At Hill Country Acne Center, we often meet people who believe they have little black spots on their noses. Even though it might look like blackheads, it’s actually something called sebaceous filaments. These are just oil glands on your nose and the area under your lower lip. They’re supposed to be there, and even if you try to get rid of them, they come back after a week.
Every now and then, someone might actually have real blackheads on their nose. You can see that in the picture—a client with blackheads between the sebaceous filaments. In that case, it’s a good idea to remove them.
So, here’s the trick: if all the so-called “blackheads” on your nose are the same size, they’re not really blackheads. But if there’s one that’s bigger than the rest, then it’s a genuine blackhead, not just another sebaceous filament.
When we break the news to our clients that these aren’t typical blackheads, they often ask us how to get rid of them. I tell them that almost everyone, even those who never had acne, has them, and there’s no way to remove them. Unless, of course, they’re actual blackheads.
We’re so used to seeing perfect, airbrushed pictures of models in magazines with flawless skin and no visible pores. Unfortunately, this creates an expectation that our skin should look the same. But those pictures aren’t real. We tell our clients they have to accept their nose the way it is. You can’t really “get rid of blackheads on your nose” unless they’re genuinely blackheads.