Hi - I agree with the inbuprofin in reducing inflammation, but if you want to bring the blemishes to the surface ice is not your best bet. Apply a warm compress will bring the infection to the surface of the skin (this recommended for any kind of under the skin inflammation). As for polysporin, it is probably not useful at the moment. When the infection reaches the surface and actually breaks through the skin and drains, applying polysporin to the area of broken skin might help.

Hello.

Just curious -- are you speaking from experience? How do you know what you say is true? Where did you get your information?
Not that I mean to be completely untrusting or anything, but it helps to know

Hello.

Just curious -- are you speaking from experience? How do you know what you say is true? Where did you get your information?

Not that I mean to be completely untrusting or anything, but it helps to know

Hi- warm compresses are commonly recommended in the case of skin infections to bring inflammation closer to the surface of the skin where it can drain out. My doctors have recommended this for a merits of issues, from Cutical inflammation to pimples to dental abcesses.

Additionally, I suffered from pretty painful cystic acne before taking accutane, and so I speak from experience. Ice doesn't really do much for the skin other than possibly sooth pain and reduce swelling temporarily, but it does nothing for the infection itself or to speed healing. I suggest holding off on polysporin until after your blemish opens and drains because until then, the infection is too far below the skin for polysporin to effect.

This all seems common sense, but I'll cite something if you really want (alternatively you can just google what I'm saying and see for yourself). Good luck!

Thanks for replying so far! I'll do the googling myself.

I've been trying to find out what the temperature is to kill p. acne, and according to this source (which further cites a broken link to the Zeno device which supposedly makes this claim) -- according to this source, acne dies off at about 120 degrees F / 50 degrees C. I don't have a way of actually measuring how hot the water gets after I put it in the microwave for around 25 seconds, that I later use with toilet paper to apply gently to my face for around 3 minutes.

Do you apply it continuously for three minutes, or on and off? What is your way of applying a warm compress?

With regard to the polysporin, how do you know it doesn't actually penetrate the skin, though?
It seems common sense but I'm more interested in knowing how you're sure of this

I've put triple antibiotic ointment on lesions both before coming to a white head and after popping them. There wasn't much of a change when putting a dab on an unopened pimple but it worked fantastically well when applied after the pop and drain.

Propionibacterium acnes is present in the skin whether or not you suffer from acne. It isn't the only bacterial species involved in pimple formation. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are commonly involved as well. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2763741/

Thanks for replying so far! I'll do the googling myself.

 

I've been trying to find out what the temperature is to kill p. acne, and according to this source (which further cites a broken link to the Zeno device which supposedly makes this claim) -- according to this source, acne dies off at about 120 degrees F / 50 degrees C. I don't have a way of actually measuring how hot the water gets after I put it in the microwave for around 25 seconds, that I later use with toilet paper to apply gently to my face for around 3 minutes.

 

Do you apply it continuously for three minutes, or on and off? What is your way of applying a warm compress?

 

With regard to the polysporin, how do you know it doesn't actually penetrate the skin, though?

It seems common sense but I'm more interested in knowing how you're sure of this

Hi - the warm compress is less for killing bacteria and more for bringing the infection closer to the surface of the skin where it can drain and heal. I wouldn't worry so much about the specific temperature - simply avoid burning yourself. I think the temperature most water heaters get to after about 2 minutes of running water (depending on how cold it is outside) is sufficient enough to make it warm, but that is my personal opinion. However, you can always buy a hot water bottle, and follow the directions they give for warming it up in the microwave.

Along those lines, I don't use water as it loses heat to quickly. One method that works in a pinch is filling a sock with dry uncooked rice, and placing it in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds (less or more depending on the wattage of the microwave). Wrap the sock in a paper towel if too hot, and apply to skin. Hold it to your skin until the sock begins to cool down. Do this as often as you have time to do - I found using this method AT LEAST once an hour helped tremendously to speed healing time. Also, the sooner I applied heat to the nodule in it's "life cycle", the more quickly it came to a head, and the more quickly it drained. Again - this is based on my experience - I'm not a doctor.

Neosporin has broken me out too many times to count. From personal experience, I'd avoid it if I were you.

I use Vaseline on my face. It's pure, non-comedogenic, and does the exact same things as Neosporin does for your wounds. Plus, you're less likely to see scaring from Vaseline than you are Neosporin. I found that out the hard way.

Just a thoughtful tip.

Neosporin has broken me out too many times to count. From personal experience, I'd avoid it if I were you.

I use Vaseline on my face. It's pure, non-comedogenic, and does the exact same things as Neosporin does for your wounds. Plus, you're less likely to see scaring from Vaseline than you are Neosporin. I found that out the hard way.

Just a thoughtful tip.

Neosporin and Vaseline do very different things. Neosporin is a combination of 3 antibiotics. It won't cause scarring.

