What helps against large pores on the face?
Baby botox for a flawless complexion
You ask yourself: What to do about large pores? On the nose? On the cheeks? How can I refine my pores? And get rid of the oily skin around it? My answer is Botox.
You heard right: botulinum toxin A, the well-known anti-wrinkle agent, can also very effectively shrink large pores. And improve blemished skin. We are talking about Baby Botox. What is Baby Botox? This involves botulinum toxin in a higher dilution than usual. In addition, Baby Botox differs in the injection technique: instead of being injected into the muscle, it is injected into the skin. There it then unfolds its effect on the skin pores.
By improving oily skin, Baby Botox indirectly acts as an acne therapy. Because oily skin is as good as always a necessary precondition of acne. However, (concomitant) acne therapy with botulinum toxin is indeed new and not yet widespread. In this post, I’ll tell you how Baby Botox can be used to shrink large pores and improve oily skin.
These are the topics:
Diluted botulinum toxin into the skin reduces sebum production
Reduce large pores with Baby BOTOX
First of all, I would like to clarify that I am not a dermatologist. Therefore, in case of acute acne, I strongly advise you to clarify with your dermatologist the elimination of any pathological causes, which should precede the purely aesthetic treatment of large pores and impure skin. Especially in cases of far advanced, inflammatory acne, the measures described in this article alone will not lead to success. In such a case, please be sure to seek consultation with your dermatologist.
Baby Botox, Micro-Botox, MesoBotox
But now to our topic: Large pores and oily skin (medical term: seborrhea) can be treated well with botulinum toxin in many cases. The procedure is new as already written above. So new, in fact, that there is still no clear name for it among medical professionals: Some call it “Micro-Botox” (which initially included me), others speak of “Mesobotox” and still others call it “Baby Botox“. This term has now also become accepted in Germany, which is why I will also write about “Baby Botox” in the further course of this article. However, elsewhere on my website you will often find the term Micro-Botox. Please do not be confused, both terms refer to one and the same therapy.
Baby Botox against seborrhea
But whatever you call it, seborrhea therapy with botulinum toxin is as interesting as it is promising. Because large pores on the face, often along with blemished and oily skin, are a common problem. And a direct precursor of acne. At the same time, seborrhea alone is not a reason for acne. As long as the excess sebum produced by the sebaceous glands in seborrhea is not broken down by bacteria and enzymes, inflammation of the kind that characterizes the skin typical of acne is rare. More on this below.
Creams and lotions often do not help
Treating oily skin is one of the many new uses of botulinum toxin that physicians have discovered in recent years. The target of the botulinum injections moved from the muscle to the skin. There, botulinum toxin opened up a completely new spectrum of therapy. Refining pores and improving blemished skin with the skin appearance typical of acne are just two of the therapeutic goals that can be successfully pursued with it. Another, among others, is the reduction of excessive sweating. Botulinum can improve blemished skin, and much more effectively than many of the well-known acne home remedies and creams.
After all, all cosmetic products and measures aimed at shrinking pores can do nothing from the outside to reduce the increased sebum production. But that is exactly what matters! Creams, tinctures and lotions therefore refine pores temporarily at best and more visually than actually (one speaks of astringent effect). But they don’t get to the root of the problem.
Oily skin due to excess sebum production
If it doesn’t inhibit excess sebum production, then no product can shrink pores. Or improve blemished skin. Until now, your dermatologist could only prescribe a drug called Isotretinoin which regularly proves to be very effective, but unfortunately is often accompanied by severe side effects. Botulinum toxin, in the variant Baby Botox, can also shrink large pores, as recent studies show. And even without side effects. It is therefore worthwhile to approach the dermatologist about the possibility of having large pores removed with botulinum toxin and alleviating an already existing acne without side effects.
baby botox is injected into the skin
Because the botulinum is not injected into the muscle in this application, but only into the skin above it, facial expressions remain completely intact. There is therefore no risk of facial expressions being impaired or even facial features freezing. Botulinum toxin is not administered in this application to make muscles slack. But to use the neurological mechanism of action of the toxin to specifically reduce sebum production. And thus reduce the size of pores.
Pathologically increased sebaceous gland secretion primary cause
how are large pores created?
Oily skin and large pores almost always occur together. One speaks of oily skin or seborrhea when the skin surface has an increased content of lipids(sebum) due to increased sebaceous gland secretion. Seborrhea is common, it first appears with puberty and accompanies one, then often into advanced adulthood. Men are more likely to suffer from oily skin than women, and as a direct result, more likely to suffer from acne. However, it is primarily women who seek cosmetic medical help for seborrhea and acne. This certainly has to do with prevailing beauty ideals, which make a woman much more likely to want to refine her pores in pursuit of “peach skin.”
