Why Popping Pimples Makes Acne Worse

When you’re a teenager, it’s hard to listen to anyone tell you to stop popping pimples. Pimples can be disgusting, and popping pimples can feel good and sometimes it seems to do the trick. It’s certainly faster than putting over the counter cream on your blemishes and waiting for them to fade. However, in the long run, effective acne treatment in the form of proven medication is the way to go. Popping pimples can cause damage to your skin that will be around long after the high school prom is a distant memory.

Popping Pimples Inflames Acne

Popping inflamed pustules, the swollen, white spots that can appear on your skin can be irresistible. They can be very unsightly, and they look like they are about ready to pop on their own. A much better approach to squeezing these acne blemishes is to apply a hot compress to the area, and if it does burst on its own, wash the area and treat it with an antibacterial solution.

Popping pimples, the raised red bumps that can come in a variety of shapes and intensities, is a different matter. These blemishes are full of oil and bacteria trapped in the pores of your skin, and the effects of popping them can be disastrous.

What exactly are those effects? To understand why popping pimples is so bad, it’s important to understand what pimples are. When your sebaceous glands are activated, which is especially common among teenagers, whose hormones are still finding balance, a substance called sebum is created. Excess sebum can become trapped with dead skin cells, dirt, oil and special bacteria that causes acne. This mixture clogs the skin pores around your hair follicles which leads to pimples.

When you squeeze a pimple, you may be forcing some of that mixture to the surface, but you are also forcing some of it deeper into the skin. When these infectious materials get deep into the skin under the follicle, it can result in serious skin damage. Popping pimples can lead to scarring, and may also lead to cysts. You don’t want cysts. While not necessarily dangerous, they can be very unpleasant, as they are big, inflamed lesions that are unsightly and can be painful.

Treat Pimples Without Popping Them

So if popping pimples isn’t the answer, what is? Well for one, you should be washing your face regularly with soap and water. This is good for general health as well as for reducing acne outbreaks. Sometimes, however, teenagers encounter acne that is serious or consistent enough that simply washing is not enough. Fortunately, even in these cases, there is an answer.

While there is no cure for acne, acne treatments containing benzoyl peroxide, like the products found in the Proactiv system, have proven to be highly effective in the treatment of acne. Why? For one, benzoyl peroxide products can reduce the severity of existing outbreaks. But more importantly, the right benzoyl peroxide products can penetrate deep into the skin, breaking up those clogged pores and killing the bacteria that causes acne.

If you have problems with acne, put your popping fingers away. Talk to your doctor and get Proactiv instead.