While they’re most common on the nose, chin, and forehead, says board-certified dermatologist Hadley King, M.D., sebum plugs can be found anywhere on the body that has sebaceous glands (i.e., everywhere except the palms of your hands and soles of your feet). Your back, chest, and scalp are also common hotbeds for sebum plugs, but there are also other places (albeit, unlikely) they can pop up as well. These oily bumps have a multitude of names with slightly different profiles. For example, board-certified dermatologist Ellen Marmur, M.D., might diagnose sebaceous hyperplasia, which is “a pink doughnut-looking bump, usually multiple, that often grows after the age of 25 on the oily areas of the forehead, nose, and cheeks,” she tells mbg. While it also stems from sebum blocking the hair follicle, it’s a little more specific than your average sebum plug; so don’t be alarmed if your diagnosis has a more technical name—it may have a slightly different makeup, but the root of the issue is that excess oil trapped within your pores. So while you may notice a blackhead in the mirror, the root of the problem is a sebum plug, which is what you’ll want to treat to keep those blackheads (and whiteheads, for that matter) at bay. Consider them the prerequisite for zits. “BHAs are able to work on the surface of the skin as well as inside the pore,” says King. “Salicylic acid is an excellent comedolytic, or pore-clearing, ingredient because it exfoliates the stratum corner (the surface of the skin) and penetrates into pores to remove sebum.” And if you’re facing some sebum plugs on your scalp, a chemical scalp scrub may help give your hair follicles a necessary tune-up. Ross agrees: “Squeezing risks the sebum and dead skin cells getting outside of the follicular unit into other layers of the skin and causing inflammation, which can ultimately lead to scarring.” In other words, don’t take matters into your own hands—let your skin care, or a licensed esthetician, do the work. So, if you want to stop the sebum plug at the source, the best route is to go with the aforementioned remedies. Plus, pore strips can cause irritation if you’re not careful: “The adhesive can traumatize the skin, so be sure to use them carefully and follow the instructions,” King says.
