Size may be hereditary, but armed with the latest science and beauty information, you can vastly diminish the appearance of your pores.
Few women enjoy zero-up keep skin; usually it’s too sensitive or too dry, prone to spots of afflicted with, what looks to you like, enormous pores. While less frustrating than perpetual blemishes, pores require a similarly vigilant counter-oil campaign. Yet, given the number of remedies, from facials and products to lasers and prescribed solutions, isolating a line of attack can be bewildering.
A pore is the opening of the pilosebaceous unit (“pilo” meaning hair, “sebaceous” meaning oil), which connects the hair follicle and oil-producing gland. “Sebaceous plugs,” as dermatologists charmingly identify blackheads, are not caused by overbearing glands but by abnormal cell turnover in the follicle lining. This creates a viscous paste that, when exposed to air, oxidizes and turns black. The size of pores is hereditary, expands with age and is affected by climate.
So, what’s a pore girl to do? While size cannot be permanently altered, the appearance can be noticeably diminished. Deluged pores expand and thicken, resulting in larger repositories for oil and dirt. The single most important thing you can do is to keep them scrupulously clean. Often viewed as a superfluous step, alcohol-based toner cause capillaries to dilate and the pore’s erectile muscles to constrict, eliciting a temporary tightening effect. “Astringents swell the skin around the pore, making it look smaller,” says dermatologist Dr. Sheetal Sapra of the institute of Cosmetic & Laser Surgery in Oakville, Ontario.
For lasting results, choose products containing salicylic acid. It promotes cell turnover and loosens trapped muck. Select absorbent masks that include mineral-rich kaolin clay (also known as “white” or “China” clay). It can be bought as pure powder in health stores and used alone or added to commercial masks. Exfoliating vitamin A creams, available via prescription, improve keratinization, otherwise known as skin renewal. “They clean pores, have an antibacterial action and stop plugs from forming,” explains Sapra. They also leave skin photosensitive, so they are not recommended for those who eschew SPF – which you should be using given that UV rays break down skin’s collagen support structure, making it looser and causing pores to look larger. Since both salicylic acid and vitamin A may leave skin parched, and a dry skin surface traps impurities, apply every other day if you’re feeling arid.
Knowing that balance is the issue with combination skin, Dr. Lisa Kellett of Toronto’s SpaMedica has launched the Clear Acne Treatment Program ($179 for a four-piece starter kit, at clearclinical.com). Targeted at adults with oily/sensitive skin, it mixes anti-acne with anti-aging additives: benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid and vitamin A. “I made it for me initially. [Anti-oil] products were too drying; anti-aging were too rich.” Extracting whiteheads and blackheads is best left to the professionals. If you must, gently steam to soften skin and impacted material, then approach gingerly.
Excessive pressure can result in broken capillaries around the nose and spread bacteria below the surface. “If the follicle wall is injured, contents of the plug dump into the surrounding dermis,” says Dr. Kellett. “This creates inflammation and can turn into a blemish.” Also, avoid creamy cosmetics. Downplay pores and shine with mattifiers; gels are best, and as an added bonus, they act as makeup primers (Sally Hansen’s Cornsilk, $11, at drugstores, makes a lightly mentholated one). For more coverage, opt for tinted moisturizer, but select water-based ones. “Many oil-free products cause breakouts,” counsels Dr. Kellet. “If it’s thick and you have trouble pouring it out of the bottle, skip it.” With its exfoliating and skin-plumping ability to stimulate collagen flow, the sugar cane-derived glycolic acid mitigates fine lines and sun damage, but congested pores find more benefit in the willow bark-based salicylic acid, which penetrates more deeply.
From Fashion Magazine, Summer 2004, text by Viia Beaumanis. To read the entire article please click here
