Honey for acne: what the one trial found

Honey has been tested on acne in one trial in people, and that trial found no clear benefit. The trial used a medical-grade honey product together with an antibacterial soap for 12 weeks, in 136 people. No trial read for this guide tested honey from a kitchen jar, raw honey or manuka honey on acne. This page is part of Skinli's guide to home remedies for acne.

Skinli gives general education and is not a doctor. For the honey trial, Skinli read the full published report. For the other studies it read the published summaries (abstracts) only. No source read for this guide gives a recipe, an amount or a time on the skin for honey, so this page gives none.

What the one trial in people found

The trial was published in the medical journal BMJ Open in 2016. It was a randomized controlled trial: people were put into two groups by chance, and one group was the comparison.

Part of the trial	What the report says
Who took part	"136 participants aged between 16 and 40 years with a diagnosis of acne", seen at clinics in three places in New Zealand
What everyone used	An antibacterial soap, twice a day for 12 weeks
What the honey group added	A product made of 90 percent medical-grade kanuka honey and 10 percent glycerine, put on after the soap was washed off, twice a day for 12 weeks
Main result at 12 weeks	4 of 53 people in the honey group (7.6 percent) and 1 of 53 in the soap-only group (1.9 percent) reached the target for improvement
People who left early	15 in the honey group and 14 in the soap-only group

The target was an improvement of 2 points or more on a scale that an assessor used to grade each face. The assessor did not know which group a person was in.

Four people against one person is a small difference, and it could be due to chance. The report gives the odds of improvement as 4.2 times higher with honey, with a range that runs from 0.5 to 39.3. A range that includes 1 means the trial cannot tell a benefit apart from no effect.

The authors' conclusion is direct. The trial "did not find evidence that addition of medical-grade kanuka honey in combination with 10% glycerine to standard antibacterial soap treatment is more effective" than the soap alone.

The full report adds two details. It says the other measures, which included counts of spots, "mostly showed no evidence of benefit from the use of honey product for the treatment of acne." One measure favored honey: people in the honey group rated their own improvement higher. The authors wrote that this could be bias, "because we could not mask participants to honey treatment." In plain words, people knew they were using honey, and that knowledge can change how a person rates their own skin.

Who paid for the trial, and what it leaves untested

The company that makes the honey product paid for the whole trial and supplied the product. A trial paid for by the maker of the product found no benefit.

The trial leaves several questions untested:

• Honey from a kitchen. The product was a medical-grade kanuka honey mixed with glycerine. Table honey, raw honey and manuka honey were not part of the trial.
• Honey used alone. Every person in the honey group also washed with the antibacterial soap. The trial shows nothing about honey with no other product.
• How hard the treatment was to follow. 29 of the 136 people left early. In the honey group, the report counts "five participants who withdrew because of non-adherence due to reported inconvenience of the treatment", and two who left because their acne got worse.

Honey kills acne bacteria in a dish only at full strength

Many people try honey because they have read that it kills bacteria. A 2017 study in the journal Scientia Pharmaceutica tested that idea in vitro, which means in a lab dish. It tested honey and a cinnamon bark extract on two types of bacteria linked with acne.

The honey had to be undiluted to kill the bacteria. The abstract reports the lowest strength that killed them, which it calls the MBC: "the MBC for honey against P. acnes and S. epidermidis were 100%." The weakest mix that stopped the bacteria from growing was half honey by volume. The authors wrote that honey together with cinnamon bark extract "has potential activity against acne-causing bacteria."

No person was treated in that study. A result in a dish does not show what happens on a face, and no trial in people has tested a honey and cinnamon mix on acne.

Bacteria are also only one part of acne. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) says: "Bacteria, clogged pores, oil, and inflammation can all cause acne." An AAD news release from 2025 adds: "Not all acne, however, is caused by bacteria." For the part that bacteria play, the AAD names a different ingredient: "Benzoyl peroxide decreases P. acnes bacteria". The guide to benzoyl peroxide explains how it is used.

Honey on burns and wounds is a separate question

Honey does have research on broken skin. That research is about wound dressings used under medical care.

A 2015 Cochrane review pooled the trials on honey and wounds. It found 26 trials with 3,011 people. It reported that "honey dressings heal partial thickness burns more quickly than conventional dressings". A partial thickness burn is one that damages part of the depth of the skin. For wounds in general the authors could not reach a firm answer: "It is difficult to draw overall conclusions regarding the effects of honey as a topical treatment for wounds". Topical means put on the skin.

