In the world of skincare, the term “Skin Pore” is one of the most feared ones. This fear has led to so many misconceptions around them. Even the term “pore” is inaccurate.
So to remove all the misinformation about skin pores especially for Indian skin, we looked at various research and talked to dermatologists. What we found is quite interesting.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about skin pores and how it is different for Indian people.
Basics: Skin Pores
Skin pores are not exactly pores. They are more like the dimples on a golf ball; tiny depressions and apertures spread all across our skin, not just the face but the entire body.
The reason why people call them pores is because the hair follicles are placed inside these indentations. The number of skin pores depends on a lot of factors, majorly on your ethnicity and loosely on your age.
These “pores” have sweat and oil glands which secrete, you guessed it, oil and sweat. And this is where the problems begin. Wherever there is oil and sweat on your skin, there is a skin problem as well.
The Problems of Pores
Dirt, dust, and other allergens are always floating in the air, especially in the Indian environment where pollution is as common as clouds.
Skin pores are filled with oil and sweat, along with dead skin cells and other organic waste. We call them waste, bacteria call them delicious food. For them, they are an “eat all you can buffet.”
Apart from bacteria, dirt, dust, and other pollutants can “stick” to the oil and sweat on your skin pores and cause further inflammation.
This is the reason why skin pores are such a hot topic in skincare and every skincare company is rushing to use them as their products’ selling factor.
Why is Cleaning Skin Pores Difficult?
When you are cleaning a smooth surface, just a wipe with a wet cloth is enough to make it shiny and clean. But if the surface has many indentations and cracks, things get complicated, right?
Now imagine hundreds of microscopic pores on your skin filled with oil, dirt, bacteria, and other not-so-great things for your skin. How can you efficiently clean them?
Your fingers are not fine enough to clean every single pore, and while there are many more “cleaning” equipment, they are rarely that efficient.
But cleaning the pores is a completely different topic. This article’s focus is on what pores are and how we Indian people differ from other people when it comes to skin pores.
Skin Pore Research for Indian Women
Research by Flament F, Francois G, Qiu H, Ye C, Hanaya T et. al., analyzed the skin of more than 2,000 women all across the world to notice the difference in skin pore coverage, density, size, etc.
The results of Indian women (with subjects from major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, etc) showed some interesting trends.
Here are the interesting things found in the research:
- Self-assessment of their skin was found to be extremely erroneous; Women who “assumed” they had large pores were mostly wrong.
- Skin pore density and coverage varied greatly with ethnicity.
- In the case of Indian women (along with Brazilian women), the size of the skin pore increased significantly with age.
- Chinese women had the smallest size and lowest density of skin pores among all the other women in the research.
This is very interesting as the size of the skin pores of Caucasian, Chinese, and Japanese women did not change much with age. In fact, age hardly had any impact on the size or density of skin pores for these groups of women.
The Problem for Indian Women
Now that the research shows that skin pores increase in size with age for Indian women, there are a few things to take away from it.
Firstly, a large skin pore is not a medical condition. It is a normal part of aging. Large skin pores can be treated with a proper skin care regimen.
Secondly, and quite opposite in theme from the first point, large skin pores do affect your facial appearance and are a big skin health issue.
Research by Sang Ju Lee, Joon Seok, et. al., shows that enlarged skin pores can lead to higher sebum excretion, reduced elasticity around pores (making your skin face look loose), and increased hair follicle volume.
With age, Indian women (and Brazilian women) will have more visible signs of aging compared to Chinese, Japanese, and Caucasian women.
But is it a death sentence for your skin care dreams? Not at all. Indian women can reduce the impact of aging and even prevent enlarged pores with the proper skin care regimen and treatments.
Yes, we have to work harder than people with low-density skin pores. But the hope of keeping your skin healthy and glowing is not dead.
Find all the relevant research that we have cited below so that you can read them if you want. Also, read what’s the best way to wash your face.
References
- The conundrum of skin pores in dermocosmetology – Uhoda E, Piérard-Franchimont C, Petit L, Piérard GE. The conundrum of skin pores in dermocosmetology. Dermatology. 2005;210(1):3-7. doi 10.1159/000081474. PMID: 15604536. (Link)
- Facial Skin Pores: A Multiethnic Study – Flament F, Francois G, Qiu H, Ye C, Hanaya T, Batisse D, Cointreau-Chardon S, Seixas MD, Dal Belo SE, Bazin R. Facial skin pores: a multiethnic study. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2015 Feb 16;8:85-93. doi 10.2147/CCID.S74401. PMID: 25733918; PMCID: PMC4337418. (Link)
- Effects of large skin pores – Lee SJ, Seok J, Jeong SY, Park KY, Li K, Seo SJ. Facial Pores: Definition, Causes, and Treatment Options. Dermatol Surg. 2016 Mar;42(3):277-85. doi: 10.1097/DSS.0000000000000657. PMID: 26918966. (link)
- (Mizukoshi K, Takahashi K. Analysis of the skin surface and inner structure around pores on the face. Skin Res Technol. 2014;20(1):23–29)
