3M Nexcare & MiaCare Acne Patch Review and Comparison

Today I'll be sharing a few products that I recently discovered and I am totally loving: 3M's Nexcare Acne Patch & Mia Care's Acne Patch.

So first of all, what are acne patches? Acne patches are basically small, circle, hydrocolloid patches that you apply on top of a pimple. Hydrocolloid is a substance moistly used as surgical dressings. How it works is that the patch absorbs the liquid from a wound (or pus from a pimple), drying it up and effectively getting rid of it.

There are a few hydrocolloid acne patches available in the market right now. The first time I saw one was 2 years ago (I think) when I saw a saleslady in Etude House wearing them. I also saw a few patches by Oxy in Watsons, but it was only a few months back when I actually started using them. My friend Sammi gave me samples of MiaCare's Acne Patch and it worked wonders for me! It managed to fully suck up the pus from a pimple and my pimple was gone overnight.

I bought a few more of MiaCare's patches, but I've also been using 3M's Nexcare Acne Patches because they provide more patches at around the same price range.

Both brands have day and night patches available and I have my likes and dislikes among both as well. Which one is better? Read on to find out!

Disclaimer: This post was not paid for and consists of my 100% honest opinions.

WHERE TO BUY

Both brands are available in Watsons and Guardian. The prices are as follows

3M Nexcare

Day Patches (30 patches) - RM14.80

Night Patches (36 patches) - RM13.80

Miacare

Day Patches (12 patches) - RM10.05

Night Patches (12 patches) - RM10.25
Day & Night Patches (9+9 patches) - RM 14.50

As you can see, Nexcare offers more patches for almost the same price, but Miacare offers a set with both day and night patches.

PACKAGING

Both come in boxes, but 3M Nexcare's comes sandwiched between two sheets of clear plastic, where as Miacare's is sealed like how medicine/tablets are sealed, but in paper instead of foil.

(Nexcare)
Day patches on the left,

Night patches on the right.

(Miacare)
Day patches on the left,
Night patches on the right.

INGREDIENTS

TEXTURE & FRAGRANCE

Miacare's patches are made of a a paper-like material and are super ultra thin, whereas the Nexcare patches are made from a silicone/jelly-like material, which is of course thicker,

Both brands' patches are fragrance free and are transparent at first but turn opaque/white after absorbing the pus.

Since Miacare's patches are made of the paper-like material and are thinner, it looks matte and more invisible than the Nexcare ones which is quite obvious even from afar and looks a bit shiny.

(Nexcare on the left, Miacare on the right)

The day patches for both brands are thinner that the night patches and I think its so that it looks more natural.

HOW TO USE

I usually apply this as the last step of my skincare routine and just leave it on for the rest of the day/night or when I feel like the patch is "full" or has turned white.

MY REVIEW

What I love about these patches are that aside from absorbing the pus, it also blocks your pimple from the rest of the world, shielding it from getting more infected. As someone who absolutely cannot stop touching his face and popping/picking pimples, this is a great way to limit how many times you touch your pimples. Sometimes the urge is just there and you can't stop yourself hahaha.

In terms of effects, I think both brands' patches fared the same. Both managed to absorb pus pretty well and most of my pimples were flat after a day/two days of using them. 

One downside to the Nexcare patches are that its because of its jelly-like texture, it doesn't stick as well onto the skin as Miacare's does. This isn't a problem during the day, but is a problem at night because I've woken up 2-3 times with the patches all over my pillow. The Miacare ones are more adhesive and I've never had any problems with them coming off. 

Effects after using the Nexcare patches

As you can see, after absorption the patches did leave a slight mark on my skin, but nothing too bad. The marks isn't as bad as if I were to pop my pimple. I find that marks like these are more to the "light" type and can be faded easily with a scar fading gel (I suggest Oxy's Anti Pimple Mark Gel, click here to read my review!)

COMPARISON

What I can compare, is the thickness/appearance of the patches and the price. 3M Nexcare's patches are more affordable because the come in boxes of 30/36 for RM13-14 compared to Miacare's 12 patches for RM10. However, Miacare's patches are so much thinner and are more natural/invisible compared to Nexcare's patches.

WILL I REPURCHASE?

I've used these patches for quite a while and I think I'll keep on repurchasing 3M Nexcare's day and night patches. I think that they're more worth it because of the quality-price ratio.

I don't mind the thickness of Nexcare's day patches but I do have a set of Miacare day patches just ready for emergencies (like when I have a presentation and I have to hide a pimple)

Bottom line: I choose 3M Nexcare's Acne Patches!

That's it for this review/comparison! Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you did, do click here to read more product reviews.

Again, thanks for reading!