General Health

How Long Does It Take For Retinol To Shrink Pores?

October 05, 2021

4 mins

Enlarged pores can be unsightly for guys. Whether on your nose or cheeks, it can feel like the whole world is staring.

So what can you do about enlarged pores?

Instead of battling those craters by trying to hide them, the simple solution is to shrink them. One way you may be able to shrink pores is with retinol.

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How Does Retinol Make Pores Look Smaller?

Retinol is a derivative of the essential vitamin A, which is known to speed up the skin's healing process, boost collagen and elastin production, and help amplify the natural moisturizing abilities of skin.

Retinol is one of the many retinoids, all vitamin A substances that work by interacting with retinoic acid receptors in the skin. Retinol is one of the weaker retinoids, trumped by well-known prescription retinoids like tretinoin and isotretinoin.

While all of retinoids' attributes are highly beneficial, retinol is easy to get because it's available without a prescription. It may reduce the appearance of pores due to its ability to accelerate skin healing for the appearance of brighter, more youthful skin.

During the normal skin cell turnover process, your topmost layer of skin sluffs off every 30-40 days or so. As you age, this process takes longer, up to 50 or 60 days. Retinoids like retinol speed up the process, bringing your skin turnover back to 20-30 days as in your youth. In doing so, it improves the overall thickness of the skin and helps to remove “plugs” that might be clogging up your pores. These plugs, called comedones, are often what give your pores their large look.

How Long Does It Take for Retinol to Work?

The answer to this question largely depends on the strength of the retinol – or retinoid – and the extent of your skin condition. Most formulations with retinol are available over the counter and do not require a prescription. The problem is that these over the counter versions are often much less potent with lower concentrations than might be necessary to be meaningfully beneficial.

For that reason the average amount of time before you see results with OTC retinol is usually 12 weeks or longer. That’s not to say that there are no benefits during the first few months, they just may not be very noticeable.

A prescription-strength retinoid like tretinoin is about twenty times more powerful than retinol, and it tends to work faster.

Unclogging your pores with a retinoid will lead to fewer acne breakouts over time (retinoids are a powerful tool in fighting acne). One study looked into the effects that a daily application of retinol or tretinoin could have on photo-aged skin over the course of three months. After 28 days, the very first assessment after treatment began, dermatologists noted a meaningful reduction in pore size for participants.

Best of all, the topical cream that patients were using only contained 0.2 percent retinol, which is much lower than the threshold for requiring a prescription. Not only can you get this cream over the counter, but this illustrates what you might have already guessed: higher and more potent retinoids tend to work even better.

How Long Do the Effects of Retinol Last?

The effects of retinol won’t last forever, but they can still help with healing. If you keep using a retinoid like retinol, however, the effects can continue.

Retinol can help to improve the overall health and look of skin that it comes into contact with, but once the substance wears off or those new skin cells have fallen away, the effects of retinol will be gone as well. Think of it like painting your nails. When you first apply the paint, the whole nail is nicely covered. If you stop applying paint as your nails grow, the new nail emerging from your nail bed will have no paint. That’s simplifying the process, but you get the idea.

Retinoids for shrinking pores require regular use for most people.

What Causes Large Pores?

By knowing what causes large pores, you might be able to make some adjustments to your skin care routine to keep them tight and less noticeable.

Genetics

Genetics play a major role in the size of your pores, mostly due to your inherited skin type. People with naturally more oily skin tend to also have larger pores, in fact, that oily skin is often a result of those larger pores and more sebum production.

While moisturized skin may help with reducing wrinkles and aging, it is often associated with more visible pores. It also appears that fair or lighter skin tones have less visible pores when compared to olive or darker tones. Obviously, you can't change your genetics, so if you have oily or darker skin tones you may have to take extra care when planning a skincare routine.

