Struggling with acne (whiteheads) while having a simple routine and dry skin

I have always gotton the occasional whitehead at specific spots on my face, but in the past two months, it has been much worse. I always have a big active whitehead, at places that I didn’t normally get them before. I have simplified my skincare to the minimum now.

All I do is:

1- cleanse in the evening with Neutregena oil-free acne wash (The orange one with the pump)

2- moisturize with the ordinary HA + moisturizing factors (after cleansing)

Both are products that I have used for a long time now. I wash my hands with soap before using them, and try to change my pillowcase often. I don’t even put on sunscreen anymore.

I have been looking up acne products on Sephora, but it looks like most of them are supposed to reduce oil production. But, my skin is already pretty dry. I’m afraid those products would make me even more dry and flaky.
Edit: photo in comments.

Any tips and suggestions are welcome. Thank you.

Try a benzoyl peroxide spot treatment

Get a dedicated bar of soap and rub it into your pores daily. Rinse excessively, not rinsing enough will fuck up your skin. honestly Neutrogena always gave me the worst skin problems, it’s oil based, so a petroleum product and I think that stuff causes more problems than good. The Malin + Goetz brand has a great grapefruit cleanser that might help if you want to stick with liquid soap. But you really need to be clogging your pores with somehting that will stick to the stuff causing your acne so it can be rinsed away.

Thanks for replying. Would any bar of soap work?

Higher quality the better. Soaps have their PH so if it irritates your skin you may want to go to the other side of the scale. Like maybe something from the farmers market.

I have similar lesions on my face. My doctor told me it wasn’t whiteheads, it was sebacious hyperplasia. I think the one closest to your eye might be a whitehead, but the lower ones look like mine.

Did you get rid of it?

I feel like most people on this sub dislike the neutrogena orange wash as it’s a bit harsh and stripping. Maybe consider adding a BP wash instead or as spot treatment.It actively kills acne causing bacteria.

I use glycolic acid 5% once weekly to help my skin shed the dead stuff and prevent whiteheads.

Make sure when you add anything you test it and go slow. Worst thing you can do is damage your barrier and cause more acne.

Thanks for replying. Do you have recommendations for the BP wash and the glycolic acid?

I use the Pixi glycolic acid 5% on a cotton round. I use the BP foaming wash by Neutrogena, which I also use as a spot treatment as necessary. I use it once daily, while I shower. I don’t use another real face wash, just micellar water to get makeup off, then rinse with normal water.

I use Differin though, so YMMV. All of my whiteheads resolve in a day or two because of that.