Thank you for your question. This is indeed a common concern for us all.
I shall touch on a few other points.
What are pores?
Pores are akin to breathing holes for your skin. They grow in size with age.
What causes pores?
Pores are caused by 3 main reasons.
- First, impurities like dead skin, debris, excess oil is trapped inside and causes it to grow like a balloon.
- Second, ageing causes the loss of collagen and elastin, so the pores lose the tautness and distends. Finally environmental factors like smoking and sun exposure speeds up the ageing process via collagen breakdown.
- Your genetic makeup.
So the big question is, how can you minimise your pores?
Treatment can be divided into lifestyle changes and advanced procedures.
- Sun protection. Never leave home without them. Remember my T.C.S principle.
- Exofoliate with your homecare retinoids, AHAs and BHAs. If you require more, the next step is chemical peels, as these remove the dead skin cells and excess oil in your skin, and help your skin to thicken and boost hydration.
- Antioxidants. Here’s where drinking your green tea and considering your Heliocare White Radiance will help. These reduce the photodamage to your skin and the loss of collagen and elastin.
- Cleanse, tone and moisturize, because this will help to reduce the impurities clogging and distending your poor pore.
If after the above measures, you are still unhappy with the way your pores look, you may explore more advanced treatments. Let me share with you some.
3 ADVANCED Steps to MINIMISE your pores
- Lasers and IPL
- Energy based devices – RF microneedling / Skinboosters
- Microbotox
The science behind this is NEW collagen production, which helps in tightening your pores. Your pores are minimised. However, with ageing and environmental damage, collagen is lost and thats WHY pores grow larger with time.
As both doctors have touched on these treatments, I shall not go into detail.
So I hope this has been useful. Remember, small pores are possible!
