It has been an 18 years batlle now.
My face was completely invaded by acne when I was a teen.
It continued in my late 20s. Only started getting better a couple of years back. I have tried everyting, including 3 rounds of accutane.
To no avail. What helped me is to stop using harsh chemical products on my face.
Water only, with a little bit of soap from times to times.
The water leaves my skin totally dry. If I am hydrating it, with whatever, I am getting pimples. It is tough.
Change in diet also helped.
I was left with a quick ok skin these last days.
Only 1 quite big pimple / pustule emerged from an old brownish/purple mark.
As it is the only 1 on my face, and right in the middle of my cheek, it is quite obvious.
A real pustule, very red, elevated, big, with a small white center. Kind of like a boil.
I have put a vitamin B5 cream which helped getting rid of the redness around it.
But the pustule is still not ready to pop. It is still growing. It will be there for a long while, I can tell.
I have actually tried popping it anyway, because it kills me to have this huge thing in the middle of my face. I do not feel like going to work. At my age, with such a pustule. It looks gross.
As it was not ready to pop, the entire area is now red. We are talking ripples, like if you are throwing a stone in the water. The red area expanded. I am worried I pushed the infection deeper now, and that new pimple might appear.
This is really a nightmare....... Any thought? Support? Ideas?
I know how you feel. I've managed to reduce my popping/picking habit but every now and then I just can't help it... whether it be because the spot is particularly horrible looking or because I'm stressed/anxious.
You may have worsened things for your skin slightly, but what's done is done. If another spot appears then you can deal with that then, no use worrying about it now. 
Try and now leave the area alone and the redness should go down soon. Also stay away from the mirror! Being near a mirror is bound to make you focus on your skin more and be more likely to touch/mess with your skin. (Well, that's the case for me anyway). Do you have any tea tree oil on hand? I find that it works well as a spot treatment to help bring things to a head and speed up healing a little.
Good luck with it all
I think you have a cyst not a pustule. A cyst is much deeper and gets more inflamed. A cyst also gets redder and the white stuff doesn't come out easily because there is more of it and the plug is often lodged more firmly within the pore. Do not put warm compresses on it...instead ice it. Warmth causes more inflammation with cysts. Take ibuprofen for the pain and swelling. See your derm. These are the kinds of lesions that can leave pits and scarring.
The reaction you have to lotions is a clue to the type of acne you may have. Some people cannot tolerate any lotions or irritation on their skin. This may be a form of papular-pustular rosacea. Or there are also other types of acne where this can happen. It really helps to get a good derm working on this. I finally did and now I don't get those deep awful cysts. See my regime below.
A pustule is smaller and usually can be popped easily. Not that this is recommended but we all do it from time to time!