What Are These Tiny White Bumps on My Face?
Small, hard, white bumps, which show up mostly on the face, especially around the eyes, are common and can happen to just about anyone, including infants. These frustrating yet benign bumps are incredibly stubborn and can last for weeks, months, or even longer.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to remove them and doing it wrongly can damage your skin. Following Paula’s Choice skincare’s recommendations can help you safely resolve these bumps and possibly keep this problem from returning.
How to Get Rid of White Bumps on the Face
In most cases, these tiny, hard, white bumps will go away on their own without treatment. Being patient and waiting it out is one option—but waiting it out is not for everyone.
These bumps can form when the skin’s natural exfoliation process malfunctions, in which case using a targeted exfoliating treatment with salicylic acid (BHA) can help. Using an exfoliant for white bumps immediately improves skin turnover, which can prompt the bumps to dissolve on their own relatively quickly.
If your skin doesn’t respond to using a BHA exfoliant after several weeks, make an appointment with your dermatologist, who can tell you if you’re dealing with something known as milia or a different issue, and what the best remedies are.
Along with a BHA exfoliant, it’s essential that you use an anti-aging skincare routine to minimise the chances of them reappearing. This means always using a gentle cleanser, toner, and leave-on products with skin-restoring ingredients. For daily skin protection, you also need a daytime face moisturizer with at least SPF 30, such as our DEFENSE Essential Glow Moisturizer SPF 30. An effective routine like this will help reduce the possibility of those annoying white bumps showing up on your face again.
The White Bumps Are NOT Pimples.
If you’ve experienced these white bumps on your skin, you’ve likely wondered if they were a pimple or some type of breakout. Many people mistake these tiny, pearl-like bumps for acne, but they are not the same thing. One of the easiest ways to differentiate the two is by how they feel.
Unlike acne, these bumps are rather firm, and squeezing has little to no impact on them. Additionally, they can show up around the eyes and on parts of the face where there aren’t any active oil glands. Lastly, they do not have the kind of pain that is normally associated with acne, specifically when a pimple forms and becomes red and sore.
Removing Small, Hard, White Bumps on Skin at Home
Because these bumps are not pimples, it’s critical that you do not treat them like they are pimples; the common anti-acne ingredient benzoyl peroxide will have no impact.
It’s also critical that you not squeeze, scrape, poke, or in any other way physically try to remove these bumps from your face, as you would a pimple. Because the bumps are hard and begin beneath the skin’s surface, these methods are very unlikely to help. Instead, you might wind up irritating and damaging the skin surrounding it.
To sum up: An at-home gentle skincare routine that contains a BHA exfoliant for white bumps, such as our SKIN PERFECTING BHA 9, should help get them under control. However, if a consistent routine doesn’t lead to visible improvement after several weeks (remember, these bumps can be stubborn!), it’s time to consult a dermatologist.
With an understanding of your problem, you can start incorporating the right products from Paula’s Choice Singapore into your routine today to address these bumps effectively.
To learn more about bumps on the skin, check out our skincare advice page.
