So, first, I gotta confess that I've always been a pimple popper. I've always heard it's bad and all, and you shouldn't do it, but it's never been a problem for me - I always make sure my hands are clean, my face is clean, and I only pop the ones that visibly have pus in it or are "ready". The skin usually flattens after, and it may leave a mark, but it usually fades in a few days.

But that was a couple years back, when I had normal puberty acne - I'm 18 now, and for some reason, I started getting a lot of blackheads, white heads and pimples and everything on my cheeks of all places, it started a couple months ago, and it's been a very persistent and awful problem ever since. I've been to a derm, and they prescribed me with Differin - I've been using that for 11 weeks now, and all that's done is make my skin even worse, and I've been getting cystic acne along with all the other stuff ever since using Differin.

I never had cystic acne before, so I didn't really know how to deal with them - maybe it's because of where it was (I hear cheek acne takes longer to go away), or just the type of acne, but it seemed to never heal. So I decided to lance it myself and squeeze out all the stuff that was in it. I did this to 2-3 of them, along with some large pimples that also took a long time to heal. This appeared to do the trick - the spots flattened, and all I had were scars left in where they were, and I expected them to go away in time, as usual. The scars are taking much longer to heal now, which is fine and all, but what really scares me is that there are holes in my skin, where the cysts and large pimples used to be. They are not going away, and I fear they may be permanent.

I have no one to blame but myself for this, I know, so please don't give me a lecture on why popping cysts is wrong. I just want to know if this could be permanent, and if it is, is there any way at all to treat it?

TLDR; - I tend to type a lot and I know a lot of people see lots of words and backspace right away, so in short:

When you pop a cyst or pimple and it leaves a hole, is it possible for it to heal like that and leave a permanent dent in your face? Some of these holes have been on my face for weeks, which is why I feel like it has already healed over and will not "fill" back up. What kind of treatments are there for situations like this, and will I have to go to a professional to fix it, or can I possibly do it myself?

Thank you!