# Why don't people pop their pus-filled pimples when they are on their face ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 5, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487 "2011-01-05T15:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/41 "2011-01-07T20:44:58Z")
What do you do if you _have_ gotten some scars or discoloration from obsessive picking at things? Not on my face - on my upper arms. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/42 "2011-01-07T21:02:15Z")
I always popped them and washed them with soap and water, they dried up pretty fast that way. YSMV (your skin may vary.) ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/43 "2011-01-07T21:16:55Z")
Zsofia, I have an area of hyperpigmentation on my jaw that comes from a long-ago cystic zit. Long-ago as in, over five years, and I still have it. People ask me if I tripped and hit my jaw… and if everything’s okay between me and my husband. I saw a dermatologist about it and all he could do was prescribe a bleaching cream, which had to be rubbed in three times a day, and was opaque white–not a vanishing cream. It was supposed to take a month to work, and the spot would reappear within a month of ceasing to use the cream. I decided it’s easier to just live with it. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/44 "2011-01-07T21:42:17Z")
I pop them because I have never suffered any ill effects from doing so. On the other hand, when I allow them to be thy usually turn into a hard stone like knot beneath the skin which then must be cut out by making a tiny incision with a razor blade. I don’t get them frequently, and hardly ever no at age 30. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/45 "2011-01-07T22:16:07Z")
One can only hope it’s because they are not aware that the zit has “ripened”, so to speak. Once or twice in my life I had an inflamed and growing zit that wasn’t “ripe” when I left the house, but became so over the course of a few hours during which I did not look at a myself. I was mortified when I discovered I had been interacting with people with visible pus on my face. I think the blood, scabs, scars and other redness and damage are all less revolting than pus. Which is probably simply because I know what pus is, how it looks when it does pop, how it smells. If I did not have all that other knowledge, if I was an alien and I looked at a ripe zit, I probably wouldn’t find it so disgusting. What is astonishing to me is that YouTube is loaded with an amazing array of videos of people popping zits, draining boils, and otherwise recording and sharing with the world their Adventures In Pus. I suppose I understand it in the case of remarkably large and otherwise horrifying instances (which includes draining the pus from horses and cows and in [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBYmiqad_-M&feature=related) case its easily several **GALLONS** worth. The smell must have led directly to some barfing…it would have for me!). ---
**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:** [January 8, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/46 "2011-01-08T00:44:12Z")
> [@Stoid's YouTube video](#): > > This video is a response to Kate is Enough: The Kate Gosselin Story …OK. I once saw a video of a horse abcess drainage that featured a dog showing a great interest in the fluid. That was strange to watch (though I understand why the dog was attracted to it). I do pop my own zits; in my experience they go away much faster. I don’t have scarring issues on my face, though there are a few spots on my back where I have popped bumps without giving them the same care I show to bumps in more visible locations. I have a big red mark on my forehead from a zit that I left alone because I thought it was too deep, and I didn’t want to try stabbing it with anything. I don’t really mind it, but every once in awhile a small pocket of goo will show up underneath the mark. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/47 "2011-01-08T01:01:16Z")
45 posts and nobody has linked to [Popthatzit](http://www.popthatzit.com/)? **Stoid** alludes to the videos, but the collection is here. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487/48 "2011-01-08T02:23:19Z")
So, umm… I’m the only one who puts toothpaste on zits then? A little dab overnight and they are gone in the AM. I’ve so rarely had a pimple erupt into any sort of whitehead that I _could_ pop because of this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-pop-their-pus-filled-pimples-when-they-are-on-their-face/566487.md?page=2)