14 replies to this topic

[ms.brightside]

I hate my pores! I've tried almost every OTC product that I've ever heard or read someone say "minimized" their pores. So far, nothing has worked for me and I'm totally depressed and clueless about what to do now.

I've had big pores since my teens but they've only been noticeably enlarged/scarred since I was somewhere around 21 years old (I'm going to be 29 in a couple months). Can't say that I understand what's caused this because I'm not a picker and never really had a blackhead/whitehead problem in the areas where I have huge pores, which is mostly on my nose and front of my cheeks. Maybe it's just genetics but I'm adopted so I can't look at my biological mother or father and see the proof. Since I had my second child about a year ago...the pore situation has gotten totally out of control and the products I used for years and years that kept my pores in an unchanged state (never better but never worse) stopped working for me. So now my enlarged pores are bigger and multiplying and make me feel just generally shitty on a daily basis.

I went to a dermatologist for the first time about a month ago and she prescribed Differin gel, which didn't make much sense to me because I don't have much acne. I called a couple days later and asked for Retin-a but was prescribed Tretinoin cream .025%. I also ordered a couple samples of Green Cream levels 3 and 6 at around the same time. I've been using one or the other every night for at least a month and sometimes use the level 3 Green Cream in the morning, on top of some 10% mandelic acid from Garden of Wisdom.

Honestly, I'm starting to think that these things are making my pores even worse. The shape of my pores is definitely changed but not neccessarily for the better. Maybe they just seem bigger because they aren't as spread out and because theres less gunk in them? Maybe it's the Neutrogena dry touch sunblock...which feels grossly thick. It's spf 70, maybe thats why. I dunno. I swear I never had this many pores on my nose before! I can't even put makeup on my nose now without it sinking in to every gigantic hole and looking disgusting. That never used to happen. Ugh.

I called the derm's office today and requested Tretinoin gel instead of cream. They called it in so I'll pick that up tonight and try it out. Since starting Tretinoin and green cream, my skin has never been oilier. My nose and my cheeks right next to my nose feel greasy less than an hour after I wash my face. Maybe I should switch from Cetaphil normal/oily to something else?

Seriously, I'm clueless now. I thought a retinoid would be my life saver because I read everywhere that they refine pores. How are my pores supposed to refine when they've got more oil than Iraq??? And apparently the oily thing is pretty common while using retinoids, at least from what I've been reading here on the boards. I'm really stressed today and sick of seeing all these holes in my face when I look in the mirror....

[ms.brightside]

Note to self:

Find a new sunblock.

[acne_battle]

How are your pores supposed to refine when they have more oil than Iraq I like your analogy! Sorry the cetaphil isnt working for you. I hated cetaphil. I hate a lot of products though because my skin is sensitive and doesnt agree with a lot of products. Have you tried using a facial mask and leaving it on overnight?

[ms.brightside]

How are your pores supposed to refine when they have more oil than Iraq I like your analogy! Sorry the cetaphil isnt working for you. I hated cetaphil. I hate a lot of products though because my skin is sensitive and doesnt agree with a lot of products. Have you tried using a facial mask and leaving it on overnight?

Haha! Thanks.

I'm kind of getting to the point where I don't like Cetaphil too much myself. Seems like it doesn't take off makeup well either. I never thought about doing a mask overnight...but sounds like it might be a good way to control oil. Hmmm. I have some Queen Helene mint julep stuff but I bet thats too harsh for overnight. Anything you recommend??

[ms.brightside]

Last night I didn't use any tretinoin because I'm a little peely. Washed my face, waited about 30 minutes and then mixed a tiny bit of Queen Helene mint julep mask with water and spread a thin layer over my nose and fronts of my cheeks. It didn't feel too dry at all and I woke up to no oil in that area. My forehead and chin where I didn't put the mask were oily.

I feel okay about my skin today...but it's early and the worst part of the day is putting on my makeup. I wish I could feel comfortable not wearing any makeup. Thinking about getting microdermabrasion treatments on a regular basis.

[ms.brightside]

I'm so happy that I switched from the tretinoin cream to the gel! My face isn't nearly as oily anymore, which makes me feel a lot better about the possibility of helping my pores out. I'm not too peely but my face does feel too dry if I don't moisturize. I've never been a big moisturizer because I always thought it would break me out too much. Same with wearing sunblock.

I know I have to do both now but I don't like the idea of laying two potentially pore clogging products on my face...followed by makeup...so I got a two in one product. It's just basic Cetaphil daily moisturizer with sunblock in it and it doesn't leave my face feeling greasy at all. So far so good.

