There have been some whispers (and by whispers, we mean TikTok hacks and Reddit threads) that chamomile tea can be right for the job. So we investigated: Can pressing chamomile tea bags on cystic pimples shrink them in size? Here’s what experts have to say about the notorious sleepy-time tea. It’s been around for centuries, used as an age-old remedy for treating wounds and skin irritations1 in traditional medicine. And with its impressive anti-inflammatory properties2 to help soothe angry, inflamed skin, no wonder the ingredient has been touted for calming acne. Joyce Park, M.D., board-certified dermatologist and global dermatology ambassador of bareMinerals, certainly agrees: “When used in topical skin care products, chamomile can help calm and soothe the skin,” she tells mbg. But cystic pimples become a stickier subject—because those painful lesions lie deep within the skin rather than showing on the surface. Anecdotally, chamomile seems to work for a select few, which is what you might have seen on Reddit and the like. “The bumps are magically gone,” one thread reads. There’s even a clinical trial showing how chamomile’s flavonoids and essential oils can penetrate below the skin’s surface into the deeper skin layers3. Pretty promising for those deep lesions, no? But according to Park, much more research is needed before chamomile becomes a viable treatment. “In cystic acne, the inflammation is deep, and I doubt chamomile applied to the top layer of skin can help clear it completely,” she says. “Also, putting tea bags on inflamed skin could worsen skin sensitivities.” So while pressing on some chamomile tea could help, it might not shrink the deep-seated cyst entirely. And it should by no means be your only plan of action; in fact, cystic acne should always be treated by a dermatologist, and the very worst thing you can do for cystic breakouts is to touch, squeeze, or try to pop the lesions.
