Blackheads leave holes because they physically stretch the pore while they’re sitting inside it. A blackhead is a plug of oil and dead skin cells packed into a hair follicle opening, and over time, that plug widens the walls of the pore like a tent pole holding up canvas. When the blackhead finally comes out, whether you extract it or it clears on its own, the stretched opening remains visible as a small hole.
The good news is that most of these holes aren’t permanent damage. They’re dilated pores, not scars, and the distinction matters for what you can realistically do about them.
What Actually Happens Inside the Pore
Your skin has thousands of tiny openings called pores, each one the surface end of a hair follicle. Sebaceous glands attached to the follicle produce oil that normally flows up and out through the pore. A blackhead forms when dead skin cells and oil clump together and get stuck at the opening. Exposure to air oxidizes the surface of the plug, turning it dark.
As the plug grows, it pushes outward against the walls of the follicle. The longer a blackhead stays in place, the more it stretches the surrounding tissue. Think of it like wearing a ring that’s too tight: even after you take it off, the indentation stays for a while. In the case of skin, the “indentation” is a visibly widened pore. Blackheads that persist for months or years cause more stretching than ones that clear quickly, which is why chronic blackheads tend to leave more noticeable holes.
Dilated Pores vs. Actual Scars
Not every hole left behind by a blackhead is the same. Enlarged pores appear round, even, and symmetrical, like tiny circular openings. They’re a functional issue: the pore structure is intact, just stretched. Acne scars, on the other hand, are permanent structural changes caused by inflammation that destroys collagen deeper in the skin. Scars tend to look irregular, uneven, or sharply defined rather than round.
The most common type of acne scarring is atrophic, meaning the skin surface dips inward. These come in three patterns: ice-pick scars (narrow and deep), boxcar scars (wider with sharp edges), and rolling scars (shallow, wave-like depressions). If your blackhead became inflamed or infected before clearing, the resulting inflammation could damage collagen in the surrounding tissue. That’s when you cross from “stretched pore” into “scar” territory. Simple, non-inflamed blackheads rarely cause true scarring.
This distinction matters because enlarged pores can improve with topical treatments, while scars typically require procedures that reach deeper layers of skin.
Why Some People’s Holes Look Worse
Several factors determine how visible those post-blackhead holes are. Skin type plays a role: people with oilier skin tend to have naturally larger pores, so any additional stretching is more apparent. Age is another factor, since skin loses collagen and elasticity over time, making it harder for a stretched pore to bounce back.
Sun damage is a major and often overlooked contributor. UV radiation destroys collagen and elastin, the proteins responsible for keeping skin firm and resilient. As elastin fibers break down, pores lose the structural support that would normally help them tighten. The Skin Cancer Foundation describes a condition called Favre-Racouchot syndrome, where chronic sun exposure causes clusters of enlarged, blackhead-filled pores on the temples and cheeks, particularly in middle-aged men with years of unprotected sun exposure. The loss of elastin literally causes skin crevices and pores to enlarge, trapping debris inside them.
Squeezing blackheads aggressively also makes the holes worse. Forceful extraction can tear the follicle wall, triggering inflammation and collagen loss that wouldn’t have happened if the blackhead had been removed gently or treated with topical products.
Can the Holes Shrink Back?
Stretched pores can improve, but they rarely return to their original size completely. How much improvement you see depends on how long the pore was stretched, how much structural support the surrounding skin still has, and what you do about it.
Retinoids are the most well-supported topical option. They work through several mechanisms at once: stimulating the skin cells that produce collagen, blocking the enzymes that break collagen down, improving skin elasticity by clearing out damaged elastin fibers, and regulating how dead skin cells shed inside the pore so new blockages are less likely to form. Retinoids also reduce oil gland activity, which helps keep pores from re-stretching. Over-the-counter retinol is the gentlest form, while prescription-strength tretinoin is more potent. Results typically take 8 to 12 weeks of consistent use.
Alpha hydroxy acids and vitamin C have also shown measurable effects on pore size in clinical studies, though generally less dramatic than retinoids. These work primarily by encouraging cell turnover at the skin’s surface and supporting collagen production.
When Topical Products Aren’t Enough
For deeper holes or true atrophic scars left by inflamed blackheads, in-office procedures can produce more significant changes. Fractional micro-needling radiofrequency, which uses tiny needles combined with heat energy to trigger collagen remodeling beneath the surface, showed significant pore size reduction in a clinical study after three sessions. Patients’ pore scores dropped from an average of 3.55 to 2.59 on a six-point scale.
Other options include chemical peels, which resurface the top layers of skin, and fractional lasers, which create controlled micro-injuries to stimulate new collagen growth from below. These treatments don’t eliminate pores (pores are a permanent, necessary part of skin anatomy), but they can tighten the surrounding tissue enough to make the openings less visible.
Preventing the Stretch in the First Place
The most effective strategy is keeping blackheads from lingering. A consistent routine with a salicylic acid cleanser or leave-on treatment dissolves the oil and dead skin that form plugs, clearing them before they have time to widen the pore. Using a retinoid at night serves double duty: it prevents new blackheads by normalizing how skin cells shed inside the follicle, and it supports the collagen structure around existing pores.
Daily sunscreen protects the elastin and collagen that keep pores tight. This is especially important if you’re already using retinoids, which make skin more sensitive to UV. Avoiding aggressive squeezing or pore strips, which can traumatize the follicle wall, reduces the risk of turning a simple stretched pore into a permanent scar.