Rhode and Justin Bieber just launched Spotwear, a new pimple patch collection. How effective are pimple patches, and what about the plastic waste and climate impact that may be making your skin break out more in the first place?
If your teenage years occurred before the last few years, you likely suffered through the embarrassment of an unsightly pimple or two on your face. Maybe you covered the redness with a bit of concealer or foundation. Maybe bangs worked in your favor. But even the best efforts were only so effective at hiding the blemish. Products like Clearasil, designed to speed healing, often left skin red, dry, and flaky — a trade-off, to say the least.
But in recent years, a blemish shifted from an embarrassing nuisance to a rite of passage — an Instagrammable moment, even — where a small plastic sticker became aspirational. The pimple patch market, now valued at more than $500 million, has been building for years, but Justin Bieber may have just thrust pimple patches into a major mainstream moment.
Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand, launched Spotwear yesterday, a collection of hydrocolloid pimple patches co-designed with her husband Justin and timed with his Coachella headlining performances. The patches come in five shapes — daisy, bubble, mushroom, curve, and jelly bean — and retail for $16, with the full Rhode x The Biebers Capsule, which also includes a caramelized banana peptide lip treatment and a banana peel peptide eye prep, priced at $56. “It’s something that I think felt the most organic, if there was ever going to be some form of collaboration between him and I, it couldn’t be a better product,” Hailey told WWD. Justin, who has long been photographed wearing pimple patches in public and has spoken openly about his own skin struggles, fits the brief well. “I like calling them wearables, like the eye patches,” Hailey said.
Acne affects nearly 85 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 24, which helps explain why a format that turns a blemish into a mood sticker caught on so quickly. But how effective are pimple patches? And what are these plastic single-use products costing the environment?
Do pimple patches work?
Hydrocolloid patches — the technology behind Spotwear and most other acne stickers — work by drawing fluid from surface-level, already-opened blemishes or draining whiteheads. As the hydrocolloid gel adheres to the skin, it absorbs excess oil and dirt away from pimples, according to Dr. Hadley King, a board-certified dermatologist in New York City. Kind told NBC Select that, while stuck to the skin, “acne patches also have the added benefit of preventing you from picking or trying to pop the pimple.” Picking a pimple increases inflammation, can delay healing, and can increase the risk of infection and scarring. A 2024 randomized controlled clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found significant improvements in redness, crusting, smoothness, and lesion size within one to four days in subjects aged 12 to 35. A 2025 randomized trial published in ScienceDirect found hydrogel patches reduced lesion size by 35 percent and improved severity by 44 percent by day two.
Pimple patches don’t work for all types of breakouts, though. Critically, they don’t address cystic acne, blackheads, or closed comedones — some of the most common and stubborn types of breakouts — and they can’t prevent new flare-ups or treat root causes. For patients who have already popped a blemish and are looking to aid recovery, they have their place. “But if you’ve already gone down that road, a pimple patch may help your skin recover and minimize damage,” Dr. Amy Kassouf, MD, a dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic, told the Cleveland Clinic’s health platform. For a surface-level pimple that’s already draining, they’re effective. For anything deeper in the skin, they function more as cosmetic coverage than clinical treatment.
The blemish pimple patches can’t cover: plastic waste
As teens find comfort in covering up blemishes with pimple patches, there is an element lost in the buzz: pimple patches are almost entirely plastic. Most are dots of plastic adhered to plastic film sheets, packaged in plastic-lined boxes, and because of how multiple materials are combined in manufacturing, the patches themselves are not recyclable. Every option on the market requires plastic, rubber, or petrochemicals — for elasticity, adhesion, or, typically, both. There are a number of sustainably made and even biodegradable options, but they can be significantly pricier and don’t have nearly the retail footprint of mainstream pimple patches like Starface and CeraVe.
Beauty brands produce roughly 77 billion units of plastic packaging per year, with more than 70 percent ending up in landfills. The personal care sector alone generates an estimated 160,000 tonnes of plastic annually. Eco-friendly alternatives — patches made with biodegradable materials and plastic-free packaging — are beginning to emerge from smaller brands, but they remain niche. “In the world of manufacturing and brand ownership, everybody knows that extended producer responsibility (EPR) is coming,” Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, told Cosmetics Business.
Plastic waste, climate change, and your skin
The growing demand for pimple patches isn’t only a TikTok phenomenon — there’s a real environmental driver behind rising breakouts. A 2025 review published in JAAD Reviews found that acne is directly associated with rising levels of air pollution. Elevated temperatures disrupt the skin microbiome, stimulate sebaceous glands to overproduce oil, and create conditions favorable for bacterial growth. Heat-driven sweating clogs pores, UV exposure enlarges sebaceous glands, and pollutants like phthalates and bisphenol A interfere with hormonal pathways, contributing to hormonal acne.
Research published in the International Journal of Dermatology found “clear evidence” that changes in climatic variables — air pollution, humidity, temperature, and UV radiation — affect distinct skin conditions and have direct effects on the skin microbiome. A 2025 official policy statement from the American Dermatological Association formally called on practitioners to address climate-driven skin conditions as a recognized part of dermatological care. Markus D. Boos, MD, PhD told Dermatology Times that inflammatory skin conditions are expected to continue worsening as climate patterns shift. Meanwhile, the pimple patch market is projected to reach nearly $1 billion by 2030 — growing right alongside it.
Related on Ethos:
