# Single "salty" pore on my face? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041 "2006-01-21T23:43:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/1 "2006-01-21T23:43:33Z")
Since I can remember, I have a single pore on my face, near the top of my left cheekbone, that seems to constantly excrete salt. Every time after I wash my face, a tiny pinprick of liquid appears from this pore, and remains there. At the end of the day the spot has turned into a dried, saltlike substance. I just brush it off and the process begins anew. It’s not easily visible; I have to get pretty up close with a mirror to see it. And no one else has ever noticed. It’s never seemed to change, but I am curious to know just what it is? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/2 "2006-01-22T02:06:39Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Since I can remember, I have a single pore on my face, near the top of my left cheekbone, that seems to constantly excrete salt. Every time after I wash my face, a tiny pinprick of liquid appears from this pore, and remains there. At the end of the day the spot has turned into a dried, saltlike substance. I just brush it off and the process begins anew. It’s not easily visible; I have to get pretty up close with a mirror to see it. And no one else has ever noticed. It’s never seemed to change, but I am curious to know just what it is? WAG A miniature salt mine? Seriously, I have no idea. Perhaps an expert MD or physiologist will be able to tell you what it is. Perhaps something like a pimple or a variation on a similar phenomonem. May be a perspiration connected thing. Faulty cells, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/3 "2006-01-22T03:05:42Z")
Also not an expert in these things, but I’d wag a sweat gland gone astray. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/4 "2006-01-22T04:01:08Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > WAG A miniature salt mine? > Seriously, I have no idea. Perhaps an expert MD or physiologist will be able to tell you what it is. Perhaps something like a pimple or a variation on a similar phenomonem. > May be a perspiration connected thing. Faulty cells, etc.? Most definitely not a pimple. I’ve had it since I was a kid. My mom says she’s got one on her face, too. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/5 "2006-01-22T04:35:58Z")
Hmm. Where on your face? Below the corner of the eye? In front of the ear? Ever any color to the liquid? ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/6 "2006-01-22T08:12:55Z")
Top left corner of my left cheekbone. Maybe an inch below the outer corner of my eye. The liquid is clear, and as I mentioned, it’s really hard to see unless you’re right up next to it. There’s never any more than a pinprick-sized drop, and it never leaves the pore. It just looks like a tiny speck of water on my skin. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/7 "2006-01-22T20:19:04Z")
Probably an abnormal sweat gland, as others have proposed. I was wondering if it fit with a preauricular pit, but it doesn’t sound like it. ---
**Author:** ![Spidey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Spidey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spidey)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/8 "2006-01-23T05:38:00Z")
Salty secretions just above the cheekbone? It’s clearly a re-routed tear duct! Go cut up a bunch of onions and see if you start “crying” out of it. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/9 "2006-01-23T12:38:27Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Top left corner of my left cheekbone. Maybe an inch below the outer corner of my eye. The liquid is clear, and as I mentioned, it’s really hard to see unless you’re right up next to it. There’s never any more than a pinprick-sized drop, and it never leaves the pore. It just looks like a tiny speck of water on my skin. I wonder if it might be parotid sweating… do a test, suck on a lemon and see if that tiny speck of water gets any bigger. There’s a big salivary gland in that general area and sometimes its nerves find their way to the surface of the skin rather than into the gland, causing abnormal sweating at that point. Most often it’s an aftereffect of surgery in the area but I guess it could happen naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/10 "2006-01-24T03:37:37Z")
I have a similar experience with a pore in that exact area on both sides of my face, right at the cheekbone. It’s a pore that occasionally excretes a dark greyish metallic-looking substance, I notice it especially after I work out or have had a long day. It’s not everyday, but maybe a couple times a week. One of these days I’m going to mass-spec it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/11 "2006-01-24T04:58:03Z")
Definitely not parotid. That’s characterized as sweating on one entire side of the face - and what I’ve got is only in one single tiny pore. The rest of the surrounding area is not affected. It’s not even sweat, I don’t think - the liquid is a wee bit thicker than normal sweat, and it never leaves the pore - it’s just a tiny speck that sits in there, and by the end of the day has dried up into a powdery salty-looking substance. Right after I brush it off, a new speck reappears again. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/12 "2006-01-24T05:10:13Z")
> [@Spidey](#): > > Salty secretions just above the cheekbone? It’s clearly a re-routed tear duct! Go cut up a bunch of onions and see if you start “crying” out of it. Next time you get your eyes checked, have the doc mark your eye with a fluorescing dye. If it shows up in that pore, you’ll know. Eye docs use it to look for scratches on the eye. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-salty-pore-on-my-face/341041/13 "2006-02-08T04:56:20Z")
I’m bumping this thread to see if anyone has any better answers. My dad recently reported a pore just like AFG’s pore - only he presumably hasn’t had it all his life, and it’s just above his left eyebrow (so, not really near his eye). Being the Tough Guy that he is, he tasted the fluid. It’s salty like sweat. Any more info on what this might be?