Neosporin is not non-comodgenic however. If you apply it often or over large swaths of skin, it will probably occlude your pores and cause comedones. Neosporin and vaseline are not the same (their base is the same though, petrolatum). Neosporin may cause allergies in some people, and many dermatologists recommend using polysporin for face wounds instead of neosporin, possibly because polysporin has less potential to irritate.

The scar reducing properties of vaseline and neosporin are the same, however. Neosporin is used to reduce the chance of scarring - it does not cause scars.

 

Neosporin has broken me out too many times to count. From personal experience, I'd avoid it if I were you.

I use Vaseline on my face. It's pure, non-comedogenic, and does the exact same things as Neosporin does for your wounds. Plus, you're less likely to see scaring from Vaseline than you are Neosporin. I found that out the hard way.

Just a thoughtful tip.

Neosporin and Vaseline do very different things. Neosporin is a combination of 3 antibiotics. It won't cause scarring.

From my personal experience every time I had a wound, using Neosporin has most certainly still left a scar over the wound... Just like every acne treatment, medical treatment, anything in common medicine in the world, something that works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another.

 

Neosporin has broken me out too many times to count. From personal experience, I'd avoid it if I were you.

I use Vaseline on my face. It's pure, non-comedogenic, and does the exact same things as Neosporin does for your wounds. Plus, you're less likely to see scaring from Vaseline than you are Neosporin. I found that out the hard way.

Just a thoughtful tip.

Neosporin and Vaseline do very different things. Neosporin is a combination of 3 antibiotics. It won't cause scarring.

From my personal experience every time I had a wound, using Neosporin has most certainly still left a scar over the wound... Just like every acne treatment, medical treatment, anything in common medicine in the world, something that works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another.

Here here. Perhaps you have an allergy to neosporin? This is actually very common, and doctors will often recommend polysporin for that reason.

 

Neosporin has broken me out too many times to count. From personal experience, I'd avoid it if I were you.

I use Vaseline on my face. It's pure, non-comedogenic, and does the exact same things as Neosporin does for your wounds. Plus, you're less likely to see scaring from Vaseline than you are Neosporin. I found that out the hard way.

Just a thoughtful tip.

Neosporin and Vaseline do very different things. Neosporin is a combination of 3 antibiotics. It won't cause scarring.

From my personal experience every time I had a wound, using Neosporin has most certainly still left a scar over the wound... Just like every acne treatment, medical treatment, anything in common medicine in the world, something that works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another.

Here here. Perhaps you have an allergy to neosporin? This is actually very common, and doctors will often recommend polysporin for that reason.

In terms of putting it on acne, it breaks me out. But on wounds I have no allergy. It'd heal the wound. I'm just saying it doesn't fully heal the scar for everybody, as everybody is different and not every product in the world works on everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neosporin has broken me out too many times to count. From personal experience, I'd avoid it if I were you.

I use Vaseline on my face. It's pure, non-comedogenic, and does the exact same things as Neosporin does for your wounds. Plus, you're less likely to see scaring from Vaseline than you are Neosporin. I found that out the hard way.

Just a thoughtful tip.

 

Neosporin and Vaseline do very different things. Neosporin is a combination of 3 antibiotics. It won't cause scarring.

 

From my personal experience every time I had a wound, using Neosporin has most certainly still left a scar over the wound... Just like every acne treatment, medical treatment, anything in common medicine in the world, something that works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another.

 

Here here. Perhaps you have an allergy to neosporin? This is actually very common, and doctors will often recommend polysporin for that reason.

In terms of putting it on acne, it breaks me out. But on wounds I have no allergy. It'd heal the wound. I'm just saying it doesn't fully heal the scar for everybody, as everybody is different and not every product in the world works on everyone.

Oh yes, I see what you mean. That does make sense.

 

Thanks for replying so far! I'll do the googling myself.

 

I've been trying to find out what the temperature is to kill p. acne, and according to this source (which further cites a broken link to the Zeno device which supposedly makes this claim) -- according to this source, acne dies off at about 120 degrees F / 50 degrees C. I don't have a way of actually measuring how hot the water gets after I put it in the microwave for around 25 seconds, that I later use with toilet paper to apply gently to my face for around 3 minutes.

 

Do you apply it continuously for three minutes, or on and off? What is your way of applying a warm compress?

 

With regard to the polysporin, how do you know it doesn't actually penetrate the skin, though?

It seems common sense but I'm more interested in knowing how you're sure of this

Hi - the warm compress is less for killing bacteria and more for bringing the infection closer to the surface of the skin where it can drain and heal. I wouldn't worry so much about the specific temperature - simply avoid burning yourself. I think the temperature most water heaters get to after about 2 minutes of running water (depending on how cold it is outside) is sufficient enough to make it warm, but that is my personal opinion. However, you can always buy a hot water bottle, and follow the directions they give for warming it up in the microwave.

