Milia are usually small, around 1 to 2 millimeters in diameter. Some can grow larger. Milia won't pop and can take a long time to go away. Milia can show up anywhere, but they are most common on the face. They may appear around the eyes and cheeks, nose, and forehead.
Hard bumps on your face that won't pop can be caused by many things. White bumps called milia are the most common cause, but hard bumps can also be from closed pores, cysts, keratoses, skin cancer, and more. These white bumps can appear on your face under your eyes, on your cheek, forehead, chin, or nose.
Pimple Popper on YouTube), milia are not pustules that easily flow out of the pore. They are made of hard dead skin cells that have no way of escaping underneath your skin's surface. Instead of popping them, you'll just be left with a red, irritated – and possibly scarred – face.
Tiny bumps on your skin can be a variety of things like acne or a new mole, but they can also be skin conditions called milia and keratosis pilaris. Once you identify what type of tiny bumps you have, you can figure out a treatment plan if needed.
Milia are bumps containing keratin that has been trapped underneath the skin, and are sometimes called “baby acne” or “Epstein pearls."
Whiteheads occur when a hair follicle/sebaceous gland becomes inflamed. Inflammation can occur as a result of: Increased sebum (oily material produced by the sebaceous gland) production. Abnormal formation of keratin (the protein that helps make your hair, skin and nails).
Basically, what happens if you don't pop a whitehead is that it goes away on its own, usually in 3 to 7 days.
"It's best to let a pimple run through its life span," Rice says. Left alone, a blemish will heal itself in 3 to 7 days. Popped improperly, it can linger for weeks or lead to scarring.
Pustules are a type of pimple that contains yellowish pus. They are larger than whiteheads and blackheads. Pustules appear either as red bumps with white centers or as white bumps that are hard and often tender to the touch. In many cases, the skin around the pustules is red or inflamed.
Sterilize a small needle with rubbing alcohol. Poke the center of the whitehead gently with the needle. In some cases, this is enough to allow the whitehead to drain. If the contents do not come out, wrap tissues or cotton pads around the tips of fingers.
While blackheads can be professionally extracted, you should never have whiteheads removed. Extracting these comedones can cause impurities to spread which can actually cause more whiteheads or blackheads to form. Similar to popping blemishes, extracting or picking at whiteheads can also leave a mark or dark spot.
Sometimes, a pimple that won't go away is actually a boil—an infected hair follicle that looks exactly like a giant pimple. It starts off as a red, painful bump under the skin and as it progresses it develops a white head. Some boils heal on their own with at-home treatment, but others need medical attention.
Milia usually go away on their own. Sometimes it can take months or years. If you don't want to wait, talk to your healthcare provider. Medications like retinoids and glycolic acid can help your skin shed and replace cells faster.
The differences between whiteheads and pustules
You can essentially consider pustules to be whiteheads with the added influence of acne-causing bacteria. This means pustules can come with redness, irritation and of course, pus. Generally speaking, mild pain or tenderness is unique to pustules.
Milia are tiny, hard white bumps that appear on your skin. They often occur on infant and adult faces but can appear on any body part. They are painless and harmless. They can disappear in infants but often need surgical or medical treatment in older patients.
Milia look like small white bumps on your skin. They're common on your face.
If a person squeezes, or “extracts,” a sebaceous filament, a white or yellow worm-like structure may ooze out. Or, the filament may not produce anything. Trying to extract sebaceous filaments can injure the skin and cause scarring. It can also damage and stretch the pore, making it appear bigger.
Milia treatment at home
Try using an exfoliating cleanser that contains salicylic acid, citric acid or glycolic acid once a week or more. At-home chemical peels that contain salicylic acid or glycolic acid can also be helpful, but ask your dermatologist for advice on the best product to use.