popping zits, do it or no?

suenotto · Nov 16, 2013

I think most everyone on here has heard somewhere, whether its from your Dr or your sister, "don't squeeze pimples! its bad for your skin". I believe it to be true, I mean, you can sometimes even see the skin around a zit get damaged when squeezing. So I tell myself when I get the occasional zit to "leave it alone" but I almost never can just leave it if its ripe and ready to pop. I know, gross..sorry. But still I want to know, is there anyone on here that USED to pop pimples but now doesn't touch them (perhaps told by their Dermatologist) and can confirm that their skin is much better with the "leave it alone" approach?

I think that it doesn't take too long to dry up once its popped, clean it well and put some drying agent on it. If I left it alone, it seems like it would take longer to disappear..but maybe I'm wrong?

PeridotCricket · Nov 16, 2013

No. No popping until it's absolutely ready to pop, and by that I mean the white part is ready to peel off at the slightest touch. I find that if I pop zits before that, no matter how much gunk I squeeze out, the whitehead will re-form, and I've got the darn thing for another week. And in top of that, it hurts during and after the squeezing if I do it too soon. Waiting until it's almost ready to pop on its own before I squeeze it means much less pain, way faster healing, and it seems like less chance other pimples are going to form in or around that spot. I know it looks totally gross. It makes me totally self-conscious to have a giant pimple with a giant white center. But I wait anyway.

suenotto · Nov 20, 2013

no one else want to comment on the gross zit topic?

makeupbyomar · Nov 20, 2013

Popping acne leaves scars. We can all attest to this, even me, as I had to get a couple of acne scars lasered off. (It was a fight and a will-of-egos trying to convince a dermatologist that the "moles" where not cancer related...) I let my acne (when I do get the odd one) pop by themselves, I know it's tough with the itching / irritation, but I never get scars when I leave them alone. Acne treatments and coverage is another topic...

FunAtTheCircus · Nov 27, 2013

I unfortunately have a bad habit of popping them. I know terrible but I hate the feeling of a hurting pimple on my face. I get a lot of black heads and if I don't pop them it will really hurt. Around my nose, the sides of my nose I get little tiny white heads and if I just touch them or wipe them off with a wash cloth while washing my face, they pop.

That being said, I never pick them. Meaning I don't use a needle to pop the outside of the skin, or pick them breaking the layers of skin. I just squeeze them until they pop.

I know it's bad either way!

makeupbyomar · Nov 27, 2013

Yeah, before I got into make-up, I used to pop them too and got a lot of blackheads because of it. I know it's hard to resist not to pick them... Ugh.