Enlarged Pores - Why and what to do about them.

I got a question from Debbie regarding enlarged pores.  It seems that as she's gotten older the pores on her nose have gotten larger and she wants to know why and what can she do about them.  Enlarged pores are something that happens to everyone to a certain extant as they age.  They become enlarged because they get stretched out due to any number of issues such as; weight gain which can stretch the skin of your face; years being overly aggressive when putting on makeup, lotions, etc, remember, pat don't rub product into the delicate areas of your face such as the eyes and nose area; sun and wind damage can cause enlarged pores; poor skin cleaning habits and bad acne outbreaks can also cause pores to become enlarged.

What can you do about enlarged pores?  Unfortunately, you cannot shrink a pore, once it is stretched its stretched and that is that.  You can however minimize the appearance of enlarged pores.  Pore minimizers promise to reduce pore size and they do but only on a temporary basis.  They do this by causing the skin to swell slightly so that the pore size is less noticeable.  The effect is only temporary though and your pores will be back to normal by the next morning.

The next thing you can do about enlarged pores is to camouflage them with makeup.  There are many brands of makeup out there that have an 'Age Defying' formula in their line.  The way that most of them work is to include reflective particles in the formula so that the makeup reflects light away from imperfections in the face.  This works for wrinkles as well as enlarged pores.

The last thing you can do to improve the appearance of your pores should be paired with the first two methods I mentioned.  That is exfoliation.  A good exfoliation will improve the surface appearance of your skin by removing the excess dead cells from your skin.  This gives your skin a fresher, brighter appearance no matter what your age is and also gives makeup and pore minimizers a better surface to work with.

Now that I've mentioned exfoliation, I better tell you what to use.  I am personally not a fan of the gritty scrubs you can get at the grocery or discount store.  They are great for arms and legs but much to harsh for the delicate skin on your face.  If you want a gritty scrub go to your favorite spa and get what they recommend.  A spa product is going to have a much finer grit that will be suitable for the face and won't damage the skin.  The other type of exfoliation I recommend and what I use is a glycolic acid peel.  A nice 10 or 20% acid peel is a gentle, fast acting exfoliant that shows results very quickly.  If you go for the acid peel though be sure you follow the directions carefully.  Do not use the peel for a longer time or more frequently than the bottle recommends or you can injure your skin badly.

I hope this answers your question Debbie.

If you would like to get your skin care questions answered here either leave a comment on the blog or email me at hhertziger@gmail.com.  Thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you soon!