65 replies to this topic

[endocardia]

What happens when you squeeze these too hard and it leaves red patches - I did some brutality to my face - now is it permanently damaged? The surface of my skin is red and painful, when I squeezed that hardened white gunk came out thinking they were blackheads. How do I fix this

[wicky]

i;ve just read the thread on sebaceous filaments and have finally have an answer to what is going on with my chin but upset to learn it doesnt seem preventable or curable. At times I have tons of small pin sized white dots in my entire chin area. Mostly in the corners of my mouth and down toward the tip of my chin. I'm not sure what brings them on or become more pronounced at certain times. I wash with a gently with neutrogena gentle cleanser and exfoliate with cotton pads that have a gentle side and a rougher side regularly. I thought they might be milia and frequent exfoliation is suppose to help. Sometimes if i try and extract them a little white plug will shoot out and then i know i got the entire root of it. Other times, even though it looks like its right at the surface and i try and extract it, it does not come out and makes an open cut. I can still see the plug but cannot grab it because the area where i made this hole has no skin around it. Its similiar to extracting a blackhead that you dont get. It will take forever to heal. its digusting having these because sometimes in the morning they look tolerable and by the end of the day they are like little explosions everywhere. It seems the oil brings them out. Has any one had any look with supplements controling oil production. i"m currently starting my 5th month of spironolactone and dont see any difference from march when i started it. I already take iron, flaxseed oil, and zinc. I've even tried mandelic acid 15% and it seems to bring everything up but doesnt prevent them. UGH is all I can say.....

[rivercat]

So...this WHOLE time I thought the "blackheads" in my cheeks were blackheads...it turns out they might actually be Sebaceous Filaments..? Well that sucks... Should I go to my derm and ask him what he thinks?

[wicky]

derms dont no squat...I find more answeres here on these boards than with the professional. They just throw medications and creams at you and ask you to come back next month. They truly dont know how to treat sometimes. I went to my derm this past Tuesday and he looked at my chin and said "Hmmmm....clogged pores I think. You might want to schedule an appointment with an aestethician. I wanted to scream. I've tried Ziana, Differin, Paulas 1% BHA lotion, BP, exfoliation, not exfoliating, vitamins & supplements and still cannot find something to prevent them. The only way to rid them is thru extraction but its crazy to stand in front of the mirror for an hour each evening with my blackhead remover. My family wants to know what the heck I do in there for so long...its heartbreaking..No one gets it but people that live by their skin

[wicky]

never had that...doesnt sound like sebaceous filament

[nickatnight]

OMG so helpful it explains alot and now I can stop squeezing the hell out of my nose !

Thanks!

Same here! Good information to know

[soloness]

so what the ### do we do?? There has to be a cure damnit. This isn't normal, most people dont have this stuff. If its the skin/oil, maybe accutane will help.

[bucketheadman]

up until a week or so ago I thought I was totally screwed with having to live with this forever and maybe I still will. But like a month ago I got some poison ivy from working in my backyard and it was really annoying since it messed up all my hands and I use my hands for work so it's sucked to say the least. But I used some isopropyl alcohol 91% on my poison ivy and it worked great. I then did some research and decided why not use it on my face and that was 2 and a half weeks ago and I think it's actually made my skin better. For the first time in a long time I'm optimistic about this helping.

[axamenta]

Doesn't matter how you call it, it's still acne. Blackhead, whitehead, "sebaceous filament"; whether smaller, bigger, darker, lighter, open or closed...
The pore is still clogged. Nobody tell me that's how healthy skin is supposed to look like. The plug is not supposed to be there (nott!! no no!)
If most people have this, most people have acne to some degree then

[ashala]

Doesn't matter how you call it, it's still acne. Blackhead, whitehead, "sebaceous filament"; whether smaller, bigger, darker, lighter, open or closed...
The pore is still clogged. Nobody tell me that's how healthy skin is supposed to look like. The plug is not supposed to be there (nott!! no no!)
If most people have this, most people have acne to some degree then

Considering almost 99% of the people who have them are the only ones who can see them, who cares?

No, it's not supposed to be there, but it doesn't look horrible or obvious for the majority of people. Those who have very obvious ones are probably dehydrating and irritating their skin far too much, as well as perhaps exfoliating too much. In which case they just need to stop all of the above for a month or two and it will likely die down.

And Time, doesn't sound like a sebaceous filament. Sebaceous filaments pretty much fill back up within 24 hours of squeezing them out, give or take. You probably had an actual blackhead. Or something else.

Maybe you should stop picking.

[AcneSlayer]

Yuck. I have these on my nose. I also have something on my chin that I think might be sebaceous filaments. The only difference is that these are actually raised up a little bit and are white-ish in color. They're absolutely disgusting. They are the size of the sebaceous filaments on my nose, but, like I said, they're actually little bumps. They're not small zits or anything, either. What do you think they are?

[hatori]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! I've always wondered what those things were. I feel like Dan should put this up somewhere on the site under "Acne Info" -- a lot of us just don't know any better and can't stop picking at these things.

I think we can all do a little bit better once we realize that half the things on our face (regardless of how strange they may look) are healthy and normal! Plus, most people can't see them unless they're quite literally "in your face." Thank you so much!

Edited by hatori, 10 March 2011 - 07:18 PM.

[wicky]

just wondering if we have any solutions on preventing these filaments from filling up..I cant believe my post was back in july of 2010 and i'm sitting her crying because these f""" filaments are protruding all over my chin...If I take my nail and gentle push them up and litttle squiggly line will shoot out...I thought these happen because our skin is oily in that area but I am so dry red and irritated there, and that is when they seem more apparent...Im am a lunatic over these..My derm wont even here of accutane for these and the spiro that im on now doesnt nor does the acnescript pills i take help..ANYONE PLSSSSS

[PaulH85]

I was just watching Tangerine's latest video on The Love Vitamin about clogged pores and it's the first time I've heard of Sebaceous filament. Seems we confuse the two.
I've got them on my nose and I often squeeze them. It looks alright at the time but shortly after, my nose will be bright red and sore. Maybe if I squeeze a little too hard, I'll end up with big red marks and they'll stay for a few days. Then it all fills up again. I've always thought these were blackheads!

I have one of the right side of my nose whish is far larger than the rest and people can probably see it, but the rest are probably only visible if you really look. Of course, the way I look in the mirror and search out every little thing means they seem huge to me. That's what freaks me out and that's what makes me squeeze them. It's that age-old idea that what I'm doing might actually make it "better". It's not as if they look really bad or gross or anything. Only becomes an issue when I turn it into one. Bit like the rest of my face I suppose.

So, I'm really glad I saw the video and I'm glad I saw this thread. I guess from now on I'll try and leave them alone more. And I'll certainly stop giving myself a hard time about them!

[wicky]

where is this video that you mentioned? I'd love to see it...you are so right about "what i'm doing right now hopefully will make things better...it never does

[KathyKelly]

This must be what I have. When I use pore strips I always pull loads of "blackheads" out but it makes no difference because the holes look exactly how the "blackheads" did. Does this sound like sebaceous filaments? My "blackheads" are technically are gone but there is not much visual difference because of the holes. :/
Can you actually get rid of sebaceous filaments? Maybe if you make sure you never have oil on your face/nose? Do I just have to learn to live with them?

Edited by KathyKelly, 29 April 2011 - 08:48 AM.

[Roller]

need to know if 15% mandelic acid will reduce the appearance of this. We must not let these sebaceous filaments win.

[cwest420]

~The more you know~

hahah thank you. i have them on my nose AND on my lipline.

~The more you know~

hahah thank you. i have them on my nose AND on my lipline.