NO! Squeezing spots does not make them go away faster; it spreads bacteria and can leave a scar.
Especially if you have active acne, squeezing spots will only make matters worse. When people get into the habit of feeling their face for spots, they use their fingers to find irregularities on the skin surface and tend to pick at scabs too.
If you have a habit of touching your face, subconsciously seeking blemishes, stop. Keeping your hands away from your face will quell the impulse to pick, poke or pop spots and scars.
Why you shouldn’t pop pimples
Don’t pop your pimples because doing so pushes bacteria deeper into your skin and helps it spread to other areas of your face. It’s more than likely you haven’t managed to take out the ‘root’ of the pimple, so it’ll just come back again.
Picking at spots can also cause more pimples to pop up around the picked areas of your skin, so the more pimples you pick, the more pimples you get. It also causes red marks, and can leave scars that will last a long time.
Remember that most inflamed blemishes happen when the pore becomes engorged with excess sebum, dead skin cells, and bacteria.
When you squeeze a pimple, you may inadvertently force the debris from the pore deeper into the follicle. That can cause the follicle wall to rupture and spill infected material into the dermis (the innermost section of the skin.)
Not only do you run the risk of scarring if you pick at or “pop” your pimples, you can worsen the blemish. Don’t be fooled if you are able to coax pus and debris from the pore opening. Infected material may still be entering the dermis from below.
Squeezing a pimple can lead to a nodule (hard, red, painful blemish deep within the skin) or a cyst. The most serious form of a blemish, cysts are large and painfully inflamed lesions. They develop when a membrane forms around the infection in the dermis, creating a soft, fluid-filled lump.
Clearly a hands-off policy is the best choice when it comes to your skin! To book an appointment with Dr. Fay at Cosmetic Doctor to address your acne effectively, just call 01 685 3100 or see the section on Acne Treatments.
