TL;DR: Two fungal acne ingredient checkers tested for eight weeks. Sezia, Folliculitis Scout, what each flags accurately, and when the tool maps to your actual breakout pattern.
TL;DR: Fungal acne is real, frequently misdiagnosed, and one of the easier acne types to manage once you actually know what triggers it. Two free ingredient checkers dominate the space. sezia is faster and more rigorous. Folliculitis Scout is slower but the community ratings are useful when the science is ambiguous. The flag is not the diagnosis, and most people get this part wrong.
The first time I had what I now know was fungal acne, I spent three months treating it as bacterial acne. Salicylic. Benzoyl peroxide. A retinoid. The bumps kept multiplying. They were uniform in size, on my forehead and chest, itchy in a way regular acne is not. A dermatologist looked at me for ninety seconds and said “that’s Malassezia, stop using your moisturizer.” The breakout cleared in two and a half weeks once I cut the squalane-and-oleic-acid-heavy products feeding the yeast. I have been militant about checking ingredient lists ever since, and these are the two tools I keep going back to.
How I tested
Eight weeks, two skin areas (forehead and upper back, both prone to the small uniform bumps that read as fungal). I ran every new product I bought through both checkers before I tried it. I logged which ingredients each tool flagged, whether the flags were warranted, and whether the bumps came back when I deliberately reintroduced something both apps had cleared but I was suspicious of. I also had two products patch-tested by a friend with confirmed pityrosporum folliculitis, which gave me a useful comparison group for the second half of the test window.
Quick note on terminology, because this trips people up: “fungal acne” is not technically acne. It is Malassezia (or pityrosporum) folliculitis, a yeast overgrowth in the hair follicle. The lay term stuck because the bumps look like acne, but the treatment is completely different. If your acne treatments are not working and the bumps are uniform, itchy, and clustered, this is the conversation to have with a dermatologist.
Sezia: the faster, more rigorous one
Sezia is a free web-based fungal acne ingredient checker built around a tight, curated list of Malassezia-feeding ingredients: long-chain fatty acids, certain esters, polysorbates 20 and 80, and a few specific oils. You paste an ingredient list, you get a clear pass or fail with the flagged ingredients highlighted in red, the whole exchange takes under ten seconds.
What I like: the algorithm is conservative without being paranoid. It flags what is actually problematic and leaves the noise alone. The Wikipedia integration on each ingredient gives you context fast (you can click on “PEG-100 Stearate” and immediately read why it is fine), which is the part most ingredient checkers do badly.
What it misses: anything outside its curated trigger list. Sezia is not going to tell you about preservative sensitivities, fragrance allergens, or anything that is not specifically a Malassezia feeder. If you have multiple sensitivities, you need a second tool.
For the actual fungal acne use case, this is the one I open first. The signal-to-noise ratio is the best in the category.
Folliculitis Scout: slower, but the community ratings matter
Folliculitis Scout has the same core function (paste ingredients, get flags) but adds two things Sezia doesn’t: comedogenic ratings on a 0-5 scale, and community-uploaded product reviews from real Malassezia folliculitis sufferers. The interface is dated, the load time is slower, the analysis is less elegant. But.
The community layer is the reason to use it. There are products both tools clear on paper that the community has flagged as triggering in practice, often because of an ingredient interaction or a formulation quirk that pure ingredient analysis cannot catch. I had three of those across the eight weeks, and in two of the three the community was right and the ingredient list was misleading.
The comedogenic ratings, on the other hand, are dated science. The 0-5 comedogenicity scale was developed in the 1970s on rabbit ears (yes, really) and the data does not transfer well to human skin. I largely ignore that column. Sezia does too, and that is to its credit.
The contrarian take: an ingredient flag is not a diagnosis
This is the part people skip and it is the most important part. The fungal acne checkers will flag triggering ingredients in products you have used your whole life with no problem. Squalane will be flagged. Oleic acid will be flagged. Most oils your skin has happily tolerated for decades will be flagged. That does not mean every product with those ingredients is causing fungal acne. It means: if you have a current fungal acne flare-up, these ingredients may be feeding it, and removing them while you treat the underlying overgrowth is sensible.
