Hey everyone! I'm freaking out a little with regards to treating this pimple on my face. I haven't seen anything quite like it before.
Just a little background: I'm 21 and have been suffering from acne since I was 9. I WAS an avid picker and WAS a daily makeup wearer (Est©e Lauder Double Wear).
In hs id pop my zits even if I had foundation on (ik horrible). As a result, my face, especially my right cheek (the area I picked the most) still has the most flare ups during my time of the month. I also recently started to scar there (and ONLY there) if I relapse and pick.
Last week an awful pimple developed there so I have been cleansing my face and applying topical bp on it twice a day but I kept forgetting to moisturizer after. Yesterday and this morning, the skin surrounding the pus-filled pimple became inflamed, fleshy pink, and sensitive. I'm thinking it might be the bp + lack of moisturizing and well I have sensitive skin as well.
I showered and the scab came off gently, with pus still attached. This is the third time the scab fell off after showering. But this time underneath was an indent with pus still inside surrounded by inflamed skin. I tried slowly draining the pus with my clean fingers but eventually oil was coming out so I moisturized and put polysporin (no bandaid). There is still pus in that pit (see pic).
Is this the right thing to do in this situation? I'm trying to prevent scarring. Thanks!
Hello Lia121,
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. As a general rule of thumb, you do not pick a pimple especially if it's just starting to form and that includes squeezing the pus out of your skin. I would suggest that you let the acne heal on it's own. Avoid touching the inflamed area as much as possible and your pimple should heal within a few weeks time. The more you pick it, the longer that red mark will stay on your skin. Acne scars are usually caused by how your skin reacted to the inflammation. For more information on acne scars, kindly visit the link provided below: