Is Lactic Acid comedogenic?

No, for nearly everyone. This ingredient is rated 1 out of 5, a very low pore-clogging risk.

Comedogenic rating: 1/5; Very low risk
Evidence confidence: moderate; Most published lists include this ingredient, with ratings that vary by about one point.
Also appears as: No common label aliases

What is Lactic Acid?

An alpha hydroxy acid gentler than glycolic, with humectant properties on top of exfoliation. It's used in resurfacing serums and body lotions for rough or flaky skin. Don't confuse it with myristyl lactate, the fatty ester on our flagged list, which is a different ingredient entirely.

What to do if you're acne-prone

There's no pore-clogging reason to avoid this ingredient, even in leave-on products. If a product containing it breaks you out, the culprit is almost certainly elsewhere on the label. Paste the full list into the checker to find it.

Where this rating comes from

Our ratings consolidate two lineages: the original rabbit-ear comedogenicity assays published by James Fulton and colleagues (Fulton, Pay & Fulton, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 1984; Fulton, Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, 1989), and the pore-clogger lists maintained by acne-specialist estheticians in the Face Reality lineage. This ingredient rates 0–1 across those sources (or doesn't appear on the flagged lists at all), which is why our checker doesn't flag it.

Last reviewed 2026-08-16 by the PorePass editorial team.

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Other ingredients that don't clog pores

Wondering what does clog pores? Browse the full pore-clogging ingredients list.

Comedogenicity ratings come from published ingredient studies and esthetician-compiled lists. They are imperfect and formulation-dependent, and this page isn't medical advice. Reactions vary by skin, concentration, and the rest of the formula.