While many aesthetic patients often present with concerns regarding fine lines, wrinkles, loose skin, or other common aesthetic concerns, it seems more and more patients are looking for a way to reduce the appearance of pores. Social media selfies featuring skin-smoothing filters and edited advertisements of seemingly flawless models are making it more commonplace to see healthy skin as more akin to porcelain, free of any visible pores. However, as a skin care provider, you know pores are a normal and necessary component to skin health. How can you offer solutions to patients while educating them to manage expectations? Here are some of the top factors that can make pores appear larger, as well as our top tips on presenting patients with effective and realistic aesthetic solutions.
Causes of Enlarged Pores
Generally speaking, there are a handful of factors that may cause pores to appear enlarged. The following are some of the top factors that may alter your recommended aesthetic treatment for patients based on which factor their particular case may fall under:
- Genetics: A patient’s genetics often determine their natural pore size. If pores are genetically larger to begin with as compared to the norm, additional factors may coincide with genetics to make them appear even larger. Genetics can also determine activity levels within sebaceous glands, which can impact the appearance of pores on the surface.
- Hormones: Testosterone plays a key role in skin health, causing increased activity in the sebaceous glands, which leads to increased sebum production and often causing pores to appear larger in males as compared to females.
- Skin Type: Oily skin produces excess sebum, which can cause the build-up of debris and blockages within pores. Pores may then expand to accommodate the excess blockage, causing them to appear enlarged and more pronounced due to the blackened appearance of oxidized sebum and debris within the pores.
- Sun Exposure: Cumulative exposure to UV radiation causes collagen and elastin degradation, which leads to increased skin laxity and the appearance of sagging or enlarged pores.
- Aging Skin: With time, skin’s natural collagen and elastin levels decline, leading to lax skin. Pores then begin to stretch and sag at their edges, leading to an enlarged appearance.
Tips for Talking to Patients About Large Pores and Treatments
To effectively treat for enlarged pores, you will need to know the root cause, which may be different for each patient. The best approach then is to begin with a thorough consultation followed by a customized and comprehensive treatment plan. For patients whose enlarged pores may be a result of more than one factor, a tiered or multi-treatment plan may offer the most effective means to support skin health and shrink pores. However, the first step to ensuring patient satisfaction may be to offer some patients a kind reality check.
Education is key to ensuring overall patient satisfaction and retention. Patients should understand how treatments may assist in improving aspects of skin health but that signing up for a treatment plan isn’t like waving a magic wand. Ensure patients understand that pores are a normal part of healthy skin and while the right treatment may help to deep-clean pores or reduce their size, you cannot accomplish, nor should you want to achieve “pore-free” skin. This is be a particularly important note to discuss with younger patients who may be so used to seeing smooth, filtered skin on social media that they believe pores are somehow abnormal. While you can offer patients solutions to clean and tighten pores, ensure that their expectations are realistic by underscoring that these treatments may only help pores return to their natural size; you cannot beat genetics here.
In addition to recommending quality skin care that encourages collagen and elastin production and healthy skin cell renewal, as well as ensuring patients apply sunscreen year-round, there are two key medical aesthetic treatments you may recommend to patients to reduce the appearance of enlarged pores, and that cover many of the above-listed causes: dermal rejuvenation and skin resurfacing treatments.
The newest dermal rejuvenation system that may be used alone or paired with complementary aesthetic treatments, Venus Glow™ provides a powerful tri-modality approach that simultaneously opens up and deep-cleans pores while hydrating skin for a noticeably healthier, cleaner, and smoother complexion. This particular treatment may be best suited to patients experiencing enlarged pores as a result of blackheads and excess sebum production. Venus Glow™ treatments begin by gently pulling skin upward into the applicator tip, utilizing a gentle suction and ultra-fine jet streams of purified water to open up and deep-clean enlarged pores of dirt, debris, and excess sebum. At the same time, a 360-degree rotating tip micro-massages skin and evenly spreads the liquid. These three modes of action work together to help minimize the appearance of enlarged pores by removing impurities, improving skin hydration, and increasing the spread of nutrients and local blood circulation for an overall improvement in dermal elasticity.
For patients experiencing enlarged pores as a result of collagen and elastin degradation—whether that be due to sun exposure or age—Venus Viva™ may offer an ideal aesthetic solution to boost skin elasticity. The most customizable skin resurfacing device in the industry, Venus Viva™ is a fractional radio frequency system that enables the treatment provider to control ablation, coagulation, and resurfacing to improve skin texture. Venus Viva™ skin resurfacing treatments are safe for all skin types.
Interested in learning more about these medical aesthetic device options for reducing the appearance of enlarged pores? Talk to a Venus Concept expert today to find the right solution that suits all of your clinic’s needs using the button below.
Practice Enhancement Tips
Product News