I'm definitely still purging and I think a lot of it is because I was switching from Tretinoin cream to Green cream off and on, and now to Tretinoin gel. Hopefully, now that I can commit myself to just one, my skin will have a chance to adjust and calm down. Right now I have tons of whiteheads and blackheads that are all surfacing and they don't look too bad but they feel awful. My face feels like I need to exfoliate all the time...which is frustrating...because I know I shouldn't over exfoliate. I also have six or seven pimples right now which started out as whiteheads. I had a pretty painful pimple on my chin a few days ago but it went away almost as fast as it showed up.

I'm going to stick it out and hope that in the next couple weeks the purging stops, or at least slows down. I don't think I'll put any Tretinoin on tonight because I think my dried out pimples could use a break...I get tempted to peel the dry skin off when they get like this. I don't need them to dry out even more and then I can't resist and ended up with scars....

[Irin99]

Note to self:

Find a new sunblock.

You and your baby are gorgeous!!!

FYI, I just started using Neutrogena's Dry Touch spf 45 sunblock. It is super light, dries fast, and is NOT greasy!!!

LOL, note to self...read your sig before posting about a product....

[HolisticJane]

I so sympathize with you on humungo pores. I got em too. They seem to get bigger with age. I'm so desperate I'm thinking abut getting laser done for scars, pores and spots. Also hated cetaphil. My dermatologist doesn't even recommend it anymore. She says it's too drying and actually clogs pores. Go firgure!

You and your baby are so freaking cute!!!

[ms.brightside]

Note to self:

Find a new sunblock.

You and your baby are gorgeous!!!

FYI, I just started using Neutrogena's Dry Touch spf 45 sunblock. It is super light, dries fast, and is NOT greasy!!!

LOL, note to self...read your sig before posting about a product....

Thank you

I was using the Neutrogena Dry Touch spf 70. I wonder if the higher spf could make it greasier or more pore clogging? I probably need to educate myself on sunblocks a little more so I have a better shot at picking out a decent one. Hmm...maybe I'd have better luck with the spf 45 Dry Touch....

Thanks for the help anyway!

[ms.brightside]

I so sympathize with you on humungo pores. I got em too. They seem to get bigger with age. I'm so desperate I'm thinking abut getting laser done for scars, pores and spots. Also hated cetaphil. My dermatologist doesn't even recommend it anymore. She says it's too drying and actually clogs pores. Go firgure!

You and your baby are so freaking cute!!!

They absolutely get bigger with age, I agree! It's totally frustrating. I was seriously considering getting lasered before I started reading up on people's results here on the boards. Now, because of a few bad results, I'm too nervous. I understand that feeling of desperation though. If you get it done, or whatever you choose to do, I wish you the best!

[ms.brightside]

Day 17 on Tretinoin gel:

I'm definitely still purging. My face is not looking very cute and it feels dry and course. I have a nasty combination of rough/flakey skin, 4 active pimples, lots of whiteheads and blackheads from all the gunk pushing it's way to the surface of my skin, and about 12 pigmentation marks leftover from IB pimples. Also, it seems like my face is really blotchy and red right now.

I've only had one painful pimple so far. That one was on my chin and it went away pretty quickly, but it left a pigmented scar that's taking it's sweet time to go away. The rest of the IB pimples were small or were just whiteheads that became inflamed from me messing with them. I'm trying really, really hard to keep myself from extracting or squeezing the whiteheads and blackheads. They're so disgusting though, that the urge to get them out of my pores is hard to resist. It's almost like they are poking out of my skin...like hard sebum pushing it's way out? I can't explain it. I'm not nearly as oily as I was when I was using Tretinoin cream at night and Green Cream every other morning. So far, I'm pretty happy with the gel, except that it's hard to apply because it absorbs into my skin faster than I can spread it around on my face. I'd much rather deal with that than the greasy cream though.

I'm not sure if this stuff is helping the size of my pores, but it does seem like the pores on my cheeks are a little refined. The pores on my nose seem worse but I don't know because my memory sucks. I should have taken some close-up pictures without makeup so I'd have something more accurate than my bad memory to judge from. I hate taking pictures like that though because it depresses me!

Not sure if my hyperpigmentation is getting darking but sometimes it seems like it. Scars are not refined to any noticeable point yet. It's way too soon to decide whether or not I'll get the improvements I want. I'm just going to keep at it. Don't think I'll quit until at least the six month mark. That should be plenty of time to get some results.

[didi78]

After reading the way you described the size of your pores, I'm so curious to what they look like! Any chance you can post pictures?

You and your baby make the cutest team ever!

[ms.brightside]

After reading the way you described the size of your pores, I'm so curious to what they look like! Any chance you can post pictures?

You and your baby make the cutest team ever!

Thanks =)

I have a couple pictures in my gallery. I'm wearing primer and makeup in them, believe it or not. Many of my pores are so stretched they look like small acne scars.

[jdmeg6]

it has been a few years, did the tretinoin gel .025% work for you? is you skin clear now?

[thisisnothollywood]

Yes I am curious too?