I believe what I have are oil plugs. It consists of a small, rice-shaped and is waxy/oily. It appears to be about 0.5-1.5 mm from a top view, and goes down into my skin about 3-4 mm. These are mostly on my inner cheek (the area right below the eyes), with small ones (about 1 mm) near my eyebrows and between them. I notice lots of even smaller ones that are less than a millimeter in my skin, which gives it a bumpy texture. These are all near my inner cheek. I tried getting a few out but stopped due to skin damage. I can get some large ones on my nose out easily, but they reappear in a few days. What method can I use to extract these oil plugs? I don't want to use mechanical extraction because it seems damaging and there are lots of these plugs. Topical medications such as BP and salicylic acid don't have an effect, because of how deep these things go.

Oil plugs?? Would these be the same as blocked pores - thats what i call mine. I think we have the same problem. My nose is constantly red and covered in these horrible blocked pores. And like you say i am able to dig one out and its like this disgusting little piece of hardened oil.

I use these pore nose strips made by biore and you stick it on your nose for 20mins then peel off. Its fascinating seeing all the gunk that comes out of those pores! Trouble is they seem to just get clogged again in a few days.

So like you i would also be interested in a permanent solution to this problem. I wonder if our skin is just producing too much oil. In which case its an internal issue that needs to be fixed.

Accutane

Hi...I've had a problem with over active oil glands for about 20 years and just started a low dosage treatment of accutane(20mg a day)..This treatment reduces the amount of oil your body produces so you are less likely to get clogged pores and makes your pores/oil glands shrink. Treatment can have side effects like dry lips etc but might be worth at least talking to your doc/Derm to see if this is right for you.....kind regards