PIE (Post-Inflammatory Erythema)

 PIE (Post-Inflammatory Erythema)Treatment

PIE (Post-Inflammatory Erythema)is the result of acne inflammation(Seonguk M et al., 2015). Usually PIE come when the acne already disappear but it left with red, pink, or even purple spot. People with lighter skin tone tend to have this PIE while people with darker skin tone tend to have PIH or dark spot (Seonguk M et al., 2015). For some cases like me, i actually have brown skin tone but i also got PIE at some spot of my face. Usually i got PIE on the cheek because the color or the tone of my cheeks is lighter than the other part of my face, and yash i do have uneven skin tone that’s why some part of my face is lighter but some of them is darker. I also got PIH on my forehead because my forehead is darker than my cheeks.

When it comes to PIE i always go for skin care that has niacinamide in their ingredients. Niacinamide or clinically known as nicotinamide (3-pyridine-carboxamide) is the physiologically active amide of niacin (vitamin B3). Niacin is involved in the synthesis of the enzymes that are required for cellular metabolism (Rashmi S et al., 2013).

There was a clinical trials using 2% of niacinamide, the result showed that niacinamide can reduce hyperpigmentation significantly and it also increase the skin lightness after 4 weeks of treatment. The study also showed that the combine of niacinamide and sunscreen for daily use was an effective way to reduce hyperpigmentation and increase the lightness of basal skin color compared with sunscreen alone (Hakozaki T et al., 2002).

After i read some journals about PIE, i come to the conclusion that niacinamide is an ingredients that effective to reduce PIE. Then i looked for niacinamide skin care on a store near my house, one of the employee recommended me this serum, it was Quadro Vitamin B3 Niacinamide serum. I have never heard that brand before but i don’t know my feelings wanted me to try this product so i bought it. After trying this product and finished 1 bottle of it i was amazed by the result.

Quadro (QR) Professional Vitamin B3 Niacinamide Serum 18ml (Rp60.000)

How to use:

- Clean your face with micellar water or facial wash

- Use toner/essence(let it absorb totally)

- Apply the serum on dry skin

- Apply sunscreen for the better result(day)

- Apply moisturizer(night)

- Use this serum on a day and at night 

What's the effect on my skin:

- The PIE and redness on my skin faded and reduced *i felt the effect after finished 1 bottle of it

- My skin tone got brighter

- It doesn’t affect my acne whenever i still have active acne, instead it helps to prevent the acne turning into PIE.

After all, i like it and already repurchase it twice. However, i still want to try niacinamide serum from another brand, who knows if the other brand works more effective and better than this. I will let you guys know and updated if i already try another niacinamide serum so please look forward for it.

References

Min, S., Yong Park, S., Young Yoon, J., Hoon Kwon, H., & Hun Suh, D. (2015). Fractional Microneedling Radiofrequency Treatment for Acne-related Post-inflammatory Erythema. Acta Dermato-Venereologica, 96(1), 87–91. https://doi.org/10.2340/00015555-2164 

Hakozaki T, Minwalla L, Zhuang J, Chhoa M, Matsubara A, Miyamoto K, et al. (2002). The effect of niacinamide on reducing cutaneous pigmentation and suppression of melanosome transfer. Br J Dermatol,147:20–31.

Sarkar R, Arora P, Garg KV. Cosmeceuticals for Hyperpigmentation: What is Available? J Cutan Aesthet Surg. 2013 Jan;6(1):4-11. doi: 10.4103/0974-2077.110089. PMID: 23723597; PMCID: PMC3663177.