# Favorite pimple stories (maybe TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2002, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684 "2002-03-29T02:27:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/301 "2004-01-29T23:47:43Z")
> [@Bimble](#): > > OK… > > I happen to be …er… A Bit on the Fuzzy Side from my waist down so I often spend a Happy Hour with a glass of wine and an epilator De-Fuzzing my lower gorilla-like half (the top of me is strangely completely Non-Fuzzy!!) > > The upshot of this is that a couple of weeks later, I get THE worst crop of deeply ingrown hairs EVER!! And it’s not Just Under the Surface Fellas either! These chaps are heading towards my damn KIDNEYS!! > > So… is there ANYTHING I can do to prevent getting these very deep ingrown hairs? I mean, it’s not like I don’t thoroughly enjoy digging the little beggars out and then having a darn good popping session (and admiring the contents of the resulting hole (sorry “pit mine”)…) but I’d REALLY love to be Non-Ingrown Hair Person in the first place!! > > Exfoliating doesn’t help any as the hair grows DOWN… Bimble, I have a few suggestions: 1. You’ll have to be very diligent about hair removal on a regular basis. How long does your hair get between sessions of your epilator? It might be that you’ll have to increase your sessions so that the hair simply doesn’t have a chance to grow long enough even to start to think of getting ingrown. 2. What is your method of exfoliation? If you scrub yourself with a tough loofah, you may be inflicting small tears in your skin which enable ingrown hairs. My suggestion is to mix a tablespoon of baking soda and an equal amount of shower gel in your hand, mix together and spread gently all over your afflicted areas. The baking soda grains are small enough to spread easily without effort. You should imagine polishing fine marble instead of scrubbing your kitchen floor. Rinse thoroughly, as the baking soda can be drying. You might want to buy Tend Skin (an exfoliating lotion) for your bikini area. Don’t powder or apply lotions to your newly exfoliated skin for about 12 hours. This will give the pores in your skin time to calm down and you won’t have to worry about clogging your pores. 3. My other suggestion is to let your hair grow out and leave it alone. Exfoliate about 2-3 times a week so as to get rid of excess skin cells clogging pores and exascerbating ingrown hairs. Well! I hope you gleaned some helpful tips. Have fun plucking! Any ideas anyone? [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/302 "2004-01-30T01:00:57Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > Bimble, I have a few suggestions: I’ll add another… How good are you at using your epilator, and is it a good one? Epilators are notorious for breaking off hairs either close to or under the skin. A good place for info on hair removal is [http://www.hairfacts.com](http://www.hairfacts.com) ---
**Author:** ![Daftbugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Daftbugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daftbugger)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/303 "2004-01-30T13:38:44Z")
I’ve had many happy pimple experiences, but the one that really grosses people out are the ones in my ears. You see I’m mildly allergic to nickel. If I wear cheap earrings for an evening, the following day I get lumps around the hole. If I squeeze them, it ooozes through the piercing! Not popping necessary, I have a ready made hole! ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/304 "2004-01-30T14:44:16Z")
Bleurgh, Dafty, bleurgh! I have found two new Motherlode Pores behind my SO’s left ear. They bring forth an off-white sebaceous substance, like toothpaste coming out of a tube. I am happy. ---
**Author:** ![Daftbugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Daftbugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daftbugger)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/305 "2004-01-30T15:37:18Z")
🙂🙂🙂 Yey, grossed someone out! Always willing to please! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/306 "2004-01-30T15:54:55Z")
Hi. I need to ask an ear washing/pimple question (pliers only worked for Van Gogh there). Sometimes when I’m washing my face in the shower, I’ll feel behinf my ears and it feels oily there. (which is damn silly as I washed them the day before, but I digress) So, I’ll use the specialty face cleanser that cleans and drys anything. Now here’s the weird part: the next day, there is nothing oily behind my ear at all, yet there’s a great big whitehead on it that looks/feels ready to pop. Now, why would deep cleaning an area cause a pimple…? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/307 "2004-01-30T18:07:53Z")
> [@quietman1920](#): > > Hi. I need to ask an ear washing/pimple question (pliers only worked for Van Gogh there). Sometimes when I’m washing my face in the shower, I’ll feel behinf my ears and it feels oily there. (which is damn silly as I washed them the day before, but I digress) So, I’ll use the specialty face cleanser that cleans and drys anything. > > Now here’s the weird part: the next day, there is nothing oily behind my ear at all, yet there’s a great big whitehead on it that looks/feels ready to pop. Now, why would deep cleaning an area cause a pimple…? Sounds to me like you’ve discovered a way to dependably cause poppable whiteheads. Which, as I read it, many of the people in this thread would pay good money for… ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/308 "2004-01-30T19:14:44Z")
