Not to shit in your sandbox, Rilchiam, but I had several beneath-the-surface marble zits on my chin that took something like two weeks and twice-daily applications of medicine to reach a point where I could freely pop away. But it was sooooo worth it. I even hit the mirror! A personal best!
And poking around your face with a needle DOESN’T?!?!
Blech. The makeup won’t help cure the zit, but it will disguise it in case you want to leave the house without causing small children to run screaming from you in terror.
However, as Rilchiam doesn’t have the leave the house, hot compresses are probably the best bet.
Get the Windex!
alice, no, it doesn’t. Sure, they explode and you have a small pockmark, but that goes away in a few hours (if you do it right: I recommend using a beading needle or, as Lynn suggests, an insulin needle) and that’ll be the end of it. Waiting for it to resorb on its own is iffy (a lot of them burst messily anyway) and can take days. And you run the risk of the zit turning into a boil; if that happens it’ll have to be lanced anyway. And what Rilchiam has sounds more like a boil than a zit anyway. Boils that are not attended to can turn into nasty things like that one broomstick told us about a while ago, or even go septic and kill you.
Nah, my money’s on lancing the damn thing. Get it over with.
You forgot to mention it’s more fun!
Dung Beetle, that too.
I’ve had more than a few zits that were recurring, caused by a long-dead hair that was lurking below the surface. You can hot compress them all you want, they won’t go away until you get that hair out. Hairs take a long time to dissolve, and the same zit can recur several times before the hair is fully resorbed if you don’t terminate it with extreme prejudice now.
As well as spreading bacteria all over your face leading to…
wait for it…
more zits, as well as a nasty scar if you screw up.
It’s a bad idea. Doing it “right” is a good idea, but much easier in print than in practice.
Hot compresses, and leave the damn thing alone. If it actually is a boil, see a physician.
Most people I know would prefer to have a zit for a couple of days, rather than a scar for the rest of their life. (Or at the very least, the nasty skin discoloration associated with zit picking.)
I’ve been lancing my zits for years, and I’ve never had a scar. (I use alcohol to sterilize the needle). Nor does it spread bacteria all over my face - the pus goes at most a couple of millimeters away from the zit site.
Even if it did spread bacteria around, the next thing I do after lancing a zit is wash my face. My zits are rare, and certainly don’t proliferate after I lance one the way alice’s post would suggest.
The trick is to wait until the zit is ready to pop, then to pierce only the top layer of skin that’s covering the pus. Finally, use the side of the needle to squeeze the pus out and wash the area.
If you want to pop whiteheads (as you’ve described ENugent) be my guest (but you could keep the stories to yourself, if it’s all the same).
The OP is talking about a closed pimple that has no head on it. Digging around under the skin to find the pus sac will make a mess of her face, as well as being really gross.
Hot compress. When it comes to a head, she can poke it to her heart’s content (again, sparing me the details.)
Engineering to Captain Rilchiam! We’ve got an exteme pressure build up in the external dermis foreward, Sir! The bulkhead’s jammed and won’t release. Application of hot teabags and towels are ineffective so far and it looks like its going to blow. Do you want me to send a team out to manually blow that bulkhead?
The hull might survive a pressure explosion without this, but the damage could be extensive. A controlled release would minimize that risk, Captain. What are your orders?
I guess I should have put a TMI warning in there - sorry.
I do have to say, at the risk of conveying even more TMI, that I’ve never understood the distinction between zits and whiteheads. Mine are always whiteheads (as you describe them).
I also wouldn’t go digging around my face with a needle if I couldn’t see what I was trying to do.
Sandblast the f’n thing and be done with it.
Its a tricky area for men, as by 5am tomorrow, you’ll have an extra 1/16th of an inch of hair growing through the inflammed area. Of course, you could tweeze a hair stubble closest to the epicenter out and hope hole will let it drain…
I’m really dissapointed that the blasted barfing smilie hasn’t shown up yet…
I awoke this morning to find a big fucking white head right under my nose and above my upper lip.
YUCK! And the worst part was it would NOT explode, despite the big head there. I HATE ZITS!!!
DIE, EVIL PIMPLES, DIE DIE DIE!!!
All whiteheads are zits, but not all zits are whiteheads. Whiteheads are so named becasue of their white head. You should really leave these alone as well, but if you must poke at them, do as you described and make sure to clean the affected area before and after.
Blackheads are sebum filled pores where sebum has oxidized and turned black. Again, you should avoid poking at them and remove them using products designed for that purpose, but if you must, steam your face before hand to soften everything up. Use tissues. Clean the area well after.
Zits, as the one the OP has, are sort of mini-infections brewing under the skin. Many will form a head and become the aforementioned whiteheads. Some will not. The best treatment is to apply a hot compress which can help bring the beastie to the surface. Poking with a needle is NOT recommended.
Whiteheads are not to be confused with the little, hard white bumps that some people get around their eye area. Do NOT poke at these!!! Really. Use a mild exfoliating gel for a few days. The bumps will rise to the surface and eventually sluff off. I don’t know what they are - I’ve heard different theorys from physicians/dermatologists/pharmacists from calcium buildups, to dry skin. If you didn’t hear me the first time DO NOT POKE AT THESE!!! Apparently, to do so can cause cause major scaring (the skin around the eye is very thin), to an eye infection. I don’t have a cite for that last one - it was a Dr. friend who suggested it.
Guinastasia, so did I! I’ll be sleeping with that ice pack tonight!
No, no, no, do tell ENugent! I absolutely love pimple stories, and I’m not afraid to admit that sometimes I enjoy a satisfying pop myself. 
I’m with alice_in_wonderland. I don’t like the idea of lancing the zit.
Try swabbing the zit with tea tree oil. Show that zit no mercy, Rilchiam.
You (and anyone who shares your interest) may enjoy this thread I started a couple of weeks ago. Some good stuff in there.