This Is the Only Treatment That Cleared My Acne for Good

I’m going to hit you with something slightly gross: If you get acne around your chin and jawline during the winter, it’s most likely from nuzzling your face into a bacteria-laden jacket all season long. Ew, right?

And that’s exactly what happened to me. I’m fortunate enough to have never really struggled with acne aside from a few blemishes here and there. So when a new group of pimples took up permanent residence on both sides of my chin, I was confused to say the least. I tried everything: chemical exfoliants, peels, spot treatments, masks, drying lotions, you name it. And nothing was working. I wondered, Is this my life now? As an almost-30-year-old, I thought the days of acne were long behind me.

So off I went for a 50-minute facial in the hope of gaining some insight (and solution) to what was happening on my face. After taking a look at my skin, my facialist, Stephanie, confirmed that the blemishes around my chin weren’t hormonal (since that’s the spot where those types of pimples will crop up)—they were due to an excess of bacteria. It was toward the end of winter, so she also asked if I was wiping my coat collar down with a Clorox wipe every week. Um, no? But when she explained it, it made total sense—the wipes kill bacteria on surfaces, so they would do the same to my parka. Then she suggested using blue light therapy to target the top layer of skin where bacteria sits. I had heard about light devices, but to be honest, thought it was a gimmick. No pricey treatment had cleared my skin up, so why would using lights be any different?

At the end of my facial, Stephanie pointed a paddle-like device with blue lights at my chin for a few minutes. It honestly felt like a dream: so warm and soothing without the slightest discomfort. Then she used a red light, which sinks deeper to stimulate collagen levels and help fade fine lines and dark spots. After a few minutes, she applied some plant stem cells and sent me on my way, saying my blemishes should be cleared up by the morning. I thought, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Oh, believe it I did. My face felt great immediately, but when I woke up the next day, my blemishes were practically gone. Not kidding. They weren’t inflamed or painful anymore, they just looked like tiny red dots. And three days later, you could barely tell they were there. The best part? They didn’t come back.

Now I’m addicted to light therapy—and good news, it's totally safe so there’s no such thing as too much of it. I’m 100 percent buying an at-home device to use any time those blemishes decide to creep back in. Here are nine I’m eyeing.

Shop blue light treatments: Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment ($27); Neutrogena Light Therapy Acne Mask ($30); Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare SpotLite Acne Treatment Device ($52); Michael Todd Beauty Clear Bilight 2-in-1 LED Acne Treatment Device ($99); Foreo Espada ($149); Silk’n Blue Acne Treatment Device ($149); LightStim for Acne ($169); Skin Inc Supplement Bar Optimizer Voyage Tri-Light ($212); QuassarMD Baby Quasar BLUE ($399)