Ardred’s tattoo was already in place when the cyst appeared, fyi, though having a tatt done over a scar is pretty cool… I might work that into my design for my arm. Has anyone mentioned these zits? I get ones just inside my nostrils (or just under in the crease) that swell for days and hurt whenever I smile or talk or breathe. They’re impossible to pop and are incredibly painful. Any advice on these suckers? ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/309 "2004-01-31T03:41:56Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > Ardred’s tattoo was already in place when the cyst appeared, fyi, though having a tatt done over a scar is pretty cool… I might work that into my design for my arm. > > Has anyone mentioned these zits? I get ones just inside my nostrils (or just under in the crease) that swell for days and hurt whenever I smile or talk or breathe. They’re impossible to pop and are incredibly painful. > > Any advice on these suckers? FilmGeek, my advice is to steam your face so as to allow the zit to come to a head and soften as much as possible. Then screw up whatever courage you have and squeeze that zit from several different angles. I’ve had those and they are incredibly painful, but they’ll hang around forever if you don’t do anything about them. As for ear pimples, I just make sure to rinse really well so as to get rid of trapped shampoo, conditioner, skin flakes, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Aureos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Aureos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aureos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/310 "2004-01-31T05:57:21Z")
Read these posts with the usual horrid fascination. And not only do I have a story for you, but I got pics!!! ooooohhhh Never ever give us digital cameras and demerol. You take pics of “interesting” things… BTW, don’t eat pizza while reading this…or spaghettios, or noodles, or definitely not split pea soup… This one is a saga: Oct 2003, I have a small lump on my back about 3 inches below bra strap. Doc says its a cyst and get it removed whenever. It decides to infect. I end up in ER room. Doc jabs repetitively with local anaesthesia then cuts me open. The smell is horrendous but the relief is great. They cut a lil hole about one inch wide and about 3 inches deep right next to my spine to get this thing taken care of. [backhole](http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aureeoles/detail?.dir=/7324&.dnm=d988.jpg) This is it with no stuffin! Then they cram as much gauze into this puppy as they can. This, of course, does not tickle. And looks like this: [backstuffed](http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aureeoles/detail?.dir=/7324&.dnm=8101.jpg) They have to do this to make it heal from the inside out. So you have to get it pulled out and repacked several times. They do NOT give drugs after the second time. 4 Repack Visits later to the ER room, I am given the go ahead to do a final follow up with a surgeon. They’re guessing this is where what happened next started. Surgeon took look at it and said it was healing good and to let it close. No problem, YAY! About 4 days later, I have a small, very painful lump in my left arm pit. I think it might be pimple or hair or something…but its deep and hurts intensely. It’s only pencil eraser sized. This is Wed. By Friday, its quarter sized and I can’t even move the arm without wanting to cry. Find a different surgeon (one closer to my house) and get emergency appt. They try to needle aspirate. For those of you who have not had the fantastic offer of needle aspiration on an already very painful lump…RUN if offered. Do not let them do this unless the first needle they stick in you has something like oh…demerol…morphine…a liquid sledgehammer. The nerves are already ticked off, and now you’re going to repetitively stab it with a needle…and whose bright idea was this??? I digress… So surgeon needle aspirates and gets NOTHING except me whimpering. He puts me on antibiotics and gives me 20 demerol to go home with. Says he needs to see me or call him first thing next week and tell him the status if it is getting better or worse. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA He warns me it will get bigger and more painful before the antibiotics kick in and start helping. I take him for his word…(I’m a very literal kind of gal and will do anything to avoid the ER) So on Friday my quarter sized lump is hurting, has new holes poked in it from aspiration and is, in general, very pissed off at me. I take my happy little demerols…they really are quite nifty. And I ignore the fact that by Saturday it is growing faster. How fast, you say? Well let’s do a little comparison. Here’s my good arm: [goodarm](http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aureeoles/detail?.dir=/7324&.dnm=953d.jpg) and here is my bad arm on Saturday [badarm](http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aureeoles/detail?.dir=/7324&.dnm=c633.jpg) Notice the arm is starting to swell. Well…the doc did say