For the past 1-2 years I've been getting these little hardened plugs of sebum/keratin? in my pores. They look like little rice grains.
Every time they come out, whether by force or not, a little scarred hole is left behind. They often come out with a small piece of hair attached, including eyebrow hair! <------ This makes me real sad
They may be blackheads, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure I have seborrheic dermatitis based on these symptoms + oily, flaky skin.
These holes are really noticeable and I have them spread on my forehead and both cheeks. Has anyone have success/suggestions on what to do with these?! Currently I dermastamp the parts of my face with boxcar scarring, would dermastamp help these out?
Also, any seb derm solutions will be very much appreciated.
I've noticed these on my nose and cheeks more so at certain times of the month and for me I had to Re train my brain that..especially the ones on my nose,are not blackheads. I don't remember a lot but when I researched I think you're right it's sebum and when the top part of pore is exposed to oxygen it turns black? But it made me relax a little and stop picking at them on my nose whereas before I had started Leaving little unnecessary scars from all the picking to "clear" them. Also picking at them on cheeks led to unnecessary inflamed pimples or breakouts. What helped a little was two products from st. Ives...the apricot scrub, which sloughs off dead skin. And the green tea scrub, which helped in general because it seems to calm everything down with the green tea and salicylic acid.
As for the scars themselves..honestly I was left with a couple on my cheeks and nose from all the picking and...i did a sort of self dermabrasion that I would NOT recommend...it happened to work and took away the scars but i was desperate and could have really made things worse. I've read on here people successfully having tca cross done on them by doctors and the scars going away. Wish I could help more, I would like to try peels at some point, I'm sure others will have more suggestions.
Guys these are not sebum plugs or whatever, these are caused by demodex. If you have these hard waxy plugs, get your skin tested for demodex mites. The plugs are not the mites themselves - the mites are very small, microscopic - but all of the dead mites and dead skin cells build up in your pores with the plugs. When the plugs come out they often leave scars. Either you pick them and that can lead to a scar, or they were taking up that space for so long that there's an icepick scar. So..I'm still suffering from this because I can't find a doctor to give me the right medicine. Anyway get tested and if you have it too, maybe more of us can work together to solve this problem. It's a nightmare.