We often heard of blackhead, a yellowish or blackish bump or plug on the skin, as one type of acne vulgaris. But what about whitehead, do you know what is it? Could you tell the difference between blackhead and whitehead? Let’s see the details below.
We know that on oxidization, the hardened sebum or oil infected with bacteria turn black. However, the fact is that not all the blackheads look “black”. The reason is that clogged hair follicles, where blackheads often occur,sometimes reflect a little irregularly to generate a blackhead’s “black” hue. So,when extracted from the pore, the blockage might not essentially look so dark black, but may have a more yellow-brown-like colour due to the different content of melanin.
Compared to the blackhead, whitehead has a slightly difference. Contrary to blackhead, an open comedo, a “whitehead” is commonly known as a closed comedo or a pimple. It is a follicle that is filled with the same material, sebum, but doesn’t have a small opening to the skin surface. Due to this closed bump, the outside air has no opportunity to reach the follicle, so the sebum inside might not be oxidized. Thus, the pimple could remain white. A closed comedo may rupture and cause a low-grade skin inflammatory reaction in the area.
Both blackheads and whiteheads are acne.Under certain circumstances, cells that are close to the openings of the sebaceous glands block the openings. This causes a buildup of oil underneath the skin. Bacteria, which live in everyone’s skin but generally mind their own business, feast on this oil, multiply, and then cause the surrounding tissues to become inflamed.
If the inflammation is right near the surface, a pustule is formed; if it is deeper, a pimple occurs; when further deeper, it will become a cyst. If the oil breaks though to the surface, a whitehead appears. If the oil becomes oxidized by the air around the skin, the oil changes from white to black(sometimes may look like more yellow-brown), and the result is a blackhead. This is how the two types of comedones develop.
Nose lies in the middle of the T-Zone where there have maximum oil glands. Naturally, the activity of these glands results in over-secretion of oil on and around the nose. So the blackheads and whiteheads happen more commonly on nose. When a slightly dark colored and oily on your nose, you need to pay attention to this alert. If the nose is not washed at this point to relieve the open pores of this dirty oil, they harden and become blackheads, or sometimes along with whiteheads. There are many ways to remove blackheads from nose however nothing is better than precaution.