Hormonal Changes

When a person goes through hormonal fluctuations, such as during their menstrual period, for instance, the body can react in a variety of ways. Androgen hormones in particular stimulate the sebaceous glands in your skin and result in an excess sebum oil being produced. Think about the acne associated with adolescent boys during puberty. This overabundance of sebum can clog and dilate your pores, creating what's known known as a comedone, and making them appear larger.

Sun Exposure

Overexposure to the sun damages your skin in a variety of ways. Along with tons of other issues, it can thicken skin and cause your pores to appear larger. It can also damage the collagen and elastin of your skin. When these elements become damaged, skin can start to sag, pulling at the edges of your pores and making them look bigger.

Acne

There is a strong relationship between acne and large pores, although it’s similar to the chicken and the egg debate. Do you have acne because of large pores, or large pores because of acne? Regardless of the root cause, the effect is the same: by blocking pores, acne can stretch them out.

Clogged Pores

Speaking of blocking pores, when they become plugged with oil, dirt, makeup, bacteria, or dead skin cells, your pores will be forced to expand. Just like squeezing a large foot into a tiny sock, the more junk that builds up in your pores, the larger they will be stretched and the more visible they become.

Can You Permanently Close Pores?

There is no (healthy) way to permanently shrink or eliminate your pores. Even if you somehow could shrink pores permanently, you need them open to keep your skin lubricated and healthy! Even though they can be an eyesore or contribute to skin problems, your pores are important to your overall skin health.

How Can I Make My Pores Appear Smaller?

There are quite a few ways to make your pores appear smaller. Based on your skin type and pores, it may take some trial and error to figure out which options provide the best results for you specifically.

Cleansing and Exfoliating

Regardless of skin type or pore size, you should maintain a skin care regimen that includes a cleanser and even an exfoliator. By cleaning the sebum oil, dead skin cells, dirt, bacteria, and makeup off your face daily, you can lower the chances of clogging up your pores and developing acne.

Unfortunately, even twice daily cleansers might not be enough to keep them clear. Since exfoliators are often much more intense for your skin, you should only exfoliate weekly or less. Sticking with a routine where you cleanse daily and exfoliate weekly may help to keep your pores tiny and tight.

Caffeine

Although drinking caffeine can lead to higher levels of stress, which triggers overproduction of the sebum that can clog pores, applying it to your skin may have the opposite effect.

When used topically, caffeine can help to tighten up your skin, in addition to reducing inflammation and puffiness. Not only will caffeine help to reduce the size of your pores and wrinkles, it can help soothe your skin and leave it healthier and shiny.

Toners

Applying a toner after a thorough washing or using a face cleanser is the icing on the pore-clearing cake. Toner can help to remove those little bits of grime that the cleanser may have missed and will help to tighten pores and the gaps between skin cells.

SPF

It’s a great idea to add some skincare products that offer sun protection (SPF) into your daily routine. A small amount of sunscreen every morning can do wonders for fighting the signs of aging. It cannot be overstated how damaging sun exposure can be to your skin, including pores. By reducing or eliminating UV exposure, you can help to keep your skin healthy and even your pores tighter.

Laser Treatments

In the event that these lifestyle changes aren’t providing satisfactory results, you might opt for intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy. Showering your skin with targeted pulses of light, as with IPL, can help to support firmer, more supple-looking skin. More collagen can restore the sagging effects of sun damage and tighten up the bonds between your skin cells, reducing the appearance of pores.

Retinoids

Applying a retinoid to your skin daily can help to increase cell turnover and promote the growth of healthier and firmer skin.

Over time you will effectively be resurfacing your skin, smoothing wrinkles and possibly shrinking pores along the way. The most effective retinoids require a prescription, like tretinoin, but there are several over the counter options that are strong enough to help shrink the appearance of your pores, retinol and retinaldehyde among them.

The Takeaway

When it comes to shrinking your pores, retinol is one of the most effective and safest approaches. Making a few lifestyle changes can help to reduce the odds of experiencing enlarged pores, and their severity too. Even if you do end up with visible pores, a few quick adjustments and some of the treatments listed above may help get your pores back to their usual in no time.