My sister (32) just taught me (29) the proper way to pop a zit.
Apparently, you stab it with a very thin needle (she used one of my bead weaving needles). Then, you use a q-tip on either side when squeezing (so you don’t leave fingernail marks in your skin). Then you squeeze gently through the small needle hole. Then you put a bit of rubbing alcohol on it to dry it out.
This is the kind of thing most older sisters teach their little sisters when they’re pre-teens. She said her ex-husband taught her.
I have to say, her popped zit looks much healthier than mine usually do. I’m not sure I could willingly stick a needle into a zit though. Those things hurt! The zits, I mean.
They also make “pore cleaner” tools that are basically a metal loop on the end of a handle that would do this trick as well. You’re also supposed to use it to gently express a clogged (but not too impacted) pore, but I haven’t had much luck with them in that respect. Here we go, scroll down to the “metal loop extractors” and “double spoon extractors”.
You should first examine the zit to see if there’s a hair in the middle of it. If there is, then pluck the hair. Sometimes a lot of the crud will come out with it, and in any case, you’ll have a dandy exit for the crud.
I only lance a zit or boil if it’s a big one. Most of them I just pop.
Oooo… Broomstick’s famous on Google too. First thread when I punched in “broomstick zit thread” in my little Google toolbar. Super Zit (starts @ post 44)
The needle is only for one of the really deep painful zits. You know the kind: you squeeze and squeeze but nothing comes out because there’s too much skin in the way.
Apply a warm moist compress a few times, for 15 minutes at a time. To make a warm moist compress, get a washcloth wet with hot water, wring it out, and fold it up. Hold it on the zit. It’ll cool down in just about 15 minutes. Doing this will help bring the zit to the surface, if it’s an ordinary zit.
Extraordinary zits might need professional medical attention.
