I hadn't picked anything since October of last year. Until tonight. After having pretty good skin for the past two months, I was frustrated because my nose was breaking out, and I had a zit on my chin that was getting redder. It had been there lurking as a small whitehead for about a month. Today, it became red and inflamed, and it started to swell. I was worried that it would go deeper into my skin and become a blind pimple if I didn't intervene. So I picked up the needle, scolded myself, and put it back down. Then I picked it up again, scolded myself, and put it away. The third time, I went for it. I pricked, I squeezed, I used the tweezers to help me squeeze, and I didn't get much white gunk out at all. Useless. So now I am left with a bloody, red spot surrounded by swollen, red skin. I have created a painful welt that is five times larger than the original pimple. I knew even as I was popping the zit that I was making a huge mistake, but I continued. I doused the area in Bactroban and hydrocortisone, and I popped 100 mg of Minocycline. God help me. I sure hope this is better in the morning, but I hate myself right now.
I'm going to keep my hands off of it and hope it gets better quickly. Probably covering it with makeup will make me examine it less.
BP is too harsh for my skin. I have rosacea and am very fair. I can only use really gentle products, and it took me forever to build up to using Retin-A. So Bactroban and hydrocortisone with aloe are about as good as it gets, especially on fragile picked skin. I'll use Retin-A on the rest of my face, but not around that area. I covered it with eczema moisturizer this morning and dabbed on some powder concealer. It may be slightly smaller, but the redness is a beast. It's pretty much a red ring around the zit, and it's still swollen. It was a bit crusty all day, too. Kept reopening randomly and weeping a little. It's peeling a lot around the area. I intend to use the same process tonight, but I'm dreading washing my face. No matter how gentle I am, I know it'll open up and start weeping all over again.
