#hyperkeratosis

some people are more milia-prone than others, but there are certainly things that you can do to lower the odds of new ones cropping up!

don’t squeeze or try to remove any milia you have by yourself. you need to go to the derm or an aesthetician for that!

don’t use physical exfoliation on them either. irritation + milia can cause bigger issues and it won’t be effective in getting rid of them without causing damage and scarring

do use chemical exfoliation! my mom’s milia self-destroyed after a while of using a lactic acid toner — and AHAs in general are a commonly recommended way of preventing more milia from forming, by preventing the skin overgrowth processes that lead to their occurrence. this is my main tip to you, and the one most likely to be effective!

hey! i’m really glad you appreciate my efforts ahah :’)

milia are hard, whiteish (they can look semi-pearly) bumps under the skin which vary in size, from tiny seedlike grains to larger bumps; they can be mistaken for whiteheads, but trying to squeeze them doesn’t work at all and just creates a lot of pain and inflammation, with the bump remaining stubbornly under the skin. this is because milia, unlike whiteheads (closed comedones), don’t necessarily form inside the pilosebaceous follicles (‘pores’), so they don’t have a built-in exit route you can squeeze them out of. rather, milia are excessive growths of keratin, the hard stuff that forms your hair and nails and the upper (keratinized) layers of your skin. some people are more prone to getting them, and they frequently show up around the eye area; it’s thought that the use of heavy creams can induce this, but this isn’t a necessary prerequisite, as exemplified by my mother, who has normal skin and only washes it with water and soap and yet has a bunch of milia.

getting rid of them can be annoying. as we’ve seen, it’s no use trying to squeeze them out. the quickest way is to book a derm appointment and they can do a quick procedure with minimal pain involved and no scarring (when professionally done!) where they lance the skin with a sterile needle, creating an opening through which the hard keratin bump can be pushed. if you have a lot of milia i’d recommend doing this in the autumn/winter months to avoid sun exposure afterwards which could cause hyperpigmentation and scarring.