Maskne: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Maskne is a new phenomenon coined in the COVID-19 pandemic to describe the acne experienced around the nose, upper lip and chin area in a response to regularly wearing a mask. Mask-provoked acne is new to the general public, anyway, but has long been experienced by medical and construction workers.

The causes of these pimples, or whiteheads, are two-fold: the first is the physical barrier they provide, which causes pores to become blocked with the dead skin cells we shed all the time, so-called acne mechanica. A bacteria associated with acne, called P. Acnes, causes inflammation in blocked pores and sebaceous (oil-forming) glands, and in addition to the physical friction, masks also provide a warm, moist environment for P. Acnes to grow and multiply, thus further inflaming the spots, and even causing deep spots, called cysts.