The mistake is the reverse direction. People take a clear face, run their existing routine through Sezia, see ten flags, panic, and replace their entire routine with the fungal acne safe list. Then their skin freaks out from the sudden change, they assume it is fungal acne flaring up, and the cycle starts. If you have the bumps, treat them. If you do not, you are managing a problem you do not have, and the cost is real.
And the bigger move: an actual fungal acne diagnosis is dermatologist territory. Ketoconazole, ciclopirox, and the prescription antifungals do the heavy work. The ingredient checkers help you not re-feed the yeast while the antifungals work. They are a supporting tool, not the treatment.
The real-world test
Specific case from the test window. I bought a new lightweight moisturizer in week four. Sezia cleared it. Folliculitis Scout flagged one ingredient (PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate) yellow, with a community note about it triggering some users with sensitive Malassezia patterns. I used it anyway for fourteen days. By day eleven I had seventeen new uniform bumps along my hairline, the unmistakable fungal-pattern itch. Two and a half weeks of pyrithione zinc cleanser and dropping that product got me back to clear.
Sezia was technically correct about the ingredient. Folliculitis Scout’s community had logged the real-world signal first. That is the case for using both, even though the workflow is slower.
Verdict, and who shouldn’t use either of these
If you suspect fungal acne, run new products through Sezia first. If a product passes Sezia and you are still suspicious, check Folliculitis Scout for community signal. If you have other sensitivities (fragrance, preservatives, allergens), pair these tools with a broader allergen checker.
Skip both if you do not have fungal acne. The checkers will flag a long list of ingredients that are fine for most people most of the time, and the anxiety they generate is real and rarely warranted. If you are not sure whether you have fungal acne, get to a dermatologist before you start hunting ingredients. A two-week course of antifungal cleanser as a diagnostic test is more useful than two months of self-managing with an ingredient flag list.
For the full picture, our fungal acne (Malassezia) piece is the long read on why standard acne treatments fail this condition. The skin microbiome piece covers why aggressive antibacterial routines can actually feed yeast. And for the calming side of recovery once the flare-up is down, the centella asiatica piece pairs well with antifungal recovery.
FAQ
How do I know if it’s fungal acne or regular acne? Uniform bumps in size, often on the forehead, chest, back, and upper arms. Itchy in a way bacterial acne usually is not. Resistant to standard acne treatments. If you have all three, the answer is probably yes, and a dermatologist can confirm.
Is Sezia or Folliculitis Scout more accurate? Sezia’s ingredient analysis is more rigorous and faster. Folliculitis Scout’s community data catches things ingredient analysis cannot. Use both for any product you suspect.
Does fungal acne ever go away on its own? Mild cases sometimes. Most cases need at least a topical antifungal. The diet-driven flare-ups (high-sugar, alcohol-heavy stretches) often clear partially when the diet normalizes. The ingredient-driven flare-ups do not clear until you cut the triggering products.
Can I use a regular moisturizer and just spot-treat? Probably not, if you have an active flare-up. The yeast is being fed by the moisturizer all over the affected area. Spot-treating the bumps while continuing to feed the underlying overgrowth is the most common reason “fungal acne treatment” fails.
Are oils always bad for fungal acne? Not always. Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), squalane derived from olive at certain purities, and a few specific oils are tolerated. Sezia and Folliculitis Scout will both flag the questionable ones. Most heavier oils with oleic acid content over a threshold do feed Malassezia.
What about pyrithione zinc shampoos used on the face? A standard part of the fungal acne playbook for many years. Use as a short-contact cleanser (apply, leave for two minutes, rinse), not as a moisturizer. Talk to a dermatologist if you are doing it daily for more than three weeks without improvement.
Sources
Malassezia (pityrosporum) folliculitis: diagnosis and treatment, Indian Journal of Dermatology, 2014. AAD.org/” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>American Academy of Dermatology resources on Malassezia folliculitis. Clinical practice guidance from dermatology textbooks on yeast-mediated folliculitis, 2023.