Complete Guide to Enlarged Pores
Have you looked into the mirror and immediately noticed the size of your pores? Or felt that your pores look larger than they once were? As we age, our pores tend to become enlarged; something we can't hide and that makeup even makes look worse. What makes enlarged pores such a major concern for so many people is that they are a difficult problem to solve. But how do pores become enlarged, and what can be done to treat them?
What Are Enlarged Pores?
Think of each of your pores as the end of a small tube. This tube extends out from your oil glands in order to bring oil from the glands up to the skin. The walls of this tube are composed of skin cells, which, like all other skin cells, regularly die and fall off. When a surplus of oil travels from the gland below, and up the tube, it can become mixed with these dead skin cells. As time passes and the oil and dead cells continue to mix, a clog develops. This is where unsightly problems begin: as this clog grows and stretches the tube, pores become visibly enlarged.
Treating Enlarged Pores
At one point or another, most of us have tried some form of pore treatment. Whether it was a pore strip, scrub, or silicone based cover-up, odds are that it didn't have much of an effect. The problem with most pore treatments is that they only affect the surface: they aren't able to get into the pore itself to remove the clog. Instead, you need to use a treatment that can get deep down into those clogged pores, to dissolve the dead cells and oil, and clean out the debris. Gentle yet effective glycolic acid is one example of an ingredient effective at helping to treat pores. Once the clog is removed from the enlarged pore, it is able to return to its normal size. Wonder what a normal pore looks like? See the nose of a seven year old.
Can All Enlarged Pores be Successfully Treated?
Good news: All pore clogs are the same (dead cells, oil and debris) and as a result, any effective pore treatment that works for one person should work for all. However, there are certain enlarged pores that cannot effectively be treated: stretched and scarred pores. The best way to determine whether the appearance of your pores can be minimized is to look in the mirror and determine whether there's actually something clogging them - in which case they can be treated - or not - in which case they can't. However, most pores are enlarged due to clogs and can be treated with at-home pore treatment products.
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