Of the different complexion problems that people come to me for help for enlarged pores seems to be becoming more and more of a problem for people. They seem to be more frustrated by enlarged pores and it is probably because it is a more difficult problem to solve. Is there a solution for enlarged pores? Of course there is. It consists of both chemical and physical exfoliation. Enlarged pores occur mostly on the nose or near the nose; next to it or above the nose. They look like dark dots or light dots but the real reason that you see enlarged pores is because they cast shadows as they are little holes in the opening of the pores and those clogged pores, those enlarged pores are really caused by the oil clogs inside. The round circles that you see as the pores are really an end of a tube that comes from an oil gland below the skin (the tube comes up to the surface of the skin). The purpose of that tube is to conduct the oil up from the gland out to the skin. That tube has an inner skin and that skin has dead cells, just like your skin every place else and as this oil comes up the tube and mixes with the dead cells, if it mixes with too many dead cells you get a clog and when you get a clog that is what causes enlarged pores. So let me show you what happens. Come on I know you’ve been wondering what the balloon is for so let me show you. [Dr. Schultz blows up a balloon which has a circle drawn along the top.] The shape of the balloon and its relative size is an example of your oil gland, and the circle really correlates with the opening of the pore or the end of the tube. The important thing is that there is a relationship between the size of the gland and the size of the pore or the opening. When there is a clog, the oil gland does not know that there is a clog. What does the oil gland do? What any well behaved oil gland doe t keeps making oil. And when it keeps making more oil, even though there is a clog, it has to expand because it can not get the oil pass the clog. So this is what happens. [Dr. Schultz blows up the balloon even more and the circle on the top gets even bigger.] The oil glands get larger and look what happens to the size of the pore (circle). So that is why clogs cause enlarged pores. So what is the solution for enlarged pores? It is a combination of physical and chemical exfoliation. First, in the shower everyday, but just at the end of the shower after your pores have been steaming, take a granular cleanser. Very gently massage the granular cleanser into the large-pored areas for no more than ten to fifteen seconds and then rinse it off. After the shower, pat dry and take a gentle chemical exfoliant that either has a glycolic between 5 – 10% or salicylic of about 2% in it and apply a very small amount. Do this every day, once a day, and in a period of about two weeks you will start to see smaller appearing pores and I promise this annoying problem will be on its way to resolution.