Your Esthetician steams your face before extractions because she says it opens up your pores. You go into the sauna thinking that it’s expelling toxins and letting your pores breathe. Sorry to burst your bubble but none of that is actually happening and you are likely causing more harm than good to your acne-prone skin. We never steam our clients before an acne facial or body treatment and we’ve had some clients get upset that they are because they think we are cheating them out of some essential part of the process. But we don’t use steam because heat and steam are more likely to swell your pores shut than open them up! Also, we never perform extractions during the initial appointment precisely because we want clients to begin using the product kits which help break up congestion in the follicles so they are loose and easy to extract so even if steam did open up the pores, it wouldn’t be necessary anyways.

This is explained by basic physics people
Heat expands, cold contracts. Just think about wearing a ring on your finger-have you noticed that it might feel tight and swollen in the summer when the weather is warmer and a little looser in the winter when it’s colder? This is exactly what happens to your pores. When you are exposed to heat or steam, your pores swell up and the congestion that is already struggling to be contained inside of our follicles can get squeezed so tight that the follicle wall might rupture and become more inflamed. So if you are already struggling with an inflamed acne type, especially cystic acne, you should be avoiding saunas and steam because they can worsen inflammation. If you have a primarily non-inflamed acne type, you might be able to get away with heat and steam as long as you don’t notice an increase in inflammation symptoms such as redness, swelling, pus, and soreness.

Only oil can stretch the pores open or closed
Pore size is mostly genetic and there isn’t anything you can do to significantly change it. Pores don’t actually get smaller or bigger on their own: How big or small your pores are depends on the amount of oil your sebaceous glands produce because oil is what flows through the follicle and stretches the pores open, making it appear larger or smaller. And oil production is determined by testosterone levels because testosterone is the chemical messenger that triggers the oil gland to get pumping among many other things. Testosterone levels are primarily biological. For example, we are born with biological clocks that signal our testosterone levels to surge during puberty, pregnancy, and the menstrual cycle. There are certain dietary and lifestyle factors that are within our control like dairy, soy, and stress that can impact testosterone levels so if we can reduce the levels of testosterone in the body, we can reduce oil production, and maybe cause the pores to appear smaller because there is less oil stretching the pore open. This is a big maybe though and it’s unrealistic to expect poreless skin because all of humans have oil glands that are constantly producing oil throughout our lives. I know this is not good news if you are a pore-hater but remember that oil and pores serve really amazing life saving functions so if you really had the choice, you wouldn’t want to close them up!

Topical products might help
Some active ingredients in acne products like benzoyl peroxide can help absorb oil on the skin which might make pores appear smaller. Other ingredients like alpha hydroxy acids can exfoliate and break up congestion in the follicles so pores might appear smaller as congestion gets purged out of the follicles. Our Clearing Treatment contains benzoyl peroxide and our serums and peels contain alpha hydroxy acids and other exfoliating ingredients that help cut oil and clear the follicles from the inside out. The holistic aspects of our program include dietary and lifestyle recommendations that aim to target and reduce oil production. We don’t promise that our program or products will deliver smaller looking pores because, as I mentioned, it’s largely biological and the changes we might be able to achieve will be minimal. There really is no program or product out there that will give you flawless poreless skin but if you have a chance at minimizing your pore size at all, our program is probably your best shot.