# Does popping a pimple make it heal quicker? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2022, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216 "2022-12-28T12:05:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2023, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/21 "2023-01-07T23:04:34Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > “if pus is about, then get it out” > [@brossa](#): > > “where there is pus, let there be steel”. I’m going with @brossa’s formulation. It sounds far more heroic. You have my sword! And my bow! And my axe! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2023, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/22 "2023-01-07T23:20:16Z")
Hmm, remind me not to consult you should I need a cyst lanced. Although I have never tried it, I would imagine patients respond poorly to their doctor entering the room to the strains of _Hail The Conquering Hero_. “Weighing in at 140 pounds, from Hollywood California….” (Enters room, waving giant flag)… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/23 "2023-01-08T18:08:05Z")
Yeah, I really don’t want to see a pimple for which proper treatment would involve an axe… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/24 "2023-01-09T06:45:21Z")
When I was in basic I had something like this happen, except I didn’t consult with anyone. I got an infected spot on my arm where we had been getting shots. It got bigger and redder and really started to hurt, but I didn’t go on sick call because I didn’t want to be accused of malingeing. So I got soap and water and all the other stuff and a needle. I went into the bathroom and just barely pricked that thing. I wish we had YouTube in those days, as a trickle of black and green stuff started down my arm. I just stared at it, but the gal at the sink to my right took one look and screamed her head off. I squeezed until I got clean red blood, the cleaned it up and put a bandage on it. I felt better at once, but the next morning at roll call my drill sergeant wanted to see it because the other gal had told her about it. By then it didn’t feel bad. It did start to come back a little but I treated it again, in private this time, and it healed up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/25 "2023-01-09T13:46:07Z")
I don’t know about @RivkahChaya , but in the cases I described, what came out couldn’t be described as “a trickle”. It was thick goopy stuff, about the consistency of toothpaste. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/26 "2023-01-09T13:47:42Z")
Not an axe, maybe, but a polearm, sure. To stay out of the splash zone. Skin popping + low body fat → subfascial abscess under significant pressure → something like [this nonmedical but evocative example.](https://youtu.be/w6urQm7Prs4?t=47). Fortunately, face shields were worn that day. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/27 "2023-01-09T14:16:56Z")
I had read that pimples, etc. should only be popped if they are fairly protruding in such a way that you can be confident that squeezing them will only make stuff come out - as opposed to being driven further deeper into the flesh, which can happen if you have a relatively flat, broad pimple - which can make for a deeper, worser, flesh infection. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/28 "2023-01-10T02:45:09Z")
Not quite toothpaste-- more like potato soup. And definitely infected, as it was whitish, but completely opaque. Never eating potato soup again. \* shudder \* ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/29 "2023-01-10T05:14:33Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Never eating potato soup again. \* shudder \* I don’t like cutting up olives for cooking because (TMI, you was warned) our cadaver in Gross Anatomy had a heart and aorta full of chunks of broken down clot that looked just like (hurk) chopped kalamatas. (/hurk) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216/30 "2023-01-10T23:07:15Z")
Well, they don’t call it Boring, Inoffensive Anatomy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-popping-a-pimple-make-it-heal-quicker/977216.md?page=1)