Period Pimples

Even if your family is blessed with less breakouts than the average bear, many girls report that they get the lone pimple right around their periods. That’s not coincidence.

Hormones really surge right before your monthly cycle starts. About 60 percent of girls who may have clear skin at other times of the month get one or two zits pre-period.

Unfortunately, there is no way to know where your zit may decide to crop up, so the best treatment is…do almost nothing. Just treat a blackhead or whitehead with salicylic acid, and put 2.5% benzoyl peroxide cream right on red spots.

The key is to not over-dry and irritate the rest of your good skin with harsh acne products. Overdo it on treatment, and you’ll be experiencing redness and flaking long after your period pimple is a distant memory.

Your secret weapon: Tomorrow is the big day. Your first school dance/sister’s wedding/BFF’s bat mitzvah, and you realize you’ll also be bringing along a nice big, fat red zit. Surely there must be something that can be done. Yep, there is.

First choice is to go to your doctor and have him inject (you read right) the zit with cortisone. It costs about $30—and definitely isn’t for the squeamish.

Option two? “You didn’t hear this from me,” says one dermatologist. “Go to the drugstore and buy a cortisone cream like Cortaid and dab it on the blemish—only the blemish. A lot of doctors won’t tell you this quick fix because if you use the cortisone more than once, it could make your blemish worse. And if you overuse cortisone, you can develop serious problems. But for one red monster zit, one time, it will help.” We trust you’ll use this secret wisely.

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