sebaceous filaments are the little yellow/white plugs of sebum that we all get on our oily noses and t-zones. they can be expressed by pinching the skin or using biore strips.
accutane cleared these quite nicely. but today i noticed a white one on my chest.
can i expect these back on my face as more time passes? (i've been done with tane for 1.5 months.)
Sometimes they never come back. Sometimes they do. Using a topical retinoid after treatment is the best insurance against their recurrance, and retinoids have other positive effects on the skin like reducing redmarks and shallow scarring, and aging like wrinkles and sun spots/freckles.
My acne recurred after my first course about 15 years ago, about 10 years after that course was over. The acne you describe is a type of whitehead (most people call their pustules "whiteheads", but whiteheads are really plugs like blackheads that haven't oxidized and turned dark) which indicates that the pores are plugging. Topical meds can keep the pores open for you if this is a concern.
well actually they are different things. the whitehead is closed and the sebaceous filament is open usually, sometimes its closed too.
they are unique because they don't get infected usually, they just harden into blackheads.
but i do think retinoid topicals will work the same.
mine do if i leave them, but i squeeze them out first. otherwise they turn into cement blackheads. these are only on my nose.
the white ones present on my cheeks only as a very small bump with no whitehead. i use a magnifying mirror to find them and press down. out squirts a thread thin line of white silly string.
