Face Mask Acne: How To Prevent And Treat ‘maskne’

This article originally appeared on  *HUFFPOST* on August 3rd, 2020

Written by Courtney Leiva

We aren’t going to beat around the bush: Wearing face masks is one of your best defenses against COVID-19, but they’re not always great for your skin.

You’ve probably seen a lot of chatter concerning mask-induced breakouts ― aka “maskne” ― given that wearing face masks for longer durations of time can trigger breakouts, blemishes and whiteheads.

Maskne should never prevent you from wearing a face mask.

Fiction: Putting your mask out in the sun will kill the virus.

Yes, you may have seen this one floating around the internet. There isn’t much truth to it, said dermatologist Marie Hayag, because UVC rays ― the sanitizing ones ― are mostly blocked by the ozone layer and natural sunlight lacking UVC is not really effective in killing the virus.

“UVA and UVB may help a tiny bit, but it would take hours and hours and does not sanitize like UVC does,” she added.