If you’ve ever looked in the mirror by midday and noticed unwanted shine, you’re not alone. Oily skin is one of the most common skin types, but managing it effectively requires understanding what’s happening beneath the surface.
At WIFH in Atlanta, we specialize in helping patients manage oily skin safely and effectively through customized in-office treatments and medical-grade skincare routines. Whether you’re dealing with breakouts, clogged pores, or makeup that won’t stay put, our experts can create a targeted oily skin treatment plan designed for long-term balance.
Understanding Oily Skin
Oily skin occurs when your sebaceous glands produce excessive amounts of sebum. This is a complex mixture of lipids, fatty acids, and waxes that normally protects and moisturizes your skin. Sebum plays vital roles: maintaining your skin’s protective barrier, transporting antioxidants, and providing antimicrobial defense.
However, when sebaceous glands become overactive, they secrete more sebum than necessary. This excess oil combines with dead skin cells and debris, creating a perfect environment for clogged pores, bacterial growth, and inflammation, resulting in a greasy appearance, enlarged pores, and persistent shine. Oily skin is characterized by:
- Visible shine: A glossy sheen develops on your T-zone (forehead, nose, chin) within hours of washing.
- Enlarged, visible pores: Excessive sebum production causes pores to stretch and become more noticeable, particularly on the nose and cheeks. Under a microscope, dilated pores appear as openings where sebaceous glands release their secretions.
- Frequent breakouts: Oily skin is more than just shine; it creates an environment where bacteria thrives, leading to inflammatory acne, blackheads, and whiteheads.
- Makeup doesn’t last: Foundation separates or melts off by afternoon, requiring constant blotting.
- Thick, dull texture: Accumulation of excess oil and dead skin cells creates a rough, uneven surface that lacks the radiance of balanced skin.
Common Causes of Oily Skin
Oily skin can be influenced by multiple factors. Some are within your control, and others are genetic or hormonal. Understanding the cause can help guide the right treatment approach.
- Hormonal influences: Androgens, particularly testosterone and DHT, stimulate sebocytes (cells within sebaceous glands) to produce more sebum. This explains why oily skin peaks during puberty, menstrual cycles, and hormonal conditions.
- Genetics: Your DNA plays a significant role in determining your skin type. If your parents had oily skin, you’re more likely to inherit larger, more active sebaceous glands. Ethnicity also influences sebaceous gland size and distribution.
- Environmental factors: Hot and humid weather makes your skin produce more oil. Sebaceous glands naturally stay more active in the spring and summer and slow down in the fall and winter. Indoor heating and air conditioning can also dry out your skin, which leads your glands to create extra oil to make up for the loss.
- Lifestyle: Emerging research suggests high glycemic index foods can cause insulin spikes that stimulate androgen production. Some studies link frequent dairy consumption with increased sebum. Elevated cortisol levels during stress also trigger more oil production.
- Skincare habits: Skincare habits play a big role in causing oily skin. Overwashing or using harsh products can strip away too much oil, which makes your skin work overtime to replace it. This creates a cycle where the more you try to dry out your skin, the oilier it becomes.
Myths About Oily Skin
There are a lot of misconceptions about oily skin, and many of them lead to routines that actually make the problem worse. Understanding what is true and what is not helps you care for your skin in a balanced, effective way.
Myth: Oily skin doesn’t need moisturizer
Truth: Even oily skin needs hydration. When you skip moisturizer, the skin compensates by producing more oil, which leads to shine and congestion.
Myth: Wash your face frequently to control oil
Truth: Cleansing too frequently strips the skin and triggers more sebum production. A gentle cleanse twice a day is enough for most people.
Myth: You need to “dry out” oily skin
Truth: Harsh, drying treatments make the skin rebound by creating even more oil. The goal is to support a balanced skin barrier, not eliminate natural oil entirely.
Myth: Sunscreen causes breakouts.
Truth: Today’s oil-free and non-comedogenic sunscreens protect your skin without clogging pores. Wearing sunscreen daily, such as EltaMD UV AOX Mist Broad-Spectrum SPF 40, is essential even for oily skin.
Treatments for Oily Skin at WIFH
At WIFH, we take a comprehensive, science-backed approach to managing oily skin. Our in-office treatments work by regulating sebum production, unclogging pores, and promoting healthy skin cell turnover.
Facials for Oily Skin
Professional facials designed for oily, congested skin use medical-grade products and advanced techniques to deeply cleanse, exfoliate, and rebalance your complexion.
