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.
Cystic acne is a type of inflammatory acne that causes painful, pus-filled pimples to form deep under the skin. Acne occurs when oil and dead skin cells clog skin pores. With cystic acne, bacteria also gets into the pores, causing swelling or inflammation. Cystic acne is the most severe type of acne.
Wait until your pimple has a firm white head. That means the pus is close to the surface and ready to be drained.
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.
"Known technically as a 'papule', a blind pimple is a superficial raised red lump that occurs when a pore (and its associated sebaceous gland) becomes inflamed," Dr. Squire told marie claire. "These are distinguished from a 'pustule' which is exactly as it sounds (it contains pus and can be squeezed).
Here's the deal: Blind pimples can go away on their own (Dr. Schultz says 50 to 80 percent of the time, they do), but because of all that inflammation within the skin, Dr. Yadav says it can take weeks or even months (months!) for the discomfort to subside.
Don't pop or squeeze pus-filled pimples
You can cause the bacteria to spread and the inflammation to worsen.
Blind pimples are caused by oil getting trapped beneath the skin. An overproduction of oil might occur during certain parts of your hormonal cycle, which is why many women get these types of pimples at a certain time each month.
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.
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.
ICE THE OFFENDING SPOT! Most of the time when you discover a new blind pimple, it will still be small. Take this opportunity to ice it by holding a clean cold pack to the area for three rounds of five minutes on, ten minutes off. The cold will help to reduce inflammation and swelling.
Does putting toothpaste on a pimple make it go away? You may have heard this suggestion, but experts on acne say don't try it. Toothpaste could make that spot on your skin even more red, irritated, and noticeable.
The rumor mill might have you believing that dabbing some regular old toothpaste on your zit will help it clear up overnight. But, while it's true that several ingredients found in toothpaste are drying to skin and might help shrink your pimple, this home remedy for breakouts isn't worth the risk.
Pus, a thick, white substance made up of bacteria and white blood cells, sometimes fills the pimple.
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.
When to Pop, and When to Stop
If your pimple has a white or yellow head, it's prime for the popping. “At that point, it is OK to extract because the bump is very superficial to the surface of the skin,” says Lee.
The section of your face from the bridge of your nose to the corners of your mouth is sometimes known as the “danger triangle of the face,” or even the “triangle of death.” And it's one place where you should never pop a pimple, as it can lead to an infection in your brain.
If you're bleeding, she says to “gently blot the area with a clean tissue or cotton pad and clean the area with alcohol.” Once the blood has stopped, she advises applying a spot treatment containing benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid as mentioned above.
Can I pop a pimple if I can see the white part? It's tempting, but popping or squeezing a pimple won't necessarily get rid of the problem. Squeezing can push bacteria and pus deeper into the skin, which might cause more swelling and redness.
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.
Popping a pimple could spread the bacteria and pus from the infected pore to surrounding pores in the area. This can cause an to spread. Popping a pimple can delay your body's natural healing process, which causes your pimple's healing to take longer.
It's called a micro-comedone because when it first forms, it is microscopic so it's invisible to the naked eye. And I call it a seed because it literally looks and feels like a sesame seed because it's firm and white. It's also the seed from which all the different types of acne grow from.