it was going to hurt worse and it was going to get worse…technically this was worse. _lol_ So I went to a party that weekend, demerol makes parties fun. Sunday I was not feeling so good. No, I did not ingest anything but coke as liquids. I was just getting that sick. By Monday, this thing was going ballistic and I was thinking I might be in trouble…but hey…the doc was going to be in on Tuesday. Mine as well wait till then…right? So Tuesday comes and my arm [TuesdayBad](http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aureeoles/detail?.dir=/7324&.dnm=d3d7.jpg) is really starting to look sickly. Blood vessels showing funny, horrible swelling, I’m running fevers. And of course, I measured it. It’s about 4X2X1 and hangs off my arm. I call surgeon and get an immediate appt. Call in dead to work (they were not aware of what was going on, they just thought I had a sore arm). I go to Surgeon. He takes one look and says I need to go to hospital and get IV’s. I say no…I need him to cut this open and fix it. He and I “discuss” this. I win. I like him 🙂 I didn’t like him a couple minutes later. I get shot up, they cut it open and it was like watching the pus version of Old Faithful erupt. I swear it looked and smelled like rotten split pea soup. Doc says it was a staph infection (later testing proved it to be an MRSA-methicillin resistant staph aureus infection - ironic isn’t it with my nickname?) They pack it to force it to stay open. Send me home to come back next day to repack. Surgeon and I compromised that if it wasn’t better in 3 days with noticeable improvement I admitted myself to hospital. So Wednesday, I go to surgeon’s office and the nurse “preps” me. Part of prepping is to remove the bandage covering the wound. When we do this, the gauze crammed in the hole stuck to it. It came out. Now I’m sitting upright, and all of a sudden there is a great release of pressure under my arm, its gross, smells and the nurse throws a drop cloth under me, shoves me back in a laying position and leaves the room at a run. This inspires confidence. In the meantime, I am fascinated by the power of this infection. Staph infections are _MASSIVE_ producers of pus. And this thing is practically spurting every time I inhaled. It was nifty yet…gross. So I start pushing on the outer edges of it forcing it to expel it all out. This was the same thing the doctor had done the day before. In the meantime, the nurse comes back with another nurse in tow. She takes one look and leaves the room. Next the receptionist comes in and takes a peek. Leaves the room muttering “revolting” under her breath (did I mention this didn’t affect my hearing at all??) Finally the surgeon comes in. He watches me doing my little push job and asks me if I’m having fun. I said “sure, who knew the body could do this??” He said that I was “a unique patient”. I think it was supposed to be a compliment. _blank look_ So my arm now is massively swollen, has a hole cut into it and is mass producing pus. [WedGross](http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aureeoles/detail?.dir=/7324&.dnm=a479.jpg) It’s soooo pretty. Work is pitching a fit. So I took my supervisor into the bathroom and asked her to “help me” change the bandage. Did you know that watching your supervisor gag can be a very fulfilling exercise? Especially when they swallow hard repetitively and do that close the eyes, take a deep breath thing. What’s even better is taking a deep breath near a stinky smelly infection makes them toss their cookies. And, of course I have a bad reaction to the tape we used to put the gauze on me, so the skin started blistering from that. I got a mild case of cellulitis in the arm from all the fluid buildup. It was just not a good thing. So…to make this saga a little shorter. The arm healed nicely and quickly. [LotsBetter](http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/aureeoles/detail?.dir=/7324&.dnm=bbdc.jpg) At this point I had been on 20 days of antibiotics. Went off them and within 3 days had 9 more cysts combined in my arm pits. None of those ever got to the surface (they were always just lumps). Ended up on antibiotics for 65 days and one more cyst on my back. This one required some at-home surgery _evil grin_. I’m a fair skinned redhead…we do NOT deal well with antibiotics and I actually had no problem taking all of them. However, in the past month due to another issue, have discovered that I am now allergic to one of the antibiotics they used- Cipro. When I had taken it for 10 of those 65 days it caused no problems. hmmm I’m kinda craving split pea soup for some odd reason… Aureos ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/311 "2004-01-31T06:19:50Z")
**Coldfire** , oh _ **Coldfire** _, come read the previous post! You’ll _like_ it, I swear! ---
**Author:** ![Aureos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Aureos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aureos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/312 "2004-01-31T06:41:57Z")
Awwww C’mon…the pics just add that “personal touch” _LOL_ Left nifty scars though ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/313 "2004-01-31T07:42:13Z")
