How to get rid of a
Blackhead On Your Cheek
How To Get Rid of Blackheads | Dear Derm | Well+Good
Sharing buttons:
hey guys it's dr. Monica Hara I'm a
dermatologist in New Haven Connecticut
and welcome to another episode of dear
derm if you're a skin junkie like I am I
know you've thought about blackheads and
today we are gonna break it down for you
so I hate to be the bearer of bad news
blackheads aren't the easiest to treat
but we're gonna do our best and we're
gonna give you all of our tips all right
so let's talk basics what is a blackhead
a blackhead is a little tiny pore filled
with dead skin cells and sebum or the
oils on our face
now when the oils and the dead skin
cells hits the air they get what's
called oxidized and they turn black
hence the term bucket in scientific
terms that's called an open comedone and
that's what makes them different than
whiteheads which are closed Komi domes
and they don't have that blackish color
[Music]
let's play a fun game let's bust all
those blackhead myths alright so I'm not
mad at nose strips they're like not my
favorite thing in the world but you know
I think that they make the blackhead
look better like for that second but by
the time you know the next morning rolls
around you're back at square one the
other thing with with nose strips you
have to be careful of if you're using
products like aah a is PHAs and retinols
you can rip off your skin with the
blackhead little black dots on your skin
are not always blackheads you can get
those little black dots that are on your
nose are actually more associated with
the hair follicle and won't necessarily
respond to a traditional blackhead
busting routine but they may respond to
some facial extractions blackheads
aren't necessarily only caused by oily
skin but they're always produced by oils
in the skin meaning that in the pore
you're always going to find a little
combination of dead skin cells and sebum
so I don't think that makeup is the
cause of blackheads but I think that
makeup can contribute to worsening of
acne in general and there's actually a
term for that
it's called acne cosmetic a-- which
means that the more cosmetics you put on
your skin the more acne you get so I
personally just recommend to my patients
when they're struggling with whiteheads
blackheads any type of acne that they
use non-comedogenic
products and things that aren't gonna
irritate like all the harsh brushes and
tools like that they are not dirt in the
pores
repeat after me guys they are not dirt
in the pores
all right so blackheads are not caused
by any changes in your diet so eating a
piece of pizza isn't necessarily gonna
cause blackheads now eating a piece of
pizza may increase the glycemic index
which then can make your skin more prone
flama Tori which then can give you more
acne but blackheads by themselves go get
that pie so the best way to avoid
blackheads is to try and exfoliate to
some regular degree and to use alpha
hydroxy acids
do that or a beta hydroxy acid like
salicylic acid and then also to use a
vitamin a derivative like try knowin
adapt alene or retinoic acid so let's
talk about the different ways to get rid
of blackheads the first thing to
remember is they're not from dirt so
please don't scrub remember we've said
it before scrub ins for your tub not
your face blackheads are not from dirt
so use a gentle cleanser because if you
use something that's actually too harsh
what may happen is you make it more
blackheads because your skin becomes dry
and your skin is smart and will produce
more oils so use something that keeps
the skin at steady state something in
equilibrium a very gentle cleanser next
I recommend exfoliating once or twice a
week if your skin can handle it and
that's something that your dermatologist
can guide you on with an alpha hydroxy
acid or a beta hydroxy acid like
salicylic acid salicylic acid is
particularly good at getting into those
pores and breaking down those oils that
make up the blackhead so that actually
is one of my favorites when it comes to
busting those blackheads now what's the
other component of the blackhead it's
dead skin cells which are keratin based
next I would use something to liberate
the blackheads a little bit loosen them
up in that pore my personal favorite is
a vitamin a derivative like a retinol of
some type not you don't have to be
over-the-top about it just use a tiny
bit a pea-sized amount over the whole
face don't put them just in the area as
concentrated with the blackheads because
you're certain to get irritated
so put that pea-sized all over your face
so that it prevents new ones from coming
out and helps the old ones to loosen up
in that pore is extremely effective at
regulating the shedding of the skin so
you don't get the accumulation of those
skin cells and so just like we use it to
increase collagen production and
decrease college and breakdown it's also
an extremely effective exfoliator and
really helps to regulate the shedding of
the skin cells and then lastly and I
think probably one of the most important
ways to get rid of blackheads is to
actually extract them out this is where
that pimple popping comes in now I'm not
giving you the car blush to like go at
it with your nails
but I definitely think that there are
ways that we need to extract blackheads
there are at home comedone extractor
that I use a lot on my poor teenage boys
to get rid of the blackheads through
these little instruments that have a
circular top that you can apply a little
bit of gentle pressure on the blackhead
and help to extract the contents I'm
also a really big fan of procedures like
chemical peels or Hydra facials use
alpha hydroxy acids or beta hydroxy
acids to help to liberate and get rid of
the black blackheads more but
microdermabrasions
and even a more popular procedure these
days which is called a Hydra facial
actually use a smidge of a vacuum to
suck some of the blackheads out talk
about gratifying I mean there probably
is nothing more gratifying than seeing
those blackheads get sucked off the face
but I really think that there's no magic
bullet when it comes to blackheads you
have to commit yourself to a routine of
not only certain ingredients but also
certain procedures that helps to extract
them and one of the my favorite ways to
help teens and tweens and even women my
age combat blackheads is to go get
yourself a facial go get yourself what I
call an acne facial or an extraction
facial those can be extremely beneficial
and if you've done kind of the pre work
for it by loosening up the the sebum and
the pore and using the alpha hydroxy
acid it can be a really pleasant and
pleasurable experience that leaves your
skin looking a lot better after your
[Music]
if you have blackheads and your skin is
oily also I would stick with using a
lighter lotion but you can have
blackheads ironically and have very dry
skin and in that case you'd want to use
a heavier cream now if you have the
combo skin the t-zone that's a little
bit oilier and the outside that's dry I
would still stick with a lighter lotion
to help keep the skin moisturize because
moisturization is actually a really
really important point of combating
blackheads the drier your skin is the
more oil is going to be in those pores
because your skin is smart it knows it
needs more hydration so it produces more
oils don't skimp on the moisturizer when
it comes to busting blackheads
so when you're on a mission and on a
journey to bust blackheads I would say
that the two most important ingredients
are salicylic acid and some vitamin 8
derivatives such as threatenin so let's
dive a little bit deeper why do I like
salicylic acid so much because remember
the little black head is made of
increased oil in your pore and so the
salicylic acid is probably our best
warrior against oil it's what we call
lipophilic or fat loving so it can cut
through the oils and get into the pore
to break it down a little bit
hope you busted some myths hope we
answered some questions and most
importantly I hope you can bust those
blackheads thank you so much for
watching another episode of dear derm
alright guys stop squeezing and popping
those blackheads and go subscribe to
well and good and also leave any
questions below
[Music]
