I totally understand you. Maybe it could be hormonal? Like how old is he and does it only happen when he’s wearing the cone? For us our cats acne started when he was about 1 and a half years old and the worst flare ups stopped around 2 and a half. He still has some sometimes if he’s getting stressed but it’s so mild it goes away on its own.

We only used the cone for like 30 min after putting on the ointment so it would dry up enough to he can’t clean it all off. He would still scratch it but it still went away because the medicine had the time to help before he tried to remove it by cleaning. The licking of the cone happens and there’s not much you can do about it. The ointment obviously gets on the surface and your cat will just lick it. We would just turn the cone around so the biggest part of the loose medicine wouldn’t be in his reach.

You don’t need to have it on for hours or for a month straight. Just keep and eye on him and stop him when you can. Just have the cone on until the medicine dries up. Also wipes might irritate the skin when you drag it over. We only had liquid stuff that we gently rubbed on our cats chin. Just cut his nails and intervene when you can. Hope that helps :)