[motivated chickie]

So, I have this underground pimple on my face that is huge. I haven't bought anti acne cream in over ten years. Could you refresh my memory on what is a good product to buy. I want to look nice this weekend. Thanks.

[AnnieDrews]

Even at my age I still get the occasional pimple. The minute I felt it the last couple of times, I used this....

http://www.acne.org/stridex-fruit-th...178/page1.html

....not sure if it is still available, as I've had mine for a while. But it took care of it before it got too large or red/sore. I also use Clean and Clear astringent to clean my face at night....not as often as I should, but it seems to do a good job.

Good luck!

[kaplods]

I'm going through some skin issues right now and have had to deal with breakouts.

Most of the acne products contain benzoyl peroxide and/or salicylic acid. They're almost all virtually the same formulation, so the cheapest that Walmart or Walgreens sells should do just fine.

Same really with astringents. Although I do avoid alcohol-based astringents, because sometimes they're too drying and my skin will get flaky then.

If the pimple area is red, I'll add a dab of neosporin (in case it's beginning to infect).

As a last resort, if the pimple is still an obvious bump by friday, you can try an otc steroid creams or preparation H to reduce the inflammation. I've never used the hemorrhoid cream, but I hear models do (and under their eyes as well, for under eye circles). I have used cortisone cream though, and it really does seem to flatten out the pimple, so that makeup will cover it.

[AnnieDrews]

Kaplods-Have to agree on the salicylic acid. I think that's the key ingredient that works so well for me. Helps my teenage sons, too.

[kuchick]

Kinda strange, but I noticed that most sensitive skin astringents are witch hazel based, so I just use straight witch hazel for astringent now. It's sold near the peroxide, etc in the pharmacy section and it's really cheap.

[ars]

Ditto on the witch hazel. Burt's Bees makes a witch hazel based spot treatment I like. And if the skin becomes irritated/red, I use A&D ointment (not the cream, the ointment) spot applied overnight. Usually the redness is cleared by morning. I do have super sensitive skin, and neither of these bothers me.

[MyBestYear]

Aspirin is pure salicylic acid. I use it a lot as a spot treatment. You cut an aspirin in half, wet it, and bandaid it over the zit.

For an under the skin pimple, I would apply hot compresses to it as frequently as you can to bring it to the surface, then do the aspirin treatment (if you can resist popping it).

[christinesefton]

My step mother used to use regular mint toothpaste. I don't know how it works, but she claimed it would dry it out and make it go away. I've used the trick in the past, and it worked well enough for me. It's just super cold. Might be worth a few minutes to try it before shelling out cash for a medicated cream.