The Unsightful Seed
Seemingly overnight, everybody has morphed into a skincare obsessive. On Twitter, on Instagram, you name it, millennial women want to talk about their routines, their acids, their one go-to serum. At this point, we’re far enough into the lifecycle of the trend that we’ve moved right into the backlash. More and more people are becoming obsessed with the notion of flawless dewy skin. Everyone is becoming better educated about keeping their skin healthy, and there is a select group that has taken this to the next level, dedicating a whole lot of their time, money, and energy to the subject. Those who dare to don the latest runway looks need a face to match. At many of the runway shows, models had supernaturally pale, poreless complexions, as if they were engineered in an ultramodern lab on a planet without light. Porelessness and flawless it seems, is the new ideal. Not a month goes by without women's magazines showing how-to brush away all imperfections and lines to a smooth plane.
The dream of cosmetically perfect skin is a side effect of the times as technology increasingly serves us, our looks are now in service of technology. Actresses and movie stars took the lead a few years ago when super-scrutinising HD cameras demanded new kinds of makeup. But we regulars feel the pressure of self-representation, too. Image, in other words, is the new currency and the new language. What was once an e-mail about a great dinner became a Tweet and is now an Instagram of someone posing with an appetiser. If social media makes us all celebrities, we need the skin to match.
Yet, as much as flawless skin is achievable, there are times we cannot help but notice some bumps, be it whiteheads, blackheads, pimples, milk spot and blemishes on our skin. Believe us, even those models that we call superhuman are prone too. Everyone is prone to this. Having said that, have you ever come across bumps around your eyes that are bigger than whiteheads yet aren’t red and sore like pimples? They’re white, but they’re not whiteheads. They’re too small to be pimples. And it doesn’t look like your skin is irritated either, ever have those? If you’ve noticed them, then we are here to tell you those are milia seeds, little kernels of oil and keratin that have hardened and formed bumps on the surface of the skin. They appear out of nowhere, a slew of tiny and painless albeit, nonetheless, pesky white bumps. They're minuscule, almost undetectable even, but you figure you'll try to pop them anyway because textured skin isn't what you're going for. We know it's wrong to pick and prod at our blemishes but can't seem to help ourselves. But when you do give them a squeeze, nothing happens, no puss, no blood, nada. It's a totally unexplainable popping fail, so naturally you begin to wonder what the deal is. Milia seeds are common but super hard to treat. Milia seeds are commonly found on the skin of people of all ages. They are formed when keratin, a substance produced by the skin becomes entrapped beneath the outer layer of the skin, forming a tiny cyst. An individual milium (the singular of milia) is formed at the base of a hair follicle or sweat gland. Milia seeds can occur in people of all ages, of any ethnicity, and of either sex.
Unfortunately, these nasty little blemishes can be quite persistent. Often mistaken for whiteheads, nicknamed ‘milk spots’, milia is commonly associated with newborn babies, but occurs in children and adults, too. Milia seeds are formed when skin cells get trapped underneath the surface of your skin. They usually appear around the eye but can appear on other parts of the face, like on cheeks and around the nose. Milia can be categorised as either primary or secondary. Primary milia are formed directly from entrapped keratin and are usually found on the faces of infants and adults. Most commonly, they occur due to dead skin building up and getting trapped in the pores near the surface of the skin. If the build-up doesn’t get expelled naturally, it can become a small cyst. Secondary milia are also tiny cysts and look similar, but these develop after something clogs the ducts leading to the skin surface, such as after an injury, burn, or blistering of the skin. Secondary milia may appear in affected skin of people with blistering skin conditions, such as bullous pemphigoid, epidermolysis bullosa, and porphyria cutanea tarda, burns, long-term use of steroid creams or chronic sun damage. In other words, secondary milia happens when something clogs the sweat ducts. This is usually caused by some kind of skin trauma or infection, or contributing lifestyle factors, including lack of sleep, smoking, poor personal hygiene, using oil-based beauty products in excess, and long-term steroid use.
Milia seeds commonly appear in clusters on the face and around the eyelids and under eyes. However, they can occur elsewhere on your body as well. These pesky little bumps are usually also caused by poor sun protection, lack of exfoliation and using creams that are too rich for your skin. Unlike skin on the rest of the face, the eye area does not contain oil glands that can help keep this skin moist and it has limited blood circulation therefore eye creams need to be very specialised so they can increase skin volume and firmness as well as being able to be absorbed properly. But before we get all crazy anxious about these white bumps, know that milia seeds can naturally disappear on their own over time. Depending how deep the milia lay, they can naturally come to the surface of the skin after a few weeks or months.
