By What are pores?
Pores are the areas where our oil glands open onto the surface of the skin.
The sebum produced by the oil glands is essential for the skin barrier and provides protection against environmental factors.
In other words, pores are crucial for proper skin function and a healthy skin barrier. Therefore, completely getting rid of pores is not possible. It’s important not to believe individuals or products that promise to eliminate pores entirely. This is a significant point because having healthy skin doesn’t necessarily mean having flawless skin!
Why do they enlarge?
Intense sebum production (often genetic)
Loss of elasticity around the pores (often age-related)
Inadequate cleansing; Accumulation of oil, dirt, and dead skin cells can cause them to appear larger.
While it’s not possible to completely eliminate enlarged pores, I will share recommendations and treatment options to minimize their appearance in my next article.
Recommendations
- Cleansing – Twice a day
- Excessive cleansing can paradoxically lead to increased sebum production!
- Don’t skip the toner step.
- Non-comedogenic moisturizer: Prevents TEWL (Transepidermal Water Loss) and excessive sebum production.
- Non-comedogenic sunscreen: Protecting the skin against sun damage means less collagen breakdown and tighter skin.
Topical treatments
- Salicylic acid: A lipid-soluble BHA that is effective in pore cleansing and tightening.
- Glycolic acid: Triggers exfoliation in the superficial layer.
- Niacinamide: Balances sebum production.
- Retinoids: Clears surface dead cells in the short term.
- Stimulates collagen production for long-term skin tightening.
- Azelaic acid: Reduces dead skin cells.
Tto (Tea tree oil) and green tea: Reduce sebum production. They have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.
Oral treatments
- Vitamin A: Reduces the size and activity of oil glands.
- Anti-androgenic treatments
- Non-invasive procedures: Approaches that increase collagen production, tighten the skin, and have skin-rejuvenating properties.
- Laser treatments
- Microneedling (Dermaroller/ Dermapen)
- Collagen injections
- Mesotherapy