My name is Belle, and I have acne.  Not words I thought that I would be saying in my late-twenties.  And I certainly didn’t think that fifteen years after I bought my first tube of Clearasil, I would be searching the globe for acne miracle cures.  Lucky me.

Before Xmas, I purchased the Zeno Acne Clearing Device Mini (Amazon, $60) which promises to clear up blemishes with a shot of bacteria killing heat.  Initially, I was skeptical of this so-called miracle device (I’ve been disappointed by acne miracle cures before), but I decided to give it a try.

The device works by heating up a small metal disc on the top which you then place directly on the blemish for 2 minutes.  The heat isn’t strong enough to burn you, but I does get a little warm.  The device is also fairly easy to use.  The only downside is that the tips have to be replaced every 45 uses and cost $18 each. 

The million dollar question is: Does the device work?

The answer is yes, it works; but it’s not a miracle cure.  After the first use, the blemishes became very red (from the heat) so, I would recommend doing it at night.  The next morning, existing blemishes were noticeably smaller and the two I had cropping up were practically gone.  It took three or four days though before the blemishes looked mostly healed. So the device certainly helps treat the acne but it’s not an overnight success.

I would say that the device works faster than your standard acne cream, but it still takes a couple of days to clear a blemish.  If you manage to head a forming blemish off at the pass, then the device really helps.  But like I said, if you suffer from break-outs frequently, buying the replacement tips will get expensive.  I intend to keep mine around for those deep problem spots but not use it every day.