1. Educate clients on lifestyle issues, drugs/medications and comedogenic ingredients that can exacerbate acne. Acne specialists can also provide clients with personalized home care and treatment plans, and follow up to make sure clients understand what is expected of them.
2. Develop home care regimens for clients according to the type and severity of their acne. Knowing what formulation is best for each type of acne is critical.
3. Use benzoyl peroxide correctly, starting slowly so the skin won’t become irritated, then getting more aggressive as the skin adapts.
4. Make alterations to the home care protocol as clients’ skin adapts to product use. The biggest mistake that skin care professionals make in treating acne is to allow the skin to adapt to product use. Clients’ home care routines need to be adjusted at frequent intervals, such as every two weeks, to make sure the skin does not get too used to the routine. This usually means either increasing the frequency of use of a certain product or changing the products used. For example, it could mean that a client will be using an exfoliating serum twice a day instead of once a day.
5. Perform acne treatments that exfoliate the skin enough to control acne, but not so much that the client cannot use home care products the next day.
6. Perform acne extractions thoroughly and skillfully.