A blind pimple, also known as cystic acne, is a pimple that lives beneath the surface of your skin and doesn't come to a head. It is often in the form of a red, painful bump beneath the skin. Blind pimples are caused by oil getting trapped beneath the skin.
Soak a clean washcloth in water that is hot, but not too hot to touch. Apply the warm compress. Hold the warm compress on the blind pimple for 10 to 15 minutes. Repeat the application three to four times a day until the blind pimple comes to a head and releases the pus.
Blind pimples, aka cystic acne, are painful zits that exist under the skin and never come to a head. To treat blind pimples, try benzoyl peroxide, a cold compress, and avoid attempting to pop it. For strong treatment, try retinols, oral antibiotics, or hormone medication.
According to the Education Manager for the International Dermal Institute and Dermalogica, Emma Hobbs, a blind pimple will typically stick around anywhere between five to 10 days.
While it might seem like leaving it alone is just giving it more time to get worse, blind pimples that are left untouched often go away on their own. "If left alone, a blind pimple will usually resolve by itself, but it takes a very strong will not to pick at it!" Dr. Squire said.
Blind pimples are too far below the skin to pop. Trying will only irritate them further, and may cause infection or scarring.
Sanitize a needle or pin with rubbing alcohol. Gently prick only the very top of the whitehead with the tip of the needle. Do so on an angle that is parallel to the skin. Don't go so deep that you draw blood.
These under-the-skin pimples are sometimes called "blind pimples," but their correct term is a cyst or cystic acne. Cysts are painful, annoying, and difficult (but not impossible) to treat.
The main difference is in the case of a blind pimple; the infection gets trapped deep in the skin next to the nerves, and because there is no “head” on the surface of your skin, pressure can build and causing pain.
Apply a warm compress
The heat can open up pores, which may draw the pimple closer to the skin's surface and create a head. The formation of a head enables the sebum, cells, and bacteria to exit the skin.
Don't pop or squeeze pus-filled pimples
You can cause the bacteria to spread and the inflammation to worsen.
Nodules are a type of hard pimple that can be large and painful. They form when an infected skin pore or follicle is located deep below the skin surface. Cysts are found deep below the skin when a pus-filled membrane forms around the infection. They are likely to scar.
Unfortunately, there's no magic trick to getting rid of a blind pimple in a few minutes. (Don't use toothpaste as an overnight treatment.) The issue with these types of pimples is they cannot be accessed topically, meaning you cannot pop them, and your normal acne wash will not work.
This means that by touching, prodding, poking, or otherwise irritating pimples, you run the risk of introducing new bacteria to the skin. This can cause the pimple to become even more red, inflamed, or infected. In other words, you'll still have the pimple, rendering any attempts useless.
When we have changes in hormone levels on a monthly basis, an increase in hormones can trigger increased oil production, increased risk of bacterial infection, and re-irritation of that pimple again. 'Sometimes these reoccurring pimples are cystic and come back because they never form a head to be extracted.
Warm compresses have been used to encourage the draining of wounds -- including pimples. The warm compress helps to open the pores and draw the pimple to the surface to form a head. You can apply a warm compress to a clean face for up to 20 minutes.
Benzoyl peroxide is another key ingredient for treating blind pimples: The ingredient, Dr. Zeichner says, kills acne-causing bacteria on the skin and subsequently reduces inflammation.
There's no real harm in using zit stickers — but they may not work, either, leaving you pimply and frustrated. “They're really just wound healing dressings for a very specific type of lesion,” Dr. Kassouf says. “They can be helpful, but for overall acne treatment, there is little use for them.
Hormonal acne is also usually pretty specific in its location on the face: jawline, chin, neck. And it's appearance: big, often blind pimples under the skin's surface and cyst-like – they're usually painful to touch.
Hold this [cooled] needle in your hand, and brace that hand against your face, or a non-moving surface to stabilize your hand so it doesn't shake about, and gently pierce the top of the pustule with the needle. Then, pull up to lift open a hole within the pimple,” instructs Lee.
So the pimple simply explodes by itself, because of the huge pressure inside the pimple. This pressure explosion results in damaged and scared skin. Certainly, it is likely that it will cause a red mark on the skin, as you probably get a small wound, which will become a scar.
Most blackheads are close enough to the skin's surface to attempt safe removal. If you've tried to remove a blackhead and the blockage won't come out, leave it alone for a day or two. In most cases, your skin will clear the blockage on its own if you give it time.
Clogged pores are the main cause of whiteheads. Your pores can become blocked for several reasons. One cause of blocked pores is hormonal changes, which are common triggers of acne. Certain life stages can increase the amount of sebum, or oil, your pores produce.