La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mask for acne-prone skin

How to apply

Questions and answers

What the research says

• Twice-weekly use of a clay mask over 4 weeks in 75 adults with oily or combination skin improved acne-related outcomes, sebum content, skin evenness, hydration, and reduced dryness and irritation.

  Skin Research and Technology, 2023

• Clay jojoba oil facial masks reduced total skin lesions by a mean of 54% after 6 weeks in 133 participants with acne-prone, lesioned skin and mild acne compared to baseline.

  Forschende Komplementarmedizin, 2012

• A panthenol-enriched mask significantly decreased erythema and hyperpigmentation, increased sebum and stratum corneum moisture, and reduced transepidermal water loss compared to a saline dressing in 60 subjects undergoing facial laser treatment.

  Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2025

• Topical dexpanthenol acts as a moisturizer, improves stratum corneum hydration, accelerates wound healing and epidermal regeneration, reduces erythema, and improves symptoms of skin irritation compared to vehicle or no pretreatment.

  American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, 2002

• A new topical panthenol-containing emollient significantly improved transepidermal water loss reduction, stratum corneum hydration, and intercellular lipid lamellae length compared with control in healthy subjects without negatively impacting bacterial viability.

  The Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 2017

• Vectorization of high molecular weight hyaluronic acid with clay enabled its penetration into deeper skin layers and led to a significant clinical reduction in fine lines in the crow's feet area compared to placebo after 28 days.

  Skin Research and Technology, 2024

• A pharmaceutical formulation containing therapeutic clay from Ocara, Brazil, promoted greater formation of collagen fibers, regeneration of the deep dermis at seven days, and reepithelialization with continuous granulation tissue formation at 14 days in rat skin wounds compared to untreated controls.

  Materials Science & Engineering. C, Materials for Biological Applications, 2014

• Topical clay application increased the number of collagen fibres in rat skin at 7 days compared with control skin (51.74% vs. 43.39%), but showed no further increase at 14 days.

  Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, 2012

• A single application of a moisturizing fluid containing hyaluronic acid 1%, glycerin 5%, and Centella asiatica stem cells extract significantly increased skin hydration by 29% and reduced transepidermal water loss at 24 hours compared to baseline and an untreated control site in twenty healthy women.

  Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2017

• The emollient V0034CR significantly reduced TEWL compared to vehicle and vehicle plus glycerol, and significantly increased corneometry scores compared to vehicle and vehicle plus petrolatum in healthy volunteers with dry skin, demonstrating combined barrier function improvement from petrolatum and hydration improvement from glycerol.

  Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2020

• Ten days of treatment with a cream containing 20% glycerin significantly increased skin hydration measured by corneometer values in 17 healthy volunteers compared to a placebo cream, but showed no influence on transepidermal water loss or skin sensitivity to an irritating surfactant.

  International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2001

• Moisturizer containing 5% panthenol, madecassoside, and copper-zinc-manganese decreased adverse reactions and downtime after ablative fractional carbon dioxide laser resurfacing with comparable efficacy to 0.02% triamcinolone acetonide cream in 20 subjects.

  Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2019

• Topical dexpanthenol formulated in lipophilic vehicles improved stratum corneum hydration and reduced transepidermal water loss compared to vehicle control in humans.

  Arzneimittel-Forschung, 2000

• Hyaluronic acid, hyaluronic acid plus dexpanthenol, and isotonic saline nasal sprays all significantly improved dry nose symptoms over four weeks in 240 patients, with hyaluronic acid plus dexpanthenol providing superior nasal moisturisation compared to the other two.

  Auris, Nasus, Larynx, 2020

• Microfine titanium dioxide does not penetrate human skin when formulated in an oil-in-water emulsion with the pigment dispersed in the aqueous phase, compared to oily dispersions and liposomal encapsulation which allow deeper skin penetration.

  International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2000

• Replacing microsized titanium dioxide and zinc oxide with nanoparticles in sunscreens eliminates opaqueness and alters UV protection balance while inducing (photo)cyto- and genotoxicity and penetrating viable skin layers during long-term exposures.

  Nanotechnology, Science and Applications, 2011

• Microfine zinc oxide and titanium dioxide do not penetrate the stratum corneum of porcine skin in vitro, indicating that their use in sunscreens does not pose a health risk from internal exposure.

  Toxicology in Vitro, 2006

• Topical application of an emollient emulsion containing 15.0% caprylic/capric triglyceride doubled the amount of urocanic acid isomers and increased skin hydration with reduced transepidermal water loss in healthy subjects, though it did not prevent ultraviolet-induced urocanic acid isomerization.

  Life, 2023

Why other cleansing masks fit acne-prone skin better

• A 30% supramolecular salicylic acid peel improved the global acne grading score and skin barrier indicators, decreased cutaneous microbiome richness and evenness along with Staphylococcus proportion, reduced inflammatory cytokines, and increased caveolin-1 expression in 28 patients with moderate-to-severe acne vulgaris.

  Dermatology and Therapy, 2023

• A moisturizer containing licochalcone A, 1,2-decanediol, L-carnitine, and salicylic acid significantly reduced noninflammatory, inflammatory, and total acne lesion counts compared to a vehicle control in Thai patients during a 12-week maintenance phase.

  BioMed Research International, 2020

• Treatment with 45% mandelic acid peel showed nearly equal overall efficacy as 30% salicylic acid peel in patients with mild-to-moderate facial acne vulgaris, but with fewer adverse effects.

  Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 2020

Ingredients

Water, Kaolin, Argilla, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Propanediol, Panthenol, Glycerin, Caprylic Capric Triglyceride, Ci 77891, Titanium Dioxide, Cetearyl Alcohol, Zea Mays Starch, Cellulose, Ceteareth-20, Lecithin, Caprylyl Glycol, Citric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Tocopherol, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum, B188052 1

Behind this fit score

Lovi calculates every fit score from the full ingredient list with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.