HydraFacial
The HydraFacial is a non-invasive, cleansing treatment that relaxes and rejuvenates. We have a few different options available to choose from:
- Express HydraFacial 30 Minutes: Our Express HydraFacial begins with a deep cleanse and gentle exfoliation that removes dead skin cells to reveal a fresh layer of skin. HydraFacial’s patented vortex-fusion technology extracts dirt and oil from the skin before it’s infused with a hydrating serum. This process eliminates oil and locks in healthy moisture that nourishes the skin.
- Signature HydraFacial 45 Minutes: In our Signature HydraFacial, we perform the 3 core steps of the Express treatment but with added benefits.. After cleansing your skin, we apply a mild acid peel to further exfoliate and help loosen impurities from the pores. This facial also includes manual extractions, if needed, to ensure a crystal-clear complexion.
- HydraFacial Plus 1 Hour: The HydraFacial Plus offers a tailored, advanced treatment that incorporates all the steps of our Signature HydraFacial, plus some luxe additions for extra-radiant skin and a customized acid peel. Then, we incorporate a specialized booster that targets concerns like oily skin. After bathing your skin with the booster serum, we’ll put you under an LED light panel to promote healing within the skin, stimulate collagen, calm redness, reduce inflammation, and kill acne-causing bacteria.
Custom HydraFacials in Atlanta
Oxygen Facial
The Oxygen Facial delivers pressurized oxygen along with vitamins, minerals, and botanical extracts directly into the skin without heavy creams. Each treatment includes a customized serum with niacinamide, also known as vitamin B3, which helps regulate oil by calming overactive sebaceous glands and supporting a balanced skin barrier. The oxygen infusion also provides natural antibacterial benefits that can help reduce acne causing bacteria on the surface of the skin.
The treatment begins with a cleanse and exfoliation. Your esthetician will choose the best exfoliation method for your skin. Dermaplaning is often selected for oily or acne prone skin because it removes built-up dead skin cells and creates a smooth surface for the next steps. Once applied, the oxygen mask helps lift underlying debris and impurities so the skin feels clearer and more refreshed. This gentle detox effect supports a healthier oil balance and prepares the skin for deeper absorption of your customized serum.
Because it balances oil production, refines texture, brightens dullness, and supports clearer skin without irritation, the Oxygen Facial is an excellent option for oily or breakout-prone skin. It also helps minimize the look of enlarged pores and maintain clarity between more advanced treatments.
Chemical Peels for Oily Skin
Chemical peels are among the most effective oily skin treatments at WIFH. Chemical peels work by applying acid solutions to skin, causing controlled exfoliation that removes dead cells, unclogs pores, and stimulates cellular turnover. For oily skin, certain formulations can penetrate through the sebum layer to address congestion at its source.
VI Peel Purify
The VI Peel Purify is specifically formulated as an acne treatment for oily skin, targeting multiple factors that contribute to breakouts and excess oil production. This medium-depth peel combines several active ingredients that work synergistically:
- Salicylic Acid: A beta hydroxy acid that penetrates through oil and dissolves buildup inside the pores. It breaks apart dead skin cells and helps clear congestion, which makes it ideal for oily and acne prone skin.
- Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA): Reaches deeper into the skin to break down damaged cells and encourage new collagen production. This supports smoother skin and healthier regeneration.
- Resorcinol: Helps lift rough or hardened skin and reduces the look of blemishes, acne marks, and surface scarring.
- Glycolic Acid: The smallest alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA), penetrates effectively to improve overall skin texture and tone while increasing cell turnover.
The VI Peel Purify helps reduce bacteria, temporarily slows down excess oil production, dissolves keratin plugs that clog pores, and stimulates fresh new skin to form. After application, the skin may appear red and can develop a light frost. Peeling usually begins around day 3-4 as the damaged, oil-clogged outer layer starts to shed. Most people peel for 3-5 days, with the heaviest peeling on days 4 and 5.
You will notice clearer, smoother skin within 7-10 days with continued refinement in the weeks that follow. This peel helps reduce acne, improve oil control, refine pores, lighten acne scarring, and prevent future breakouts. The VI Peel Purify is best for active acne, excessive oiliness, clogged pores, acne scarring, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
Laser Treatments and Microneedling
Advanced laser technologies and microneedling offer powerful solutions for oily skin by targeting the sebaceous glands themselves and improving overall skin structure.
Laser Treatments
For acne treatment, we recommend laser facials. Laser facials are an excellent option for treating acne and managing oily skin. These treatments use specific laser wavelengths that safely heat the sebaceous glands, which are the glands responsible for producing oil. When controlled thermal energy reaches these glands, it temporarily reduces their size and activity. This leads to less sebum production and fewer breakouts.
