Would YOU have Botox to shrink your pores? Pioneering treatment may hold the key to completely smooth skin

  • Thanks to social media pores have become the new focus in the world of beauty
  • Pores enlarge with age as the production of collagen slows down 
  • Alice-Hart tried Pore Patrol treatment and Botox injections to shrink her's

As Dr Joney De Souza carefully spears a tiny needle loaded with Botox directly into one of the larger pores on my nose, I flinch and contemplate the mysteries of my job and wonder, not for the first time, whether the world of beauty has gone totally mad.

Injections anywhere on the nose are the worst and these sharp little stabs are making my eyes water.

It has taken an hour of meticulous preparation to get my nose ready for these injections, which are not for wrinkles — but the piece de resistance of Dr De Souza’s Pore Patrol, the hottest treatment for shrinking pores.

Alice-Hart tried Pore Patrol treatment and Botox injections to shrink her pores as part of the new beauty trend

Alice-Hart tried Pore Patrol treatment and Botox injections to shrink her pores as part of the new beauty trend

Pores? Yes, pores — the tiny openings on the skin that let out sweat and sebum, the oil that keeps skin lubricated. For the most part, they’re so small you’d never notice them. But thanks to social media, high-definition cameras and an increasing habit of scrutinising our faces for tiny flaws, pores have become the baddest of bad guys on the skincare hit list.

Forget crow’s feet, laughter lines or forehead wrinkles — it’s the tiny pock-marks of blocked pores that could be giving away your age more than anything else.

That’s because pores often enlarge with age. The production of collagen, the supportive protein that keeps skin firm, slows down as we get older and leads to slackening of the skin — including around the pores. They yawn open and are more easily blocked by dead skin, oil and old make-up, so show up all the more.

Judging by the latest slew of pore-reducing beauty products, visible pores must be something we really loathe as a nation.

Those with oily skin like Alice's are more prone to enlarged pores which can cause blackheads

Those with oily skin like Alice's are more prone to enlarged pores which can cause blackheads

There are ‘acid toners’ and face masks formulated to clean pores out, sticky strips to rip out the blackheads they harbour, make-up primers designed to fill in the dents in the skin they create and, like super-fine Polyfilla, render the surface flawless for a super-smooth, camera-ready finish.

Those with oily skin are more prone to enlarged pores. So if your skin is fine and dry, you may not have a clue what I’m talking about. But if, like me, you have been plagued with large pores since you were a teenager, you’ll know the issues all too well.

Excess oil gets caught up in dead skin cells in the pores, then forms what are technically known as ‘comedones’. Finally, the air oxidises these oil plugs and turns them black — et voila, blackheads!

I’ve been waging war on mine for decades, steaming them, squeezing them (tsk tsk!), daubing them with clay masks and covering them with make-up, but there seems to be no way of getting rid of them.

The clinic which she visited for her treatment has seen a 60 per cent increase in patients complaining about their pores in the past year

The clinic which she visited for her treatment has seen a 60 per cent increase in patients complaining about their pores in the past year

So that’s why I find myself in Dr De Souza’s clinic. For the past 15 years he has been practising as a cosmetic doctor but he originally trained as a dermatologist.

And recently he has seen an increasing stream of patients — 60 per cent more in the past year — complaining about pores in a way they never used to, and begging him to do something about them.

Before the Botox injections begin, I start with a cleansing and collagen-boosting Pore Patrol treatment. For this I am handed over to Milena Naydenov, laser therapist and chief skin whisperer at Dr De Souza’s cinic, whose complexion is as immaculate as those of her A-list clients. ‘Do you exfoliate?’ she asks me as she starts cleaning my face.

‘Well, yeees . . .’ I say. It’s a bit like protesting to the dental hygienist that yes, I really have been cleaning my teeth diligently when the evidence might suggest otherwise.

She paints on a strong, but thankfully non-stinging, solution of salicylic acid to soften the oil plugs in my pores, then uses a microdermabrasion device which gently removes the dead top layer of my skin and vacuums out the debris from my pores at the same time.

The size of your pores are determined by your genes but boosting collagen production can make them firmer

The size of your pores are determined by your genes but boosting collagen production can make them firmer

Once my pores are clean and scoured clear of gunk, Milena zaps my whole face with a radiofrequency device. The red rays heat up the lower layers of my skin, to stimulate the growth of new collagen which will shore up my pores.

Each zap feels warm but not uncomfortable and Milena then gives me a quick going over with an IPL device to administer sharp little flicks of collagen-stimulating Intense Pulsed Light at a different depth in the skin. There’s just time for a hydrating mask and a short spell under a canopy of soothing red LED lights (to calm the skin and, yes, help with collagen production) before Dr De Souza appears to administer the Botox.

After all that build-up, it takes less than ten minutes as he is only treating my nose. You can’t actually shrink pores, he tells me; their size is determined by your genes. They don’t open and close, either, while we’re dispelling pore myths.

They don’t even expand and contract, but there are three steps to make them look better: keep them really clean; boost collagen production in the skin to make it firmer, because that tightens slack skin and makes pores appear smaller; and reduce the amount of oil they produce.

Dr De Souza recommends using retinol-based skincare products such as the new ZO Instant Pore Refiner to keep pores in good condition

Dr De Souza recommends using retinol-based skincare products such as the new ZO Instant Pore Refiner to keep pores in good condition

Reducing oil production is where the Botox comes in. You might well be wondering how on earth it works on pores when it’s usually used to reduce the activity of facial muscles. Are there muscles around pores?

No, says Dr De Souza, and he is only injecting it just below the surface of the skin, rather than any deeper.

It’s the same technique that he uses when treating excessive sweating, a condition known as hyperhidrosis, where Botox blocks the nerve signals that command the sweat glands to sweat.

His lightbulb moment came when he realised that his patients’ sweaty faces weren’t just less sweaty; they were less oily, too, and their pores appeared much less visible.

(No one can quite explain how Botox reduces oiliness in the skin, but it is an effect that has been observed by doctors around the world.)

It takes just a few injections, and I am amazed to see immediate results. Apart from the pinprick marks from the needle, my own pores appear almost to have vanished.

Is that possible? Yes, because they’re clean and empty and the radiofrequency treatment gives skin an instant plumpness, though it takes months for its main effects to come through.

I hardly dare expose them to London’s filthy air (yes, pollution particles accelerate ageing in the skin and enlargement of the pores).

To keep my pores in good nick, Dr De Souza recommends I use retinol-based skincare products such as the new ZO Instant Pore Refiner (£60, launching in September on zo-skinhealth.co.uk), which helps control oiliness and activate collagen production.

Has the world of beauty gone completely mad, Botoxing noses in pursuit of pore-fection? Possibly — the Botox is the icing on the cake, as it were — but at least this is a treatment that gives a positive and definitely noticeable result.

Pore Patrol treatment, £300, www.drjoneydesouza.com 

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.