Along those lines, I don't use water as it loses heat to quickly. One method that works in a pinch is filling a sock with dry uncooked rice, and placing it in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds (less or more depending on the wattage of the microwave). Wrap the sock in a paper towel if too hot, and apply to skin. Hold it to your skin until the sock begins to cool down. Do this as often as you have time to do - I found using this method AT LEAST once an hour helped tremendously to speed healing time. Also, the sooner I applied heat to the nodule in it's "life cycle", the more quickly it came to a head, and the more quickly it drained. Again - this is based on my experience - I'm not a doctor.

Thank you, your responses have been very helpful so far.

Don't mean to burden you with more questions, but I've had the following results following your suggestions.

I had two unopen acne lesions to which I applied heat; one of them shrunk into a blackhead that cannot be easily removed, but which is certainly more innocuous than an inflamed lesion. The other is of more interest to me. This second one, from a smooth, red bump, became a whitehead with a very large surface area, so that the pressure of the blackhead was evenly spread through the surface. With some lesions, the whitehead is pointed upwards where the acne "plug" is visible and shoots outwards with pressure, but this one wasn't of such nature; the so-called plug was not evident anywhere along the large area covering the lesion.

A few questions here.

Would you ever recommend popping acne lesions? If so, under what circumstances?

If not, if the lesion is as described above (large white surface area of pus without a clearly identifiable point of concentrated pressure), do you simply keep applying heat? What do you do with it?

 

Thanks for replying so far! I'll do the googling myself.

 

I've been trying to find out what the temperature is to kill p. acne, and according to this source (which further cites a broken link to the Zeno device which supposedly makes this claim) -- according to this source, acne dies off at about 120 degrees F / 50 degrees C. I don't have a way of actually measuring how hot the water gets after I put it in the microwave for around 25 seconds, that I later use with toilet paper to apply gently to my face for around 3 minutes.

 

Do you apply it continuously for three minutes, or on and off? What is your way of applying a warm compress?

 

With regard to the polysporin, how do you know it doesn't actually penetrate the skin, though?

It seems common sense but I'm more interested in knowing how you're sure of this

Hi - the warm compress is less for killing bacteria and more for bringing the infection closer to the surface of the skin where it can drain and heal. I wouldn't worry so much about the specific temperature - simply avoid burning yourself. I think the temperature most water heaters get to after about 2 minutes of running water (depending on how cold it is outside) is sufficient enough to make it warm, but that is my personal opinion. However, you can always buy a hot water bottle, and follow the directions they give for warming it up in the microwave.

Along those lines, I don't use water as it loses heat to quickly. One method that works in a pinch is filling a sock with dry uncooked rice, and placing it in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds (less or more depending on the wattage of the microwave). Wrap the sock in a paper towel if too hot, and apply to skin. Hold it to your skin until the sock begins to cool down. Do this as often as you have time to do - I found using this method AT LEAST once an hour helped tremendously to speed healing time. Also, the sooner I applied heat to the nodule in it's "life cycle", the more quickly it came to a head, and the more quickly it drained. Again - this is based on my experience - I'm not a doctor.

Thank you, your responses have been very helpful so far.

Don't mean to burden you with more questions, but I've had the following results following your suggestions.

 

I had two unopen acne lesions to which I applied heat; one of them shrunk into a blackhead that cannot be easily removed, but which is certainly more innocuous than an inflamed lesion. The other is of more interest to me. This second one, from a smooth, red bump, became a whitehead with a very large surface area, so that the pressure of the blackhead was evenly spread through the surface. With some lesions, the whitehead is pointed upwards where the acne "plug" is visible and shoots outwards with pressure, but this one wasn't of such nature; the so-called plug was not evident anywhere along the large area covering the lesion.

 

A few questions here.

 

Would you ever recommend popping acne lesions? If so, under what circumstances?

If not, if the lesion is as described above (large white surface area of pus without a clearly identifiable point of concentrated pressure), do you simply keep applying heat? What do you do with it?

Because the heat brings the infections closer to the surface of the skin, it's very typical for large whiteheads to develop, this is actually a good thing (in most cases) because it then allows them to drain more easily and completely.

To answer your question, if the whitehead does not drain or pop after applying a light amount of pressure - leave it alone and continue to apply heat as needed (be careful not to irritate it or apply too much pressure). If after a day or two (from this point) it doesn't show any change, you might consider lancing it with a tiny (!) sterile (!)needle and allow some of the pus to drain out. Don't squeeze or apply pressure (beyond light palpitations to encourage draining). This last part is up for you and is up for debate (some people are very pro popping and some are completely against it), but I lance pimples like these as a very, very last resort when there is no indication that they are healing on their own and the pressure is killing me. Unfortunately, pimples that don't drain easily or come to a head easily don't tend to heal easily either, whether you pop them or not I would treat that blemish with kid gloves as much as possible.