Actually, **Aureos** , I was just being my usual mean and evil self, with that holler to **Coldfire**. I had my own “pop goes the infection” story on the very first page of this thread, I think. I’m just jealous that I have no pictures. At least I grossed out a fellow Army recruit, when she saw what I did to my arm. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/314 "2004-01-31T08:07:18Z")
> [@Aureos](#): > > Awwww > > C’mon…the pics just add that “personal touch” _LOL_ > > Left nifty scars though I’m kind of jealous too. I didn’t think to take pictures of mine. I had the same thing, MRSA in my right arm, in approximately the same place. My doctor put me on antibiotics for a week and sent me home. On my followup, she told me that she was checking me into the hospital RIGHT NOW. I could not go home, I could not gather stuff up, if I wanted anything I was to make a list and have my husband bring it to me later. So I got to spend a fun week in the hospital, with a PICC line in my good arm, no internet, and bored out of my skull. The doctor didn’t want to operate, because I’m diabetic and a very slow healer. I also had a REALLY fun allergic reaction to yet another antibiotic in the hospital. At least I had some skin on the top of the wound die and dry out and turn black. I very, very carefully removed all that dead skin during the long, boring hours. I was sent home with the PICC line still in my left arm, and I had a home health nurse come out every day to flush the line and give me IV antibiotics. Both my cats fell in love with the nurse, who, naturally, didn’t care for cats in the first place, and ESPECIALLY didn’t want feline interference with my wound care. After a couple of weeks of home IV treatments, the infectious diseases doctor decided to put me on a new antibiotic, Zyvox. This is a pill…and the full price for 34 pills was about $1000. Yes. One and three zeroes. The price of a new computer. My insurance covered some of the cost, but the doctor’s nurse had to get on the phone with them and explain that I’d been on all these other treatments that hadn’t worked. I’m all healed up now, but I don’t want to ever do that again. I do wish that I’d taken pictures. It was truly gross. Incidentally, infected tissue doesn’t really accept anesthesia very well. No matter HOW much painkiller you inject into infected tissue, it’s still gonna hurt quite a lot. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/315 "2004-01-31T22:33:53Z")
That MRSA stuff is unbelievably gross. An acquaintance of mine has a huge scar on her leg as well as her jawline, and (I’m told) one of her labia. She also has permanant damage to her heart. The infection went systemic before she sought treatment. She’s made me so paranoid that now I call the doctor if I have an _insect bite_ that doesn’t heal within 24 hours. (Her saga started from a spider bite.) ---
**Author:** ![renigademaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@renigademaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/renigademaster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/316 "2004-02-01T00:23:53Z")
What did I ever start…??? Oh well, at least my girlfriend likes to pop my zits ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/317 "2004-02-01T17:24:20Z")
Man, oh _man_ am I glad this thread got resurrected… 🙂 I just showed it to the friend who had to go lie down the last time they saw this and I’m glad to say the reaction was even better this time, now that the MRSA Arm and Ingrown Shin Hair stories have been added. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/318 "2004-02-02T15:02:32Z")
**Aureos** , those pictures are Truly Something. Thank God its over now, so you can laugh at it. Still, I was just wondering, between bouts of spitting out pus, did it ever try to speak at all? {Not even a Jerry Seinfeld “Hellloooooo!”? 😛 } ---
**Author:** ![chantilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@chantilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chantilly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/319 "2004-02-02T19:23:06Z")
What a thread! When in 6th grade, the thing began as an itchy spot. It then grew into a hard lump that hurt. I showed it to my mom who squeezed on it when she did, I fainted, falling neatly between the toilet and the exterior bathroom wall (without hitting my head on the toilet!) She then concluded I needed to see the doc. He pressed it for a culture, told my mom I had a staph infection, prescribed antibiotics and gave me a shot of penicillin in the OTHER cheek. I was out of school for a WEEK (hated catching up homework) , laying on my stomach while Mom laid hotpack after hotpack on my derriere. After 4 days, the thing finally broke–white, cheesy crud. Felt a lot better though. I went back to school with a note for the gym teacher that I couldn’t participate for 3 weeks–and it happened to be Presidential Physical Fitness time and I was very grateful to NOT have to run, do pushups, situps, or other silly things. Now, has anyone had a pilonidal cyst?—big ol’ abscess between the bum cheeks. After that burst—what a stench of dissolved hair, pus, and blood. I had that removed–a little wedge of skin. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684/320 "2004-02-02T20:11:13Z")
Great pictures, **Aureos**! Scary, but great. Glad to hear you’re doing better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-pimple-stories-maybe-tmi/100684.md?page=17)