On an Australian skincare thread this week, the top answer to a question about closed comedones said they were probably milia, and no exfoliant would shift them. Elsewhere, people with a “strawberry nose” described months of salicylic acid with little to show for it.
Four different bumps, one bottle of acid. Sorting out which one you’re looking at is most of the answer.
Four bumps that look alike on a phone screen
Sebaceous filaments
These are the small grey or beige dots spread evenly across the nose, and often the inner cheeks and chin. They sit flat and look much the same from one pore to the next.
They’re a normal part of pores in oily areas, not a blemish. Press one and a pale, waxy thread comes out, and within a few weeks it has filled again.
Blackheads
Blackheads, or open comedones, are fewer and darker than filaments. They’re scattered rather than evenly spaced, and some sit slightly raised.
They tend to look darker at the surface and stay that way. A filament usually looks lighter once you see it up close.
Closed comedones
These are small, skin-coloured bumps you often feel before you see them. They show up most on the forehead, chin and jaw, and they’re easiest to spot in side light.
There’s no visible dark dot, and they don’t come to a head the way a pimple does.
Milia
Milia are tiny, firm, white bumps that look like grains of sand under the skin. They often sit around the eyes and on the upper cheeks.
They don’t squeeze out, and they don’t respond much to exfoliants. That’s what the Reddit reply got right.
Why the nose scores lowest for pores
In Stella’s data to November 2026, the nose scores 65 out of 100 for pores, against 73 for the face overall and 80 for the upper lip. Higher means pores look less visible.
Pores are also the most common lowest-scoring signal on people’s latest scan, at 29%. That’s ahead of dark circles (24%) and fine lines (17%).
Skin type shows up too: on combination skin the nose scores 60, against 77 on normal skin. That fits the research, which names oil output as one of three main things linked to how large pores look.
The other two are less firmness around the pore and larger hair follicles (Lee et al., Dermatol Surg 2016). Breakouts and skincare habits play a part too.
A pore score has an honest limit. It reads how visible pores look, not whether a dot is a filament or a blackhead.
What tends to help each, and what to skip
Sebaceous filaments can be made less visible, but not gone, because they refill. Massaging an oil cleanser or balm over the nose for a minute before your usual cleanse is a common first step.
Salicylic acid (a BHA) a few times a week is the usual next one, because it’s oil-soluble. A retinoid at night is the longer game, and some need a prescription in Australia.
Blackheads respond to the same toolkit. Give it six to eight weeks before you judge.
Closed comedones usually need more patience. Retinoids and azelaic acid are the common choices, and eight to twelve weeks is a fair window. It’s also worth asking whether a richer moisturiser or sunscreen started around the time they appeared.
Milia rarely shift with exfoliants. A GP, dermatologist or trained skin therapist can remove them properly.
A review of 19 clinical trials on pores found that combining approaches did better than any single one (Parvar et al., J Cosmet Dermatol 2023). Many of those trials used in-clinic procedures, but the principle carries over: one product is rarely the whole answer.
What to skip: pore strips, squeezing and scrubbing the nose. They tend to irritate the skin, and irritated skin makes pores look larger, not smaller.
Over-exfoliating does the same, so how often you exfoliate matters as much as what you use.
When to see someone
See a GP or dermatologist if the bumps are milia you’d like removed. The same goes for redness around the nose that’s more noticeable than any dots, or bumps that haven’t changed after three months of a steady routine.
They can tell you what you’re looking at, which a phone screen can’t.
Connecting to Stella
Because filaments refill, the useful question isn’t whether they’ve gone. It’s whether pores look steadier after a change in your routine.
Stella scores pore appearance on every scan, in corrected light, so the trend sits on one timeline.
It shows what moved and when, not why. More on how Stella reads pores and breakouts, and comedone, BHA, retinoid and sebum, defined.
Read nextSkin Metrics: Clarity & Breakouts→Read nextDoes the Order You Apply Skincare Actually Matter?→
Dr. Alice Rudd
Cofounder · Skin Science · MBBS Monash UniversityAlice is a Stella co-founder and dermatologist. She trained at Monash University and brings clinical experience to Stella’s measurement framework and scientific boundaries. She also runs Skindepth, a Melbourne dermatology practice.