You should have heard it many times before by now, it is NOT okay to pop your pimples! But why exactly is it not right to do so?
The best and safest thing for your skin is to leave the acne alone and let it heals naturally. When you squeeze, you are actually pushing part of the pus deep into the skin further. As the deeper part of the skin is softer compare to its surface, it usually breaks first and pus, debris and bacteria will track down under the skin before you can see it being squeezed out onto the surface of your skin. Therefore, this nidus of infection will track under the skin and go to an adjacent normal skin area, spread and set its foot there. Hence, the vicious cycles continue and you will be haunted by acne problem persistently.
Furthermore, the pressure of squeezing may cause the wall containing the pimple to break and infection to spread into the dermis. The more the skin is damaged, especially when the dermis is involved, the higher the risk of acne scarring. This will be inevitable as any damage done to the dermis will cause scarring.
I know by now you must be wondering, how about those pustule on the surface of the skin which is about to burst? The good news is, it is okay to pop this type of acne. Yes, you hear me right, it is OK. When the pus is very near to the surface of the skin, you can apply gentle pressure to it to pop it out. If you need to squeeze a few times and nothing came out, what it means is the pimple is not ready yet. The best way of getting rid of this kind of pimple is to apply acne spot treatment cream on it and let it heals on its own.
A word of advice: any red inflammed acne without a white head should never be squeezed! Deep seated pimple has a core too deep to be safely bring to the skin surface. The best way is to wait for it to heal naturally, of course this can be achieved faster with the help of a proper treatment plan, daily skincare regime, spot treatment cream or oral acne medication from Elegance Clinic. 😉
Written by Dr Tan WW
