13 replies to this topic

[almost.clear]

About six days ago I felt a cystic pimple forming on the side of my nose... haven't really had one in two years. Anyways I started putting a bunch of BP on it whenever I had the chance, and made sure not to pick at it. The first few days it became much more red and swollen, but started to subside after about 4 days. I could see it developing into a whitehead with pus forming on one part of the swollen area. Anyhow again I put a bunch of BP on it, and in the morning, I could see that the pus had oozed out on its own. I wiped off the dry pus with water, and there was a small hole where some more pus oozed out when I squeezed gently. I gently squeezed outwards until the remaining visible pus came out and blood/clear liquid began to come out as well. I wiped it with witch hazel and put on a small band-aid with bp/neosporin and figured I would just let it heal. Unfortunately I think the small hole will scar, but at this point I want the redness/soreness to disappear and the pimple to be dead.

The problem is, the past 2 days, even though the swelling has gradually gone down and virtually no more soreness/pain exists, when I take the bandaid off and check up on it, I could still manage to gently squeeze out a small amount of pus. I'm continuously changing the band-aid with bp/neosporin/witch hazel, but should this be a problem? Is it normal for the "popped" cyst to continuously form a small amount of pus even though it's subsiding, or is my battle with this not over yet? Is pus still being formed because the originally swollin cyst was big, and as the swelling goes down the remaining bacteria is killed which forms the pus?

[mameha]

I had that happen with a cyst on my cheek - it filled up with pus every day, would drain itself (all it took was just me brushing it lightly with a washcloth), for two freaking weeks and FINALLY it stopped refilling and started to heal. So obnoxious.

[MiBFTo]

It happens. It takes time, sometimes, for a cyst to really go away. They sometimes last for months before they come to a head. Usually once you get them released, they move along. Give your some more time.

You might want to give the bandaid a break, though. Let it breathe a little. Some oxygen might do it some good.

[almost.clear]

Thanks for the responses. My question is, should I refrain from giving a gentle squeeze to re-drain the area of pus every now and then? Because when I do, I am essentially re-opening the break in skin... Instead I could hope that the forming pus will get internally dealt with (as with most minor cysts that never come to a head) - I would be assuming that the new pus is coming from the dying cyst. The last thing I want to do though is allow it to get into re-birth mode. I'm a little paranoid that will happen if I stop doing this band-aid thing. Btw, the area has noticeably gone down in terms of swelling in the past two days, and there's no longer any pain.

[ctbo]

keep doing that for a few more days it may go away.

[nikonD70s]

there is always puss inside is because you have not fully pop everything out yet. if you dont squeeze everything out puss will keep coming back. give it a nice hard squeeze and if like a lil hard yellow thing comes out(like a puss harden in a size of a rice but smaller or pretty much a blackhead but yellowish) then you know you squeeze everything out. because you have squeeze the main core out once thats gone it will stop forming puss. so if you decide to play with it make sure you do it right or dont touch it at all and keep wiping the puss out and wait till it eventually dries up. however if you dont take the main core out it will become hard and become like a big blackhead and you can then squeeze it out gently or pick it out.

[MiBFTo]

I have no idea what you should do. Personally, though, I would keep coaxing the gross stuff out. I'd rather have it on a tissue than in my face. As long as you're not forcing anything, you should be ok.

[almost.clear]

This post is sorta disgusting, so beware.

So by last night when I was changing bandaids on the spot, I noticed that there no longer was any pus coming out, which was good, since it had been like 6 hours since the last time I was seeing pus. But when I woke up this morning and took off the band-aid I did notice some sort of pus-like liquid on the band-aid. I'm not sure if the spot decided to expel some last remaining pus randomly throughout the night, or whether it was actually the liquid that is produced to form a scab. Anyhow, the surrounding area was still slightly swollen and still discolored. I didn't put on a band-aid during classes all day, and when I came back at night, it turned out that the hole in the skin now had a dark yellow scab covering it. After taking a shower, the scab was swollen and almost looked like a whitehead. Anyhow while dabbing it with witch hazel on cotton, the moist bubble looking scab tore off almost effortlessly, but the hole remained underneath, which oozed a very very small amount of pus-colored liquid and blood... I immediately put neosporin on a band-aid and put it on the spot.

Any reason for me to worry about this? I always heard that a wound heals best without a scab... but then again it's not good to remove a scab prematurely either - but would it be fine in this case since the scab had only recently formed, and was softened/moist when it came off? One more question... should I ice this area (on top of the bandaid) to prevent swelling further?

