What Are Those Tiny White Bumps?

Those little white bumps you get right below your eyes, on top of your cheekbones, or on other parts of your face? Those pesky bumps are called Milia (pronounced mill-ee-a). Singular - plural, same word (well, technically the singular is "milium", but no one uses it).  They're like tiny pearls underneath the first layer skin that won’t come out no matter how much you squeeze, unless you literally scratch the darn thing off your face. Please don't do that.

Whatever others might have told you, it’s not “calcium deposits” or acne breakouts. It doesn’t require two rounds of Retin-A or massive chemical peels (although there are those with a genetic propensity that do have luck with AHAs and some have even been helped with careful and monitored use of Retin-A). However I've seen way too many people with prescriptions renewed a thousand times before they asked their doctor why it doesn't seem to be working.  

So, what are these milia?

A Year-Round Routine For Dry Skin

In my previous post about how to identify sensitive skin, I mentioned that only 10% of the entire world's population truly has dry skin. The rest who experience dryness actually have dehydrated skin.

Truly dry skin lacks oil and has less natural ability to keep water within the skin. The skin uses oil to lubricate itself and to keep water from escaping. Because pores expand to accommodate a larger oil flow, the indicator of truly dry skin is very small pores. Dry skin is typically thin, delicate, and can sometimes become slightly congested due to a lack of momentum of oil. In this case, not enough oil is produced to push out of the pores, which can result in some oil becoming stuck and solidifying by mixing with dead skin cells. However, with truly dry skin this is actually not very common.