Hailey Bieber treats flares with prescription azelaic acid at night and keeps daytime care to Rhode Glazing Milk plus SPF. Before copying that routine, ask whether your rash is perioral dermatitis, what triggers your flares, and whether you need a prescription product. Perioral dermatitis is a facial rash with red bumps, pimples, dryness and burning around the mouth, nose and eyes. It can look like acne or rosacea but it is not contagious, according to Harvard Health in its symptom overview.
Medical information disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes only and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a physician or other qualified health professional about symptoms, medications, tests, or treatment decisions.
Table of Contents
- What Bieber does during a flare
- Which triggers should you check?
- What to pause or avoid
- When to get prescription care
What Bieber does during a flare
Bieber has said she has had perioral dermatitis since about age 19, with itchy rash and bumps that keep returning. In a NewBeauty interview, she said flare care means prescription azelaic acid at night for inflammation.
Daytime care stays pared back to her minimal flare routine Rhode Glazing Milk plus SPF. That approach treats inflammation while limiting new exposures. It does not mean the same prescription fits every rash.
Which triggers should you check?
Bieber has linked her flares to new or too-harsh products, weather shifts, masks and certain SPFs. Reporting on her travel flare, Nexsouk also listed travel, poor sleep, stress and hormonal shifts as her stated triggers.
Use that list as a checklist before changing products: Circle what changed in the week before bumps started. Bring that timeline to your appointment.
- new product or active added before the flare
- harsh cleanser, exfoliant or retinoid
- mask wear, weather change or travel with broken sleep
- new SPF, plus stress or cycle-related shift
What to pause or avoid
Face steroids can start or worsen perioral dermatitis. NCBI StatPearls advises stopping steroids on the face and avoiding heavy occlusive makeup, retinoids, fragrances and irritants, detailed in its perioral dermatitis review.
So a minimal routine is not only what you add. It is also what you remove until skin calms.
When to get prescription care
Dermatologists treat perioral dermatitis with topicals such as metronidazole, azelaic acid, clindamycin, tacrolimus and pimecrolimus. For more persistent cases they use oral tetracyclines such as doxycycline for 6 to 12 weeks, according to NCBI StatPearls and Canadian Family Physician. Azelaic acid 15 percent gel is FDA-approved for inflammatory papules and pustules of rosacea.
Dermatologists use it off-label for perioral dermatitis for its anti-inflammatory effect, as recorded by ResearchGate for an open study. That matters because perioral dermatitis is a clinical diagnosis that is easy to confuse with eczema, acne or rosacea. DermNet NZ notes that over-the-counter hydrocortisone can worsen it, so get an in-person diagnosis before copying her routine. Bring your product list and flare dates to that visit.