[MiBFTo]

No cause for worry so far as I can tell. That bit that kinda looked like a whitehead but came off super easy? That was your skin trying to form a protective scab, but wasn't able to harden into a a scab because it wasn't getting enough air because of all the ointment and bandaids you're using. Lay off the protectants a bit and let it firm up. That gives the lesion more oxygen which it NEEDS in order to continue the healing process.

[allysaurus]

If the pimple is already oozing on its own, I usually coax the process along. I figure it's better to gently squeeze all the pus out rather than let it sit there and further the infection. I would lay off the Neosporin for a day...just make sure the area is clean and let it air dry in the open. As long as you got all the gunk out, your skin will heal itself. Since the scab fell off by itself it should be fine...usually my skin scabs over again if the wound didn't heal properly. Just don't touch it! It sounds like that pimple is nearing the end of its life

[almost.clear]

Disgusting update:


So woke up again this morning, and behold, the spot was still slightly swollen and purple. The newly formed scab was very weak, and when I nudged my nose I could see yellow pus slightly oozing out from the sides. I was beginning to think that there was still bacteria in the area, and that it was still an active pimple. Anyhow, the weak scab came off and some blood/pus oozed out.

So another day of classes, where I dabbed some neosporin on the area the entire day. By the end of the day another scab had formed. The area was still slightly swollen and red, so I was pretty much convinced that the spot was still a pimple. Once I got home I gave another small nudge, and almost without effort a small amount of pus began to ooze out on the side of the scab. I gave a gentle push and the scab opened up, and from directly underneath a hardened piece of pus (about 1/5 or smaller of a rice grain) came out, and directly behind it, blood oozed out PROFUSELY, which never happened before. After a decent amount of blood came out, I applied a tiny amount of pressure with tissue soaked in witch hazel, and then put a band-aid with neosporin on it.

I'm pretty convinced that the spot must have completely expelled any infection at this point... considering how profusely and freely the blood oozed out... I think this entire week the bacteria was lingering around, but it MUST be over now... fingers crossed. Hopefully the healing can begin.

[nikonD70s]

Disgusting update:


So woke up again this morning, and behold, the spot was still slightly swollen and purple. The newly formed scab was very weak, and when I nudged my nose I could see yellow pus slightly oozing out from the sides. I was beginning to think that there was still bacteria in the area, and that it was still an active pimple. Anyhow, the weak scab came off and some blood/pus oozed out.

So another day of classes, where I dabbed some neosporin on the area the entire day. By the end of the day another scab had formed. The area was still slightly swollen and red, so I was pretty much convinced that the spot was still a pimple. Once I got home I gave another small nudge, and almost without effort a small amount of pus began to ooze out on the side of the scab. I gave a gentle push and the scab opened up, and from directly underneath a hardened piece of pus (about 1/5 or smaller of a rice grain) came out, and directly behind it, blood oozed out PROFUSELY, which never happened before. After a decent amount of blood came out, I applied a tiny amount of pressure with tissue soaked in witch hazel, and then put a band-aid with neosporin on it.

I'm pretty convinced that the spot must have completely expelled any infection at this point... considering how profusely and freely the blood oozed out... I think this entire week the bacteria was lingering around, but it MUST be over now... fingers crossed. Hopefully the healing can begin.

its over now....like i said before the the hard pieace of puss witch was the core came out now it cant make anymore puss so now the healing begins...congrads man!

[MiBFTo]

Indeed, gross as it sounds, I was there about a week ago!! I had a cyst that came back three times before, finally, that "core" came out and now it's almost completely healed... and that core came out about a week ago.

Gross, isn't it?? And satisfying at the same time.

Hit that bad boy with tea tree oil as well as witch hazel. TTO is great for disinfecting and reducing the swelling in spots like this.

[tarabear]

Indeed, gross as it sounds, I was there about a week ago!! I had a cyst that came back three times before, finally, that "core" came out and now it's almost completely healed... and that core came out about a week ago.

Gross, isn't it?? And satisfying at the same time.

Hit that bad boy with tea tree oil as well as witch hazel. TTO is great for disinfecting and reducing the swelling in spots like this.

How many days after you get all the stuff out, does it take to heal? It's not protruding, but it did bleed like crazy after I pushed on mine. I applied BP and went to sleep. It's a little red dot, but underneath is purplish... Maybe bruise under the skin now or more blood??