What Are Enlarged Pores?

Enlarged pores are open pores and ducts that contain sweat and oil from the eccrine glands and sebaceous glands that appear as a depression on the outermost surface layer of the facial skin.

What Can Enlarged Pores Do To The Skin?

The size of the pore does matter. Enlarged pores usually indicate that the pores are clogged or an accumulation of bacteria has built up inside the pores that are bad for the skin.

Enlarged pores cause a negative impact on the skin which makes the skin appear dull and unhealthy. As enlarged pores cause the pores to clog up or a build-up of bacteria, it might also trigger and lead to acne breakouts or even make you look older than you are,

Individuals that have naturally oily skin are prone to experiencing enlarged pores as the pores collect dead skin cells, excess oil, and dirt, resulting in skin swelling that causes pores to appear bigger than usual.

What Are The Causes Of Enlarged Pores?

There are many factors that lead to pore enlargement. It is necessary to understand the reason behind the enlarged pores in order to treat it.

• Genetic

The size of the pores actually depends on the genes and it is largely determined by the family tree. Individuals that have a natural oily skin tend to experience having larger pores because it will be releasing oil more actively than usual through the wider openings. This can occur on areas such as the forehead, cheeks and nose.

• Sun Exposure

Prolonged exposure of the sun can lead to pore enlargement because the sun contains ultraviolet (UV) rays that are harmful to the skin, leading to a decrease in collagen and elastin production, and also a loss of water that damages the skin that cause sagging and stretching of the pore opening.

• Decrease in Skin Elasticity

Skin elasticity starts to decrease due to the loss of collagen and elastin production as we age, also known as skin ageing. Ageing is inevitable and causes the skin to sag that leads to the enlargement of pores. Collagen is an important element that keeps our skin firm and structured that gives off a smooth skin texture.

• Overproduction of Sebum

One reason that leads to enlarged pores are due to an increase of production in sebum, responsible for keeping the face moisturized and keeps the skin oily as each pores contains sebaceous oil glands that produce sebum. However, if there is an overproduction of sebum, it will fill up the sebaceous filaments and become visible that resembles enlarged pores, causing the pore to form a plug when it is combined with dead skin cells and leading to the formation of blackheads or pimples.

If an overproduction of sebum can form blackheads. How about whiteheads?

Whiteheads are small bumps that stick up on the skin and appear as white or yellow in colour caused by an overproduction of sebum. Oil and dead skin close off hair follicles or sebaceous glands and form a closed bump on your skin known as comedones. Whiteheads are considered a type of acne known as acne vulgaris that occurs when a hair follicle or sebaceous gland gets inflamed. Inflammation can also occur when the formation of keratin is abnormal, responsible for providing protein and growth to the hair, skin and nails.

How to differentiate between blackheads and whiteheads?

Blackheads and whiteheads are both comedones caused by plugs of substances. But how do you differentiate between blackheads and whiteheads? Blackheads are dark in appearance because of oxidation and show up on the surface of the skin, while whiteheads are white in appearance that has a white head bump appearing on the skin surface.

Does Enlarged Pores Go Away On Its Own?

Enlarged pores do not go away on their own. However, pore size can be reduced by itself with a proper skincare routine as the pores include small openings that are meant to release oil and sweat produced naturally by the body.

It is always important to keep a lookout on the skin care products that you are using as some skin care products are only suitable for short term use while it might be bad for the skin with long term use. Oily skin usually relies on products that include salicylic acid to remove the outermost top layer of the facial skin in order to produce a drying effect to shrink pore size. However when the skin is experiencing a lack of moisture, it triggers the sebaceous glands to increase the production of sebum in order to restore the loss of moisture in the skin.

Cleansing the face is one of the important steps before proceeding to the skin care routine because a good cleanser helps to wash away any excess oil or dirt that stays on the face without absorbing the moisture in the skin.

Exfoliation is the first step towards the skin care routine after proceeding from cleansing the face as it helps to remove any excess flakes without over-stripping the skin and prevents the pores from clogging up.

Balancing the hydration with moisturizer is beneficial for the natural sebum to penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin and decrease the oily skin appearance.

Additionally, a clay mask can also benefit the skin from removing oil, dirt and dead skin deep inside the pores and make it appear smaller. However, it is only recommended to apply only once or twice a week and avoid the days where you exfoliate because it might cause irritation to the skin.

Sunscreen! The most important step to protect the skin from the sun. Sun exposure contains ultraviolet (UV) rays that are harmful to the skin. It is an essential step to put on sunscreen and prevent the risk of skin dehydration and wrinkles formation, and causing the pores to enlarge.

Aesthetic Treatments That Treats Enlarged Pores

Pico Laser

Pico Laser is a laser treatment that treats enlarged pores, acne marks, skin brightening, fine lines & wrinkles and unwanted pigmentations including sun spots, freckles, melasma or age spots.

Pico Laser is an effective and safe treatment that reduces sebum production and lessens breakouts by targeting the sebaceous glands. It also does not damage the surrounding tissues by releasing short pulses of laser light to trigger the specific areas of the skin with pigmentations, breaking down the pigments into the smallest fragments that the body can omit easily, at the same time brightening the skin.

Hollywood Carbon Laser Peel

Hollywood Carbon Laser Peel or Carbon Laser Peel is a laser treatment that is known for its benefits including skin rejuvenation, minimizing pore size by controlling sebum and acne, as well as skin brightening.

Hollywood Carbon Laser Peel boost collagen production and provide tightening and firming to the skin that can reduce the pore size and fine lines & wrinkles. The laser treatment contains thermal effects to shrink pore size and the laser is also known for creating implosion of carbon particles, omitting all impurities.

Rejuran Healer

Rejuran Healer is an injectable treatment containing Polynucleotides (PN) which is derived from salmon DNAtargeting anti-ageing dedicated for skin rejuvenation and collagen stimulation. The treatment is known for skin lifting that promotes pore size reduction, skin brightening and increasing skin hydration.

Conclusion

Reducing pore sizes can actually be easy and simple that does not require any complicated treatment or surgery because a proper skin care routine or safe and effective aesthetic treatments is what it takes to treat enlarged pores naturally.