This is just a curiousity question.
If I were to let all my pimples go unpopped, and just let them run rampant all over my face, would that pose any health risks? I mean, are they bad for you physically as well as socially?
This is just a curiousity question.
If I were to let all my pimples go unpopped, and just let them run rampant all over my face, would that pose any health risks? I mean, are they bad for you physically as well as socially?
Leave those zits alone! You have a much greater chance of complications from popping them. Local cellulitis is most likely, from spreading the infection deeper into the tissues by manipulating it. And if the lesion is on the nose or nearby, you could send the infection to the brain. Let nature run its course. See your doctor if you need further help with acne control.
And if you must pop them, wipe them off the mirror when you’re done!
Qadgop, MD
I personally don’t have a problem with them, I was just wondering if they actually cause any physical problems.
You can get localized skin and soft tissue infection, along with abscess formation from them. Also, more rarely, one can get septicemia (blood poisoning) from them. The odds of getting these problems are slight, but they do increase if you pop them.
QtM
Not to mention the long-term effects - pits and scars, more noticeable as you get older. Ask me about this: better yet, look at me. I shoulda listened to mom.
In actuality, I am not grossly disfigured, but my skin does show where I tried overzealously to get rid of the acne.
Leave 'em alone - take some good advice from the face of experience.
Listen to Qadgop!
I had the misfortune to suffer a facial absesses from a bug bite gone nasty. :eek: It was AWFUL
First there was the pain - vomit inducing
Then there was the swelling the size of a baseball - and about as hard.
Then they held me down and cut the lump open. This resulted in a volcano-like eruption of puss and blood, some of it jetting out under high pressure. The stench was like rotten meat or roadkill on hot asphalt.
After that, they pressure-hosed and vacuumed out the under-skin layer of my face.
Then then slathered goo into the crater (and it was a crater - 1-1/2 inches long, 1/2 inch wide, 3/8 inch deep) and covered half my face in bandages.
This was followed by several weeks of what I called “the condiment effect” Leaving aside various odors, it was like have mayonaise ooze out of my face for 3-4 weeks, with occassionaly squirts of mustard and ketchup and the infrequent chunk of bright green relish.
Daily treatment consisted of blasting the debris out of the crater - that’s medicated cream, puss, blood, and chunks (yes, lumps n’ chunks) of dead tissue sloughing off the wound. Had to go in twice for further debridement - that’s where the nice doctor takes a scalpel and scrapes out the wound. Yes, that can be as painful as it sounds although they do try to numb you up first.
Even though I healed well (meaning I did not require reconstructive surgery on my face) I really do NOT recommend the experience to anyone. It’s painful. It’s gross. At the beginning of healing you have to sleep with disposal towels on your pillow so when the puss oozes out it doesn’t soak into the mattress. They don’t stitch the wound up so all that crap is draining out, even soaking through bandages.
It’s gross. It’s sick. It’s too disgusting for words.