Seborrhea and acne often burdensome
Seborrhea and acne are, however, disorders that can be a burden for those affected, both privately and at work. Studies have shown, for example, that people with acne find it significantly more difficult to find adequate professional employment. In addition, acne-prone, oily skin affects many adolescents during puberty and thus at a time when they are already busy coping with massive social and psychological changes. Depression and thoughts of suicide are therefore not uncommon and have been increasingly reported in connection with acne. No wonder, then, that entire rows of shelves in drugstores now boast that they can put a stop to pubescent acne.
What exactly is seborrhea?
As already indicated above: Seborrhea is initially not synonymous with acne. The clinical appearance of seborrhea is oily shiny skin with large pores. Most often, however, seborrheic skin is accompanied by the development of acne. In acne, in addition to shiny skin, comedones (blackheads) also appear and in hairy areas inflammatory skin changes at the hair follicles. Subcutaneous comedones, where the opening of the hair follicle is completely blocked, are often only noticed by the sebum showing through and appear as small, whitish papules (“pimples”).
Pimples and blackheads
If, on the other hand, the follicle opening is not completely closed, then dirt and melanin form a black-appearing plug (“blackhead”). Usually both occur together and often enough they tend to become inflamed. As a long-term consequence, the formation of comedones leads to damage to the connective tissue and significant enlargement of the follicle, and thus ultimately to the appearance of “large pores”. So large pores don’t just look dilated – they actually are. In view of this circumstance, I would like to take this opportunity to once again advise all those affected to visit their dermatologist in good time in order to counteract the development described above at an early stage. Your dermatologist may be able to do more than just refine pores and fix other externals, possibly halting the progression of the disease as such.
Causes of seborrhea
Seborrheic skin is mainly attributed to hormonal causes, particularly the body’s response to androgens (male sex hormones). During puberty, under the influence of androgens, there is an increase in the volume of the sebaceous glands and an increase in sebum production.
Sebum production for normal skin
Normally, sebaceous glands produce a certain amount of sebum, then burst and pour their contents into the pore hair channel. During the next 6 days, the sebum rises to the exit of the pore channel, from where it emerges onto the skin surface, keeping the skin supple and protected from pathogens.
Sebum production in seborrhea and acne
However, in response to androgens, the sebaceous gland cells produce too much sebum. There is an excessive amount of sebum in the pore channel, which provides an ideal breeding ground for fat-loving pathogens such as Propionibacterium acnes or Coryne bacteria. They metabolize sebum, breaking it down into different fatty acids. These in turn irritate the sensitive inner wall of the pore and stimulate it to produce new wall cells. When the mixture of dead pore cells and excess sebum clogs the pore, pimples and blackheads appear.
Increased seborrhea during menstruation
The dermatologist often detects a similar effect in women before menstruation, who then suffer from increased signs of acne. For example, in a study of women with oily and acne-prone skin, it was found that the maximum secretion of their sebaceous glands occurred in the week before menstruation. In addition to hormonal causes, external factors can also lead to increased sebum production, resulting in oily skin and large pores. These include UV radiation, increased body temperature, stress, and irritation caused by certain chemicals. On the other hand, it has not yet been clinically proven that increased sweat production and diet composition also contribute to seborrhea, as is often assumed. So whether you eat a vegan diet in the future or continue to eat greasy foods has no direct effect on whether your sebaceous glands normalize and your pores shrink.
What helps against oily skin?
First, the obvious: as far as cosmetic measures against seborrhea are concerned, thorough, yet at the same time gentle skin cleansing and care can certainly help. You don’t even need to consult your dermatologist for this.
Important: gentle cleaning
Mild washing syndets such as those available in drugstores are well suited for cleansing seborrheic skin. Such cleansers eliminate excess sebum and remove dirt and dead skin cells. The same effect is achieved by the special cleansers of well-known cosmetic brands, usually marketed as “cleansers“. At this point, I would like to expressly warn against drying creams and lotions. These mostly only damage the natural barrier function of the skin without influencing sebum production as such. It then comes to the paradoxical situation that the skin is dry and oily at the same time and completely out of balance.
Non-comedogenic makeup
Also, if you use makeup, make sure it is non-comedogenic. This means that its composition does not further clog the already strained pores.
Cosmetic treatments that help
Complementary measures that your dermatologist or esthetician can help you with against seborrhea are microdermabrasion, enzyme peeling and light fruit acid peels. All these measures remove the dead skin flakes and thus reduce keratinization problems. This can be used to reduce large pores to a very limited extent, but no more. And not in the long run either. So what to do? Now let’s take a look at what Baby Botox is and how it helps against blemished skin and large pores.
Botulinum toxin A injected into the skin
what is baby botox?
As mentioned at the beginning, Baby Botox does not use its own active ingredient, but conventional botulinum toxin A, as used in wrinkle injections. However, unlike the latter, the toxin in Baby Botox is diluted 2-3 times more and injected into the skin, not the muscles.
