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.
Blind pimples, also known as cystic acne, form deep within the skin and can be painful to the touch. While blind pimples are a challenging type of acne to treat, they can sometimes be treated at home.
It's normal for some deep or large pimples to take a long time to clear up. So, if you've been battling one for a while, you can rest easy knowing that it's not unusual. If you have a big pimple that won't go away, there are steps you can take to help it heal.
Don't pop or squeeze pus-filled pimples
You can cause the bacteria to spread and the inflammation to worsen.
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.
"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).
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.
While ice can help reduce symptoms of an inflamed pimple, heat works well on noninflamed, blind pimples. A blind pimple is a type of closed comedo that develops in the deep layers of the skin.
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.
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.
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.
"Sometimes when you remove contents from the skin and the skin is a little bit floppy, it can make noises," Lee explains in the episode.
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.
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.
Try steam or warm compress to speed up the healing process of acne. This also helps reducing pain and inflammation and relieving the pus. Soak cotton pad in hot water and press it against the pimple. Keep it that way for about 10 minutes and repeat a couple of times a day.
Blind pimples usually tend to go away on their own after a few weeks. It can even take upto months for them to fade away. Under treatment, a blind pimple may take a few days and upto weeks to heal (5).
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.
Honey isn't the magical end-all, be-all of curing acne and preventing future acne from ever popping up again. But it is known to have natural antibacterial and calming qualities. These qualities may help soothe inflamed acne blemishes.