What Is Milia?
Milia is a skin condition that can happen to anyone at any time in life. It is most often seen in newborns, and it can be expected to rapidly disappear in these cases. The biggest problem with milia occurring in infancy is calming panicked parents, who do not know how harmless and temporary it is. Milia may not be so temporary when adults get it. In fact, these unsightly blister-like bumps can sometimes be permanent for adults without intervention.
Milia visibly manifests in tiny blister-like protrusions on the skin. This condition can occur in anyone, regardless of age, sex, or race. The type seen in infants usually disappears over a brief period, but the adult version can be a long term cosmetic problem. This condition is not dangerous, and it is officially unknown if there is a relationship to another underlying condition. Milia is one of the most misunderstood of all health conditions, but in itself, appears harmless by all reports.
Big Medica: "The Causes"
These are the suspected causes of adult milia, as espoused by modern medicine, listed for humor purposes, of course. You may notice the trend of these being related to their own chemical industry.
- Trauma to sweat ducts
- Radiotherapy (radiation)
- Sunscreens
- Topical corticosteroid use
- Genodermatoses ("bad" genes) **
The Real Cause
Unfortunately, we cannot give answers as definitively as we usually do. This is because milia has not received the same amount of research that most disorders have, due to its relatively harmless nature.
The honest truth is that no one knows the causes with certainty. It is widely believed that this condition is due to an exfoliation problem, whereby tiny flakes of dead skin clog the skin's pores. Our research indicates that this is likely only half of the equation. The other half is an excess of cholesterol in the skin, where the body frequently deposits its excess cholesterol. This in turn, leads us to a third contributing factor, which is a deficiency of sunlight. A body removes its excess cholesterol in the skin using sunlight, which begins a process of converting it into vitamin D3. Sunlight does not cause this condition, as some other health-related sources have claimed, and in fact, sunlight can cure it in some cases.
Eliminating Milia
There is plenty of information elsewhere about having dermatologists remove these lesions, so we shall not discuss that option. For those who want to do it themselves, we recommend:
- Take frequent showers.
- Exfoliate the skin.
- Supplementation with niacin is the single most effective treatment for some sufferers.
- Avoid sunscreens. (when reasonable)
- Avoid heavy facial cosmetics.
- Get moderate sunlight exposure frequently.
- Reduce high cholesterol foods.
- Supplement with biotin, because many sufferers find that biotin supplementation alone cures their milia.
- Do not take vitamin D supplements. *
- CoQ10 is produced by the body during intense exercise, and is found in meat and fish. It is used by the body to emulsify oils, and to increase energy. Emulsifiers make oils water soluble (like soap), which assists in their removal, and thus reduces milia.
- A good facial mask containing oatmeal can be helpful in some cases.
- For stubborn milia, freezing them with a commercially-available wort remover product usually works. Note that it will usually make a pop sound when a bump is frozen. It will then dry over the period of a week, and peel off. This does not cause scarring.
* The liver maintains healthy skin while converting the vitamin D2 from sunlight into vitamin D3. Since supplementation with vitamin D can eliminate the need for the liver to conduct this process, it is not always wise to take a vitamin D supplement while attempting to correct a skin issue.
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Comments
A niacin deficiency sounds like a reasonable conclusion for me (alcohol strips it). Also vit D deficiency, however I had these before I moved to Alaska 10 years ago, but perhaps it exacerbates it further.
Today was a rough day with my skin and I am SO GLAD to have found this site with so much hope from all of you!
NO ONE understands my pain. I am a professional fashion model, so you can only imagine the havoc this awful milia has caused in my life. I have NEVER has any kind of acne until the past year (I just turned 23 years old). Every day I have to go to work and have people staring at my face and make up artists applying layers of thick makeup to cover up the milia. It is so humiliating.
I have always taken such pride in my skin and have always been SO BLESSED to have such good skin.
About this time last year I came down with a bad case of "acne" as I thought, only to discover after a painful 4 months later it is actually called milia. I knew it was some kind of acne, but I knew it was different than just pimples because when I tried to pop them nothing would really come out other than a seed like thing and they would scab terribly.
Then it went away...but only to come back about a month ago and it has only gotten worse in the past month or so regardless of any topical solution I have done.
A makeup artist I worked with a bit ago told me to try an oatmeal mask. Apparently it works wonders for the skin (and it makes sense it would work for milia since it reduces cholesterol).
So starting TONIGHT I am going to be taking biotin and niacin. I am also doing an oatmeal mask. I'll let you all know how it goes!
Why is this happening at this point in my life, I have not a clue.
I am hopeful!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the help, everyone.
Thanks again for the information everyone.