1000’s appear out of nowhere: a slew of tiny and painless — albeit pesky — white bumps. They’re minuscule, almost undetectable even, but you work you’ll be able to attempt to pop them anyway because textured skin is not what you are going for. If you do give them a squeeze, though, nothing happens — no puss, no blood, nada. It’s a very unexplainable popping fail. Naturally, you start to wonder, What’s the deal?

The deal is that thousands are, in brief, cysts product of keratin, says Latest York City-based board-certified dermatologist Shari MarchbeinMD. Keratin, she explains, is a protein within the outermost skin layer, called the stratum corneum, which forms your hair, nails, and skin.

South Florida-based board-certified dermatologist Jeffrey FromowitzMD, explains that pimples are available in two variants: inflammatory papules (pustules, nodules, cysts) and non-inflammatory lesions (open and closed comedones, like blackheads and whiteheads). While milia do indeed look like whiteheads, that is where many of the comparisons end.

“Milia is where the skin grows completely over a pore and the skin debris is trapped beneath the surface,” he says. “So while it looks like a whitehead, it’s difficult to remove and infrequently requires a tool to open the skin’s surface and come out the hard white core.”

To make matters more confusing, “the etiology for each is analogous, so it’s common to have pimples and milia together,” says Philadelphia-based board-certified dermatologist Michele FarberMD. Unlike pimples, nonetheless, milia can develop without rhyme or reason and can’t be extracted the best way typical blemishes can, says Dr. Marchbein.

Read on for the deep dive on milia and the way you’ll be able to treat those little bumps.

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• Shari MarchbeinMD, is a board-certified dermatologist based in Latest York City.
• Jeffrey FromowitzMD, is a board-certified dermatologist in Boca Raton, Florida.
• Michele FarberMD, is a board-certified dermatologist with the Schweiger Dermatologist Group in Philadelphia.
• Sejal ShahMD, is a board-certified dermatologist in Latest York City.

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• What is milia and who typically gets it?
• Why do they appear?
• Can you prevent milia?
• How can you get rid of milia?

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In line with Dr. Marchbein, these tiny white bumps can occur to only about anyone no matter age or skin type, but they’re more prevalent in those with chronic sun damage. “They’re commonly found on the face, especially the nose, cheeks, and around the attention area, [and can] be seen in all age groups from babies to adults,” she says.