Pores and Acne Scars

Overview

Pores are normal anatomical structures of the skin that are meant to secrete sebum, sweat, or be tracks for hair follicles. Sometimes, these structures become large enough to be noticeable and unappealing. And sometimes, they become clogged and cause a secondary problem like folliculitis or acne.

Having large pores doesn’t necessarily mean you will get acne. But since the two depend on each other, controlling one can help control the other. When there is continuous acne exposure to the skin, there is a higher risk of having acne scarring. Also, acne scars don’t have to necessarily develop in everyone who struggles with acne. Scarring tends to be genetically linked to an inpidual’s unique inflammation response.

What causes of large pores?

This is another thing that you can blame on genetics! In general, there are few things that make these pores look larger:

• Oily skin – Oily Skin tends to show more pores, so choosing a good Skincare regimen is very important to keep this feature under control. Your skin secretes sebum (natural oils) to keep skin healthy and hydrated. But some people — typically those with oily skin — have higher sebum production than others.
• Age – This is mainly secondary to the loss of skin elasticity. There is also an element of sun damage, which starts showing up with age too as damaged cells collect around the pores making them look bigger.
• Sex – Men tend to have larger pores than women. But during certain hormonal changes; pregnancy, postpartum, menopause, etc. These pores may seem to enlarge in females!

How to prevent Acne Scars?

• Treat acne early and aggressively.
• Don’t pick on your acne! scarring that happens secondary to picking on your acne is far worst than the scars caused by the acne itself.
• Find a good skincare regimen to clean your face. Remember that it’s very important to be gentle with your skin. Harsh scrubbing, can only increase the inflammation causing more problems.

Types of Acne scars

It is important to realize that there are different types of acne scars. That mean, treatment should be tailored to the type of scars a patient has:

1. Ice Pick Scars
2. Rolling Scars
3. Shallow Boxcar Scars
4. Deep Boxcar Scars
5. Hypertrophic Scars
6. Hyperpigmentation Scars (not real scars – commonly resolve on their own)

How to treat large pores and acne scars?

There has been a great improvement in the large pores and acne scars’ treatment. These treatments promise to provide significant improvement in a person’s appearance. Some of these treatments include:

Sublative.This is an FDA approved Radio-frequency treatment using our eTwo matching that stimulates collagen and elastin by inducing heat and micro-injuries under the skin. This treatment is meant to enhance the general texture of the skin, hence improving the appearance of pores and scars especially the Rolling and Boxcar scars.

Microneedling – It’s a great method for pores and acne scars’ treatment. The more the injury, the more aggressive is the healing!. Microneedling is the art of inducing tiny controlled injuries to the skin using tiny sterile needles to enhance the internal healing process to produce more collagen. Thus it helps to improve the appearance of pores and scars especially the Rolling and Boxcar scars.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) – Growth factors in PRP separated from your own blood and injected back into the skin enhance the production of collagen, and hyaluronic acid and help in the reduction of the appearance of acne scars. This has been shown to be helpful in all types of scars except the Ice Pick scars.

Fillers – Injection of hyaluronic acid fillers under acne scars, especially Rolling scars, have shown to decrease the irregularities of the skin and the appearance of the scars. It was also found that this has worked as a natural stimulus for the skin to produce its own collagen and hyaluronic acid to improve the appearance of pores and scars.

Laser Rejuvenation – This has shown to improve the elasticity and texture of the skin, hence improving the appearance of acne scars, pores, wrinkles and more.

How many treatment sessions do I need?

Each patient is different depending on the type and amount of scars they have. But in general, in order to see a significant improvement, most people require between 3-6 sessions of any treatments spaced 4-6 weeks apart. Acne scars are hard to break into, and so it’s very important that clients will have realistic expectations on the number of sessions needed and results that could be achieved.