this happened to me too.

i had one clogged pore/closed slightly for almost a year and a few days ago it gradually grew in size and is now a big zit with pus head.

i dint apply bp before or now though.

i always applied either just clindamycin gel or faceclin(clindamycin + nicotinamide) gel.

i am unsure of the answer.

some comedones just disappear themselves(may be due to exfoliation) but some just grow into a zit thus unclogging the duct that way.

even i am eager to see more replies.

yea mine seem to always do that. I think it may be because bacteria eventually works its way to the blockage and hence the inflammation, redness, and body tries to fight it all off.

I have lots of these and I'd say that when I was using BP 90% of the time they became inflamed. I would suggest being patient though because if you try to extract them when they aren't inflamed it's A LOT more difficult to successfully get rid of all of it and will most likely become inflamed by messing with it, whereas if it becomes inflamed on its own I pretty much always easily extract them with only a tiny dot from lancing it with a small sewing needle.

On the other hand, I'm no longer using BP, just witch hazel as a toner and I'd say that it's more 30% chance of inflammation now, most of the time they get really hard and pointed and I just gently scratch them off or they come out on their own when I wash my face.

Depending on how effective BP has been for you overall and how many closed comedones you have, it might be worth trying witch hazel? Although I wouldn't completely stop the use of BP either since there is a loooooong fallout period when you stop using it, trust me!

I've tried to extract so many of those damn things, more often than not I make it worse so I've just been leaving them alone and letting them come out whenever. They rarely go away without coming to a head for me.

i had the same problem, if the papule still inflamed put some hydrocortisome 1% over night only, them if you see better results apply arnica cream / ointment to bring up and suck up the fluid and bacteria then whipe it off with a clean warm water.

heres some links to better understand

http://www.livestrong.com/article/254139-arnica-for-acne/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/131342-treat-acne-hydrocortisone/

It is those bigger ones that are turning inflamed, the tiny ones will go away after awhile. Currently i have one that became a cystic acne, which is frustrating. So i wonder if it is better to extract it rather than letting it become a cyst.

I agree with Tim714, mine almost always become cyst-like if I mess with them so it's not worth the risk...I always extract them when they become inflamed though because it's a lot easier and reduces the swelling straight away.

I have those too. They usually got inflammed quickly if i pick on them, so i try not to. I use a treatment with a chemical exfoliant - salycilic acid. It's the most effective for me. I also begin to use an aspirin toner, and so far so good. But those are extremely hard to remove and can take a long time to go away :-/