I have had one of those large cystic type of pimple.
Started its lifecycle on Saturday with a painful red area on my chin.
Continued on Sunday, still painful and small raised bump.
Continued on Monday, still painful with bigger raised bump.
Continued on Tuesday, still painful with bigger raised bump and visible gunk.
This morning, it was still painful and with what I thought was white gunk.
I popped it, and it took some time:
1. It seems the white gunk was not actually a whitehead but dead skin or something similar.
2. I could still pop it after 3 or 4 attempts and blood came out. Quite a lot of it.
3. Did not see if some white gunk came out was well.
4. At midday, it was continuing to hurt, and it was still raised (as opposed to flattening).
5. I popped it again and a lot of blood came out.
6. Now it looks more flat, it has a scab, but it is not completely flat and it is still hurting.
Do not know what to do.
I have applied propolis tincture and it stung a lot.
Is there still an infection underneath?
I am also scared that this could spread to other part of my face.
Incidentally, this cystic pimple came after me using a new facewash, which I have thrown away by now.
Any advice as to what is going on under the scab?
Why is it still hurting?
The infection may have been too deep into the skin to drain. In the future, you should wait until a (large) white head forms on the nodule before attempting to drain it. If you see large amounts of blood, you aren't effectively draining the pimple and further attempts will simply damage your skin and increase the likelihood of infection. If a scab has formed, I would place some polisporin on it and a gauze or non-ouchie bandage (the kind they make for kids that doesn't hurt when you peel it off). To help with the painful throbbing, take an ibuprofen and apply heat to reduce inflammation. The pain is from deep swelling of tissue below the surface of your skin pressing on nerve endings, so anything to reduce the swelling will help the pain. If you have access to a derm, you may also get a cortisone shot to speed healing time.
Thanks for that. The popped area now has a large scab and the area around it turned purplish.
Still hurting, but not oozing. Have put some ointment on it and will put a bandaid tonight.
Really wonder where those huge nodules are coming from.
Seriously, from Saturday to Wednesday is 5 days of growth and gunk accumulating... And it was still not ready!
Don't know what to do about these.
btw, you mentioned applying heat for inflammation.
did you rather mean applying some ice?
Thanks for that. The popped area now has a large scab and the area around it turned purplish.
Still hurting, but not oozing. Have put some ointment on it and will put a bandaid tonight.
Really wonder where those huge nodules are coming from.
Seriously, from Saturday to Wednesday is 5 days of growth and gunk accumulating... And it was still not ready!
Don't know what to do about these.
btw, you mentioned applying heat for inflammation.
did you rather mean applying some ice?
Ice will help reduce swelling in the very short term (but can also cause inflammation and damage to the skin), but actually it's heat that draws the infection to the surface and away from those painful nerve endings.
These large nodules are very deep infections that begin below several layers of skin. They are quite difficult to treat, and unfortunately there is not alot of consensus out there on how they start or why some people get them and others don't.