And as with everything else, prevention is always the key. Exfoliating regularly can help in reducing the chances of milia seeds forming. Thorough cleansing like removing your makeup thoroughly before bed is vital. If you’re not already, try double-cleansing in the evenings, particularly if you wear heavy makeup and/or live in a polluted area. The first cleanse removes your makeup, SPF and sebum and the second which is where your facial massage comes into play should remove any further impurities and treat the skin. Using lightweight creams that absorb easily is also beneficial as greasy lotion or cream that doesn’t sink in quickly will only clog up pores and cause milia seeds to form. Using skincare products with retinol is also very helpful for both fighting and preventing milia. Sunscreen, as much as it helps with wrinkles and sun spots is also good to protect the skin from milia seeds.
While prevention is all well and good, what can you do when you already have these stubborn bumps on your skin? First thing first, there’s no treatment necessary for infant milia. The cysts will usually clear up within a few weeks. In adults, the most important thing is to not tackle the problem on your own. Unlike whiteheads and blackheads, milia seeds are extremely difficult to remove. So, forget squeezing. It is a definite no. This will only irritate and cause damage to the skin without being able to remove the problem. Not to mention painful, especially when it’s around the delicate eye area. Even if you manage to squeeze the life out of your skin and evict the unwanted tenant, you’ll be left with scars that are more difficult to treat. Popping it yourself isn’t advisable because the contents of milia are not fluid like the contents of a pustule. Pustules, those other whiteheads that are your typical pimple, are filled with a soft core of dead skin cells, sebum and, you guessed it, pus. So, when you put pressure on a pustule, the fluid contents often easily flows from the pore. Unlike a pustule, a milium is not an acne pimple but rather a tiny cyst. The little white lump that makes up a milium is very hard. It's made of a plug of keratinised dead skin cells that have become trapped just below the surface of the skin. You can try all you want to squeeze those milia seeds but trust us, you will get nowhere. That little bump is simply too hard, almost like a grain of sand. Because milia form under a thin layer of skin and not in the pore like acne blemishes do, there is no opening in the skin by which the plug could escape anyway.
The best way to deal with milia seeds is to seek out the services of an expert. Visit a dermatologist or a trusted facialist that can advise you professionally on treating the issue. Going to an expert means having the proper equipment and skills to treat your skin with minimal negative side effects. Different methods are used depending on the location, number, size and depth of the milia, age of the patient, and patient preference.
Numbing cream or a quick numbing injection can be used to make the procedure very comfortable, even around sensitive areas such as eyelids and under eyes. Most experts would simply prick the milia with a sterile needle to extract the contents of the milia after adequate numbing. Milia removal with a skincare professional usually requires an incision, especially when the cysts are deep below the skin’s surface. Plus, it is quick and painless. The tiny wound that remains heals very quickly with barely any downtime and no scarring. Obviously, seeking professional help to have milia seeds extracted will avoid any infection and scarring.
There are of course other ways to extract milia seeds depending on the condition and if they cause discomfort. Some methods include Cryotherapy where liquid nitrogen is used to freeze the milia. It is the most frequently used removal method aside from the traditional needle pricking. Topical retinoids, Vitamin A-containing creams are used to help exfoliate the skin. Hence, when dead skin cells are sloughed away more rapidly, it can help prevent plugs of keratin from getting trapped beneath the skin's surface. Topical retinoids also help loosen the keratin plug in existing milia and help them come to the surface so they can go away. Some may opt for laser ablation where a small laser focuses on the affected areas to remove the milia while others practice Diathermy, method using extreme heat to destroy the milia.
Generally, milia don’t cause long-term problems. In newborns, the cysts usually go away within a few weeks after birth. While the process might take longer in older children and adults, milia aren’t considered harmful. There's really no medical reason to treat milia and if they aren't really bothering you, there is no need to worry about them. You can just leave them be. But of course we understand the flawless skin fanatic that you are, so by all means, if you have those pesky white bumps on your face, go right ahead and seek the professional help that wouldn’t cost an arm and leg.
