Blackheads (also known as open comedones) form when pores in our skin are clogged with sebum (produced by the sebaceous gland), dead skin cells and impurities such as cosmetic products.
One way of permanently treating a blackhead caused by a particular sebaceous gland would be to use specially-targeted radiofrequency energy to cause selective destruction to this sebaceous gland, such as using the AGNES machine. This may be useful for patients with certain problematic areas e.g. recurrent blackheads/acne on certain areas.
However, we have millions of sebaceous glands on our skin - sebaceous glands are found in all skin on our body except the palms and soles, which is also why acne can theoretically occur on almost anywhere on the body. It would be quite impossible to permanently get rid of all of them.
In terms of controlling blackheads, and acne, in the long-term, I would suggest avoiding the use of products that may clog pores (such as comedogenic cosmetics), and the use of topical medical-grade creams to promote our skin’s normal shedding of dead skin cells so that they do not clog up the pores, such as differin gel and treitinoin creams.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Dr. Joanna Chan
