainly help.

Toner has a leave-on quality, whereas cleansers are washed off. Toners usually contain something to dry up the skin, usually great for patients with excessive oil production. For patients with eczema-prone skin or sensitive skin, or who are otherwise dry, I do not recommend routine use of toner.

Toner can be used on only a part of the face, not necessarily on the entire face. For example, if you have oily skin on the T-zone - which is the forehead and the nose - toners certainly can be used only on the T-zone, while sparing the use of toner on the cheeks and chin if those areas are not oily. So that's for example a good use of toner in a patient with a combination skin type.

So now that we talked about who can benefit from toner - typically it's an oily patient, or a patient with an oily T-zone - let's talk about when to use it. Typically it's right before bed. You wash the face, dry the face and then apply the toner to the oily areas or the entire face if needed, and then you can put on medication if so needed, for example a prescription retinoid or combo therapy etc.

What in toner can help? What are the anti-acne ingredients in an anti-acne toner? My favorite anti-acne toners contain glycolic acid and they work very well for toner in a patient who is pregnant or trying to conceive; a lactic acid based toner would be really good, because lactic acid is already found naturally in the body, very common especially if you go for a run your muscles are making lactate, which is essentially lactic acid, and that's what makes your muscles fatigued. But also it works great on skin for a very gentle peel. So glycolic acid and lactic acid are two ingredients in toner. I generally prefer glycolic because it's a little bit more comedolytic, busting up the clogged pores. I put some links to anti-acne toners on our website, and I suggest if you're interested, if you have oily skin and you're interested in anti-acne toner, go take a look.

For patients with oily skin, toners really give us the ability to help clear away some of that oil, as well as to instill a anti-acne element, such as glycolic acid or lactic acid.

I'm Doctor Jacob, that's all for today. We'll see you next time.