An acne facial clears what is on your skin on the day of the visit. What keeps it under control is what happens between visits: the food you eat, the brushes and pillowcase that touch your face, whether you pick, the skincare you use at home, and how regularly you come back. Those are the six habits our team lists in the reel below, and here is what each one means in practice at Skinsation LA in Los Angeles.
What does an acne facial actually clear?
An acne facial is a deep-cleansing protocol designed for active breakouts. It addresses what is present on the skin at the time of the treatment, and our acne facial page walks through each step: a medicated cleanse with salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide, extended steam to open the pores, professional extraction of comedones and pustules, high-frequency electrical current to reduce acne bacteria at the surface and in the extraction sites, a salicylic or glycolic acid treatment for deeper pore clearing, and a calming LED or mask to reduce redness, finished with moisturizer and SPF. It takes about 60 minutes, and the downtime is mild redness for one to three hours.
What the facial cannot do is follow you home. Between visits, pores refill, oil builds, and new breakouts start on their own schedule. That is where the six habits come in. None of them replaces the facial, and the facial does not replace any of them.
Does food affect acne?
It is the first habit in the reel, and it is the one with research behind it. Studies suggest a link between diet and acne: one found that women with acne tend to have a more pro-inflammatory dietary pattern than women without it, and a randomized controlled trial found that a low glycemic load diet was associated with improvements in acne lesions compared with a control diet. The evidence is still developing, and we do not treat food as a prescription. What we ask is simpler: if you notice a flare-up after certain foods, write down what you ate and when the breakout appeared, and bring that pattern to your consultation so it can be part of your plan.
Diet advice on this page is general education drawn from the cited studies, not a prescription for any one person. Changes to how you eat for a medical reason belong in a conversation with your physician. — Dr. Lusanik Galustian, MD
Do makeup brushes and pillowcases cause breakouts?
Two of the six habits are about the things that touch your face every day: wash your makeup brushes, wash your pillowcase. We do not have a study to point to for either, and we are not going to pretend we do. This is a hygiene habit, not a treatment. It costs nothing, it carries no risk, and it removes one variable from a face that is already congested. The same instruction shows up in our microneedling aftercare and our Morpheus8 aftercare, which ask clients to sleep on a clean pillowcase while the skin heals. If it matters enough to say after a treatment, it is worth saying between facials too.
Why should you not pick at your skin?
Extraction is the step of the acne facial that matters most, and there is a reason it is done in the chair rather than in a bathroom mirror. Extended steam opens the pores first. Comedones and pustules are extracted professionally. High-frequency current is applied to the extraction sites afterward to reduce post-extraction inflammation. Picking at home does none of that, and it is the habit our team calls out most often. Our aftercare pages give the same instruction, do not pick, for skin that is flaking or crusting after microneedling or Morpheus8. If past breakouts have already left marks, that is a separate conversation, and our acne scar page covers the treatments for it.
The facial handles the surface. The other 29 days of the month are yours.
What does medical-grade skincare do between facials?
The acne facial is paired with medical-grade at-home skincare, and the pairing is part of the plan rather than an add-on. At your consultation we recommend specific products for your acne type. The division of labor is simple: the facial handles extractions, surface clearing, and pore maintenance, and the at-home routine carries the result between visits. Combined with the facial cadence, the trajectory of the skin changes over three to six months. The everyday foundations that sit underneath all of this, sleep, stress, hydration, sun protection, are covered in our post on healthy skin outside the treatment room.
How often should you get an acne facial?
The reel says monthly, and that is the maintenance rhythm. Before it comes a correcting phase: every two to three weeks until breakouts settle, then monthly once they are under control. Some clients purge two to five days after a facial as cell turnover accelerates; it resolves quickly, it is part of the clearing process, and we tell you beforehand so it is not a surprise. If you have never had a professional facial, our walk-through of a professional facial covers the consult and the steps.
A facial is not always enough on its own. Acne facials complement prescription treatment but do not replace it. If your acne is moderate to severe, or is leaving scars, you may also need a dermatologist for topical or oral medication; the facial handles what medication cannot, and combined treatment beats either alone. Cystic acne with no surface component is a medical priority, not a facial. If you have taken isotretinoin (Accutane), wait six months after completing it before any acne facial. For persistent congestion, our salicylic acid peels use an oil-soluble beta-hydroxy acid that penetrates the pores and clears congestion, with mild peeling for two to four days.
The plan is set at a consultation under the medical oversight of Dr. Lusanik Galustian, MD, our founder and medical director. Our office is on San Vicente Boulevard in Carthay Circle, and we see acne facial clients from across Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood.
- Your flare-up log, if certain foods seem to set breakouts off.
- What you use at home now, so the medical-grade routine we recommend fits around it.
- Any prescription acne treatment, past or current, including when you finished isotretinoin.
- Where you are in the cycle, active breakouts or maintenance, so the cadence is set to match.
- An acne facial clears what is on the skin on the day; the six habits decide how much there is to clear next time.
- Diet has research behind it: pro-inflammatory eating patterns and high glycemic load have both been linked to acne in studies. Track your flares; we do not prescribe a diet.
- Clean brushes and a clean pillowcase are hygiene, not treatment. Cheap, low-risk, one less variable.
- Extraction is done in the chair with steam before and high-frequency current after. Do not do it at home.
- Medical-grade skincare, recommended for your acne type at the consult, carries the result between visits.
- Every 2 to 3 weeks while breakouts are active, then monthly. A facial complements prescription treatment; it does not replace it.
Sources
The diet evidence above comes from the following, reviewed for this article: Is there any relationship between acne vulgaris and diet inflammatory index in women?, Nutrición Clínica y Dietética Hospitalaria, 2023; and Relationship between Acne and Diet: A Trial Review, Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International, 2021. Treatment steps, cadence, purge timing, prescription and isotretinoin guidance, and peel details are from our own acne facial, chemical peel, and aftercare pages.
This article is general education, not medical advice, and individual results vary. Whether an acne facial is right for your skin, and how often, is decided at an in-person assessment. — Dr. Lusanik Galustian, MD
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