While conventional wrinkle therapy with botulinum toxin usually involves injecting 0.1ml of solution and 4 Allergan units of toxin per injection point, Baby Botox only doses a maximum of 0.05ml of solution and half an Allergan unit per injection point. Due to the higher dilution, the active ingredient runs around the injection point, and the botulinum toxin spreads throughout the skin. Thus, a larger area of skin can be treated with a series of injection points, each 0.5 cm – 1 cm apart, by injecting into the skin in a kind of grid.
Baby Botox discovered by accident
Baby Botox, by the way, would be discovered by accident : American dermatologist Anil Shah, who first reported in 2008 that botulinum toxin could be used to shrink large pores and improve oily skin, was actually treating his patients for “bunny lines” (nose wrinkles). Some of them then reported back pleased that not only the wrinkles on the bridge of their nose but also their skin appearance had improved.
Studies prove the sebum reduction
A highly diluted botulinum toxin solution can be used to shrink large pores and significantly improve oily skin. And unlike most cosmetics, this is done by actually reducing sebum production.
Corresponding studies proving this have already been carried out since 2008. Their results are convincing both objectively and subjectively: the authors observed a significantly lower sebum production of 50 to 75% and were also able to scientifically prove its reduction. Objectively, Baby Botox is thus suitable as a means to reduce large pores.
But what is no less important: over 90% of the study participants were very satisfied with the optical result. And that, of course, is most important for practitioners like me. After all, patients go to a lot of expense and effort to feel more comfortable in their skin than before.
Mechanism of action not yet clearly understood
However, the exact mechanism of action by which botulinum toxin reduces sebum production in the skin has remained obscure to this day. However, it is believed that the toxin affects those muscles that erect the hair (the so-called “Musculi arrector-pili. ) and the receptors of the sebaceous glands with which they react to androgens (the so-called “ muscarinic acetylcholine receptors.” ).
Baby Botox as an injection or by means of microneedling
how does the treatment work?
Reducing large pores with Baby Botox is performed in my practice in the same way as any other botulinum toxin treatment:
- A detailed self-disclosure of the patient is required to reveal possible contraindications.
- In the subsequent patient interview, the possibilities of the therapy are discussed, as well as the risks and possible side effects.
- The status quo is then documented by photo.
- For the subsequent injections, I use the thinnest needles currently available on the market, called “invisible needle” by their manufacturer, and not without good reason. The punctures are made at an angle of about 45 degrees obliquely into the skin surface. They are hardly noticeable. However, most patients are sensitive to the nose. And during this treatment there are sometimes 10-15 punctures and more on both sides of the nose. Therefore, I usually numb the nose with the local anesthetic lidocaine before the injection.
After treatment, patients are usually socially fit again within minutes. Redness of the skin at the injection sites should have disappeared by then. Slight wheals at the injection points may still be visible, but they will also disappear a short time later.
Baby BOTOX and Microneedling
Microneedling is an alternative technique to inserting Baby Botox into the skin. Microneedling involves puncturing the skin with a large number of needle pricks, to a depth of 1.5 mm. Through the microchannels created in this way, the highly diluted botulinum toxin can penetrate the dermis and take effect there. This type of treatment has a number of advantages over injections, but it is more expensive. Read a testimonial about BOTOX and microneedling in my beauty blog.
For the days after the treatment, the same advice applies as for the classic BOTOX injection: don’t do any sports or heavy activities, avoid sauna and solarium, take precautions against UV radiation with a high sun protection factor (SPF 50).
Prices for Baby Botox at LIPS and SKIN in Munich
what is the cost of Baby Botox?
The use of botulinum toxin A against large pores and excessive sebum production is a so-called off-label use, i.e. the active ingredient used has no official approval for this type of application. The educational discussion between doctor and patient therefore plays a particularly important role. This also applies to the costs, about which you as the patient must always be informed in advance.
In a limited area like the nose, it is relatively easy to estimate how high the price will be. Even if this is billed in individual cases according to the German Medical Fee Schedule(GOÄ). The complexity of the individual case and the number of injection points play an important role. In my practice in Munich, I usually charge for a whole ampoule of Vistabel, even if this should not be used up completely for the therapy of large pores. In this case, it is recommended to use remaining amounts for classical wrinkle treatment in other facial regions, if indicated and desired. Otherwise, the remaining active ingredient is disposed of, as I do not keep opened ampoules on principle for reasons of hygiene.
The price of a treatment with Baby Botox in my practice is thus about 290 € (guideline, the concrete billing is done according to GOÄ). This allows a very large area to be treated when diluted three times. If you prefer the treatment in combination with microneedling, then you have to reckon with total costs of about 500 € (guideline).