None of the 26 trials was in acne. A pimple and a burn under a hospital dressing are different problems, so the burn result does not apply to a pimple.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is part of the US National Institutes of Health. It names honey once on its skin pages, under impetigo, a bacterial skin infection of young children: "There's not enough scientific evidence to recommend tea tree oil; olive, garlic, coconut oils; and Manuka honey as remedies for impetigo".

Marks and scars left by acne are covered in home remedies for acne scars.

Reactions on skin

Honey on the face can cause skin reactions. The trial report counted the side effects that the researchers linked to treatment: 23 in the honey group and 24 in the soap-only group. It says: "All involved skin-related symptoms including oily, dry and stinging skin, contact dermatitis and worsening acne." Contact dermatitis is a rash from something that touched the skin.

The two groups had almost the same count. Reactions happened with the honey product and with the soap alone.

A food that is safe to eat can still harm skin. The FDA gives an example from another kitchen item: "cumin oil is safe in food, but can cause the skin to blister." The AAD says that even skin care products sold as "natural" or "clean" can cause a skin reaction.

The AAD's advice for any new face mask is: "Test a new facial mask on small areas of skin first to help prevent reactions." It also says: "Immediately wash off a facial mask if you feel itching, burning, or stinging. This could be a sign of skin irritation or an allergy."

The AAD's page on testing skin care products describes the test. You put the product on a small spot, such as the underside of the arm, twice a day for seven to 10 days. That page is written for finished skin care products. Skinli's guide on how to patch test a new skincare product explains the steps.

Questions that no source answers

Several common questions about honey have no answer in the sources read for this guide.

• Raw honey, manuka honey and honey from a store. None has an acne trial.
• Honey as a mask, or left on overnight. No source gives a time on the skin or a number of days. The twice-a-day schedule above describes one trial, and that trial found no benefit.
• Honey mixed with cinnamon, turmeric or lemon. No trial in people tested any of these mixes on acne. The pages on turmeric for acne and lemon juice for acne report what is known about each.
• Eating honey. No study read here looked at eating honey and acne. NICE writes treatment guidance for the health service in England. It says: "Advise people that there is not enough evidence to support specific diets for treating acne." See does diet cause acne.
• Honey compared with aloe vera. No trial compared the two. The page on aloe vera for acne reports the aloe studies.

What the AAD, the NHS and the FDA rule support

The AAD, the NHS and the FDA rule each name a short list of ingredients for acne. Honey is on none of the three lists.

Source	What it names for acne	Honey on the list
AAD, for a deep, painful pimple	"adapalene, azelaic acid, benzoyl peroxide, or salicylic acid"	No
NHS acne page	"try acne treatments you put on your skin such as salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide"	No
FDA rule for acne drugs sold without a prescription	Benzoyl peroxide at 2.5 to 10 percent, salicylic acid at 0.5 to 2 percent, sulfur at 3 to 10 percent, and sulfur combined with resorcinol	No

Adapalene is a retinoid, a medicine related to vitamin A. The AAD says acne treatment that contains adapalene is sold online and in stores. The AAD's acne pages name a maker of prescription acne drugs as their supporter.

The NICE acne guideline for England does not mention honey. The NCCIH reports that the AAD's acne guideline found the data on herbal and other complementary therapies too limited to recommend them.

The AAD also says facial masks "can't replace treatment for diseases and conditions such as eczema or acne." If you are choosing between the two most common store-bought ingredients, see salicylic acid vs benzoyl peroxide.

When to see a doctor

Wash honey off and stop using it if your skin itches, burns or stings, or if a rash appears. The AAD's advice after any skin reaction to a product is to wash it off as soon as possible and "don't use it again."

The NHS says to see a GP, which is a family doctor, if you have tried treating acne yourself and it is not getting better, or if "you have lots of spots, or the spots are deep, painful or causing scars". It also says to get help for signs of a skin infection, such as hot, swollen and red skin, and adds that redness can be harder to see on brown and black skin.

The AAD says to see a dermatologist when acne causes cysts and nodules, which are deep blemishes that can leave scars, or when acne has not cleared with treatment you can buy without a prescription.