How To Make Your Pores Smaller

How To Make Your Pores Smaller

A pore may be small, but they are a huge concern for many of my cosmetic patients. Although  are not a recognised condition, every cosmetic dermatologist hears the term several times daily in the form of a complaint. No one likes to have visibly open pores or pores which are larger than they have been in the past. Thankfully, there are solutions to this perennial problem.
About Your Pores
The size of your pores is genetically determined. These little openings are the outlets for sebum (produced by the oil glands) and hairs. Where there is no oil flow or hair is non-existent or extremely fine, the pores, which are ubiquitous over the body, will not be visible, but they are there.
Oily skin, damage due to sun exposure, some inflammatory skin disorders (particularly rosacea) can render once invisible pores visible. If your pores become filled with oil, debris, dirt, comedogenic (pore-clogging) cosmetics and some sunscreens, they expand.
The pore becomes visible because its contents become delineated from the surrounding poreless skin. The contents of the pore will usually be light-grey/brown, white (if infected) or even black (if the contents oxidize, in which case they are more properly called blackheads or comedones).
There are many ways to evacuate the pores to make them appear smaller, if not essentially invisible.
The Best Ways To Banish Pores
As pores cannot be made to close, removing their visible contents is the means by which to reduce their visibility.
Patients often take to squeezing their pores, but this leads to inflammation (which exaggerates the size of the pore) and doesn’t remove the entire contents of the congested pore. It also doesn’t do anything to curb the process of their pore being filled with oil and debris, so squeezing is a very temporary fix at best. If you squeeze your pores repeatedly, you’ll find you develop light grey or brown marks (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation) in response to the inflammation you cause. These marks can take months to clear up.
Exfoliation is the method which clears pores, but what is the best exfoliating method? The skin care market abounds with facial scrubs, electric facial brushes such as the Clarisonic and Olay Professional Pro-X Advanced Cleansing System, cleansers, moisturizers and facial masks containing all manner of purportedly purifying extracts.
In my clinical experience, products containing salicylic acid and retinol work best. Providing you use them as directed, you should not experience significant or lasting side effects. In fact, salicylic acid is an anti-inflammatory.

Typical side effects from these ingredients include short-term stinging, very transient redness (lasting less than a few hours) and very mild skin peeling (which is actually a positive sign that exfoliation is taking place). These two ingredients are found in several drug store and medical cosmetic products (cleansers, scrubs, masks, serums and moisturizers). I find that a relatively simple formula with only one intended purpose such as Melbourne Dermatology’s delivers the benefits of these ingredients better than products containing twenty or in some cases hundreds of ingredients. I also like products from Glytone and Vivite which are available from medical cosmetic offices.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants, such as green tea, idebenone, caffeine and phloretin, can also help reduce the appearance of pores by limiting inflammation and the oxidation of pore-clogging material. When the contents of the pores is exposed to the oxygen in the atmosphere, it darkens and becomes more visible. Products containing high concentrations of antioxidants can prevent environmental oxygen from affecting the pore contents. Once again, I prefer products that contain few ingredients and high concentrations, such as Prevage MD, RevalSkin Coffeeberry products and Skinceuticals Ploretin CF. Compared with the aforementioned salicylic acid and retinol however, these products will tend to assist and support continued results rather than make significant inroads into actively treating the pores.
IPL
Another treatment modality showing promise is that of IPL (Intense Pulsed Light). Although IPL is usually used to improve skin texture and reduce the redness of rosacea and other inflammatory skin disorders, dermatologists (and patients!) often remark that this form of light therapy reduces the appearance of pores. This is thought to be due to the extremely mild swelling produced by IPL. The effect is temporary but readily noticeable and can be called upon if you need to boost the treatment of your pores for a special occasion.
Supplementary Cosmetics
There are skin care products which are marketed as minimizing pore appearance. One launched in the last week is La Prairie Cellular Emulsion Matte Pore Minimizer. Some of these products contain very small concentrations of salicylic acid (below 2%) and may help. Patients find these cosmetics can offer benefit in addition to a dedicated visible pore treatment such as those mentioned above, but their effects on their own tend to be too modest to produce clearly noticeable results.
Makeup primers can be a boon if you find your foundation “settles” into your pores, highlighting the edge of each pore with a kind of micro-crust. Primers can help curb oiliness. One such primer I recommend is OC Eight. This is a very simple but effective product containing an inert, synthetic, clear starch capable of absorbing oil without causing dryness.
My suggestions here should greatly reduce the appearance of your pores, however in some cases expert attention may be required. A cosmetic physician such as a cosmetic dermatologist or plastic surgeon can assist you in formulating a skin care regimen and possible other treatment protocols to absolutely maximize your skin’s appearance.