Lasers that operate at wavelengths such as 1450nm diode lasers can reach the deeper layers of the skin where sebaceous glands sit. The heat also stimulates collagen remodeling in the dermis. As collagen rebuilds, the skin becomes smoother, and the appearance of enlarged pores can improve over time.
Laser facials are ideal for oily skin, recurring breakouts, visible pores, and uneven texture. They help create a clearer, more refined complexion while supporting long-term oil control.
Microneedling
Microneedling uses very fine needles to create controlled micro-channels in the skin. These tiny channels activate the body’s natural healing process, which boosts collagen and elastin production and improves overall skin strength and texture. At WIFH, we use the SkinPen device for all traditional microneedling treatments to ensure precision, consistency, and safe results for every skin type.
For oily or combination skin, microneedling offers additional benefits. The micro-channels allow treatment serums to absorb more effectively, including serums that help regulate oil production. This deeper penetration is especially helpful because excess oil can prevent topical products from reaching the layers where they are most effective.
As collagen rebuilds during the healing process, the newly strengthened structure around the pores helps them appear tighter and more refined. This creates a smoother texture and a more balanced complexion.
Microneedling is best for enlarged pores, acne scarring, uneven texture, oily or combination skin, and anyone wanting a smoother, more even skin tone.
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After-Treatment Care & At-Home Maintenance
Professional treatments create the foundation for managing oily skin, yet lasting results depend on what you do at home. A consistent medical-grade skincare routine supports and extends the improvements you achieve in the treatment room. Your WIFH practitioner will guide you toward the products that best suit your skin needs so you can maintain balanced, healthy skin between visits.
Post-Treatment Guidelines
Here’s how to care for your skin after treatment:
First 24-48 hours:
- Avoid makeup, especially heavy foundations that can clog freshly treated skin
- Skip strenuous exercise and activities that cause excessive sweating
- Stay away from hot showers, saunas, and steam rooms
- Use only post-treatment products recommended by your practitioner
- Sleep on clean pillowcases to reduce bacteria exposure
Week one and beyond:
- Gradually reintroduce your regular skincare products, beginning with gentle formulas
- Wear broad-spectrum SPF (link to sunscreen section on online shop) 30+ every day since treated skin is more sensitive to UV exposure
- Avoid direct sun exposure when possible, as treated skin is more susceptible to UV damage
- Stay hydrated and maintain a balanced diet to support your skin’s healing process
Best At-Home Skincare Practices
The key to managing oily skin at home is consistency and balance. These steps support clearer pores, healthier oil control, and longer lasting results between treatments.
- Cleansing: Wash your face twice daily with a gentle, pH balanced cleanser designed for oily or combination skin.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- SkinCeuticals Glycolic Renewal Cleanser Gel: Helps smooth texture and keep pores clear with gentle glycolic acid.
- SkinCeuticals Simply Clean: Removes excess oil and makeup without stripping the skin barrier.
- Obagi Nu Derm Foaming Gel Cleanser: Deep but gentle cleanse that lifts oil, impurities, and surface buildup.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Exfoliation: Use chemical exfoliation two to three times weekly to prevent buildup and keep pores from becoming congested.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- SkinCeuticals Retexturing Activator: Hydrates while exfoliating for smoother, more refined skin.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Toning: A good toner removes any remaining traces of dirt and oil after cleansing while balancing your skin’s pH. Look for alcohol-free formulas with ingredients like niacinamide, witch hazel, or green tea extract.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Obagi Nu Derm Toner: Hydrates, calms, and gently balances the skin after cleansing.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Treatment serums: Serums support oil control, hydration, redness reduction, and overall skin clarity without feeling heavy.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Gel: Calms redness, hydrates lightly, and supports a balanced complexion.
- Obagi Daily Hydro Drops: Provides lightweight hydration without adding oil.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Moisturizing: Even oily skin needs hydration to prevent overactive oil production.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Obagi Hydrate: Lightweight hydration that softens and balances the skin.
- SkinCeuticals Triple Lipid Restore: Restores moisture and supports a healthy barrier without feeling heavy.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Retinols and Tretinoin: Retinols and tretinoin help refine pores, smooth texture, improve clarity, and support healthy cell turnover. They are especially helpful for oily and acne-prone skin because they promote balanced oil production and clearer pores over time. These ingredients are typically used in the evening and should be introduced gradually to avoid irritation.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- WIFH Retinol Pads: 5x concentrated retinol pads that unclog pores, boost cell turnover, refine texture, and soothe the skin.
- Obagi Retivance Skin Rejuvenating Complex: Uses gentle, non-irritating retinaldehyde to improve tone, texture, and clarity while supporting the skin barrier.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- Sun protection: Daily SPF is essential for oily skin, especially when using actives or receiving in-office treatments.
