My Mandelic Acid Before and After Results

Before I dive into my mandelic acid before and after results, I need to tell you about how I actually discovered mandelic acid. If you don’t already know her, Sofie Pavitt is NYC’s Queen acne expert, and works with many celebrities and influencers to help them get rid of their acne and get their skin glowing. 

What’s her secret, you ask? It’s mandelic acid. After I saw Pavitt for a facial a year or so ago, I began using the Sofie Pavitt Face Mandelic Clearing Serum every night before bed. I was amazed by how much my skin transformed after adding mandelic acid into my routine. 

My Mandelic Acid Before and After Results

Ahead of diving into the final results of using mandelic acid on my skin, I will go over what mandelic acid is, what it can do for the skin, and how long it takes to work. Then, I’ll show you a before and after photo of what my skin looked like pre- and post-mandelic acid serum.  

What Is Mandelic Acid?

Mandelic acid is one of those skincare acids that falls under the radar a little bit. It’s an alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) that’s derived from bitter almonds. Compared to other acids used in skincare, such as glycolic acid, mandelic acid has a larger molecular size. This means that this AHA won’t penetrate into the skin as quickly. Because of this, it’s suitable for folks with sensitive skin. It works low and slow over time, and is gentle for easily-irritated skin, but effective enough to exfoliate skin and prevent acne from forming. 

What Does Mandelic Acid Do For Skin?

The benefits of mandelic acid are aplenty. See below for my favorite parts about this do-all acid! 

It exfoliates the skin

The most obvious way that mandelic acid helps the skin is that it is gently exfoliating to the outermost layer of your skin. This will make your skin feel smoother. It will help reduce any texture issues, and can help your other skincare products absorb better into your skin. 

It prevents acne

Take a look at this diagram that shows what happens before and after you exfoliate your skin. 

Here’s what I wrote in a past blog post called “Does Exfoliating Help with Acne?”

“As you can see in the “Before,” there are a ton of dead skin cells at the top of the epidermis. Those dead skin cells block your pores, which will cause blackheads, whiteheads, and cystic acne to form. 

In the second diagram under “After,” you will see that there are no dead skin cells to block the pores. This means that it’s a lot less likely that there will be anything around to block your pores and cause the aforementioned acne to develop.” 

In this Refinery29 article, Pavitt (currently dubbed the “Acne Whisperer” amongst my beauty editor circle) explains why exfoliating acne-prone skin every day is important. In it, she explains:

You’ve probably heard that daily exfoliation is going to “strip your skin” and cause it to dry out — but really, the key is how you exfoliate. “I firmly stand by daily exfoliation for acneic or breakout-prone clients,” says Pavitt. “If you’re blemish-prone, your skin is shedding and you need that daily help with your exfoliation.”

With daily exfoliation, you want something gentle, like the aforementioned mandelic acid, combined with moisturizing and soothing ingredients as well. “I formulated that mandelic acid with hyaluronic acid and panthenol,” says Pavitt. “Hyaluronic acid is really hydrating and panthenol is skin-soothing, so it helps with that barrier support.” You’re essentially sloughing away or removing dead skin cells that can be a precursor to acne, while ensuring that your skin stays balanced.

It has anti-aging effects

If used daily, mandelic acid can help with aging skin. This AHA can promote cell renewal and boost collagen production. Plus, it can help reduce fine lines and wrinkles and improve skin elasticity, too.  

It addresses hyperpigmentation

A lot of acids can help to exfoliate the skin and reduce the appearance of dark spots and hyperpigmentation. Mandelic acid is one of those acids that very gently fades dark spots and sun damage over time. I also love that mandelic acid exfoliates and can treat post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, which often occurs after your skin begins to heal from an active acne breakout. 

It helps to brighten the skin

Finally, as you will see in my mandelic acid before and after pictures below, this AHA does a great job of evening out your skin tone and adding a glowing, brightening effect to the skin. 

How Long Does It Take For Mandelic Acid To Work?

Like I mentioned previously, mandelic acid takes some time to penetrate into the skin. You might start seeing results after a few days of using a mandelic acid serum, but I would give yourself at least two weeks of daily use to evaluate whether the acid is working for your skin. You definitely should start to see results after a month of continued use. 

Like any new skincare product that you start, you might want to consider doing a patch test on the inside of your wrist or neck before applying mandelic acid to your whole face. 

I would expect your skin to feel a tiny bit dry and flaky once you start using mandelic acid. It shouldn’t be anything crazy. And if it is, you should probably discontinue use (or use it every other day). Mandelic acid has a larger molecular structure and weight, and therefore should take longer to penetrate into the dermis and be more gentle on the skin. 

My Skin Before and After Mandelic Acid

It’s not every day that I post a picture online of my face with acne. The below picture was taken in January 2024. My husband and I had just moved to our new apartment in NYC, and it was pretty stressed out about the move. You can see the stress on my skin. I hadn’t been using mandelic acid as much during this time because I was pretty overwhelmed with life and wasn’t taking care of my skin as much as I should. 

Note that this is a relatively mild breakout for me, compared to years past. I have gone through different phases of my life where my acne is insanely red, inflamed, itchy, and super uncomfortable. I note this because you can use mandelic acid for acne, no matter how mild or severe your acne-prone skin is. 

The below picture was taken in July 2024. As you can see, I barely have any breakouts. I still have a bit of redness from my rosacea, but my skin is clear and under control. And I attribute this beautiful mandelic acid before and after transformation to my daily use of mandelic serum every night!

And there you have it! I hope that my mandelic acid before and after results might persuade you to try this hero ingredient yourself! If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section below.