- Recommended at WIFH:
- EltaMD UV Clear: Calms redness, feels weightless, and will not clog pores.
- EltaMD UV Clear Tinted: Offers all the benefits of UV Clear with a soft, natural tint.
- Alastin HydraTint: Lightweight protection plus a beautiful universal tint for a smooth finish.
- Recommended at WIFH:
What to Avoid
- Over-cleansing: Washing more than twice daily strips away your skin’s natural protective barrier, causing increased sebum production.
- Harsh scrubs: Physical exfoliants with rough particles can create micro-tears in skin and trigger inflammation.
- Heavy, oil-based products: Thick creams and oils clog pores and exacerbate congestion.
- Skipping moisturizer: Dehydrated skin produces more oil to compensate for moisture loss.
- Touching your face: Your hands carry bacteria and oils that transfer to your face.
Best Skin Treatments Atlanta at WIFH
WIFH has helped thousands of patients achieve clearer, more balanced skin through personalized oily skin treatment plans. Our expert team evaluates your skin individually and recommends a customized approach that aligns with your specific concerns and goals. Whether you are managing mild oiliness or more persistent, breakout prone skin, we offer proven, effective treatments to help you achieve a healthier, more refined complexion.
Book your complimentary consultation to find the best treatment for oily skin in Atlanta.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your practitioner at WIFH will evaluate your skin type, oil production, and treatment goals to recommend the best program. We offer complimentary consultations to customize every oily skin treatment plan.
Oily skin has a few recognizable signs that tend to show up consistently. The most common is noticeable shine, especially across the T zone which includes the forehead, nose, and chin. Many people with oily skin see this shine return within a few hours of washing their face, and makeup may separate or slide throughout the day.
Pore visibility is another key indicator. Oily skin often has larger, more noticeable pores on the nose and cheeks because excess sebum stretches the pore openings over time. Frequent blackheads, whiteheads, or recurring breakouts are also common.
If you are unsure, try this simple test. Wash your face with a gentle cleanser, pat dry, and wait one hour without applying any products. Press a tissue or blotting paper against different areas of your face. If the paper shows significant oil, especially in the T zone, you most likely have oily skin.
Treatment pricing varies based on the procedure, the number of sessions needed, and your customized plan. Below is a general idea of what to expect.
Facials: HydraFacial and Oxygen Facial pricing varies by level and customization.
Chemical Peels: VI Peel options range depending on which specific peel you choose.
Laser & Microneedling Treatment: Laser Facial, CoolPeel, SkinPen Microneedling, and RF Microneedling are priced according to the technology used and the number of sessions recommended.
For the most accurate pricing, please visit our pricing page. You will find monthly specials and package options that offer additional savings when sessions are purchased as a series.
The most effective acne treatment for oily skin targets two things at once. It helps manage excess oil production and clears the congestion and inflammation that lead to breakouts. At WIFH, this is achieved through a combination of in-office treatments and a consistent medical-grade skincare routine.
Professional treatments for oily, acne-prone skin include options such as HydraFacial, VI Peel Purify, Laser Facial, Oxygen Facial, traditional Microneedling with SkinPen, and RF Microneedling. Each of these addresses oil control, clogged pores, texture irregularities, or acne scarring in different ways. Your WIFH practitioner will recommend the best sequence based on your skin needs.
At home, the right skincare routine helps support and maintain your in-office results. Cleansers, exfoliants, toners, serums, retinols, moisturizers, and daily SPF all play an important role in keeping pores clear and reducing the chance of future breakouts. Choosing medical-grade products ensures the active ingredients are effective enough to create real change.
The most successful approach combines personalized professional treatments with a consistent home routine designed specifically for oily skin. This synergy helps balance oil production, improve clarity, refine pores, and support long-term skin health.
You cannot change how active your sebaceous glands naturally are, but you can significantly improve oily skin with the right combination of treatments and a consistent home routine.
- Professional maintenance: Monthly HydraFacial or Oxygen Facial, periodic VI Peel Purify treatments, and microneedling or laser sessions help keep pores clear, balance oil production, and refine texture.
- Daily skincare: A steady routine with medical-grade products supports long-term clarity. Your WIFH practitioner will recommend the best cleansers, exfoliants, serums, retinols, moisturizers, and SPF for your skin needs.
- Lifestyle habits: Staying hydrated, managing stress, and using clean pillowcases can help support clearer skin.
Most patients see improvement within 4-6 weeks, with continued refinement over time. WIFH provides ongoing guidance to help you maintain your best results.
