How to Pop a Pimple without Leaving a Scar

The only good thing about having a pimple is being able to pop it. Other than signaling that something is off kilter in the body (hormones, lack of hygiene, food allergies), pimples don’t serve any purpose at all other than to torture the afflicted. The wisdom of keeping one’s paws as far away from a pimple is well documented, but sometimes that mountain of white pus smack dab in the middle of your face needs to be abolished before heading out the front door. It can be done, and is done with regularity by a great number of people—they just don’t tell their dermatologists. Popping pimples is a perverse pleasure enjoyed a large segment of the population; where some of them draw the line is popping other people’s pimples.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Washcloth
• Soap
• Hot water/steam
• Gauze, cotton balls, cotton swabs, tissue
• Extractor
• Hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol
• Ice cube
• Vitamin E
• Magnifying mirror
• Tweezers

1. Assess the popping situation. Only pimples with pus, known as a whitehead, can be popped. Trying to coax some ooze out of an under the skin blemish is very painful and will leave a scar.

2. Wash your face and hands.

3. Steam open your pores. This can be done in the shower, applying a hot wet washcloth compress (heated in the microwave works well) for a few minutes or holding the face over a pot of steaming water for a few minutes.

4. Wipe the area with gauze or cotton ball soaked with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. The pimple may be seeping by this point or completely popped.

5. Wrap both index fingers with gauze or tissue. Using the fingers and looking in a magnifying mirror, apply pressure with fingers pushing down on either side of the pimple causing the pus to pop up and out. Alternatively, an extractor, an instrument with two loops on either end similar in size to an eyebrow tweezer (available at beauty supply stores), can be used to apply pressure.

6. Apply more pressure if pus remains. If that doesn’t work, steam your face again and repeat process. (The washcloth in the microwave is the most expedient method.) A sterilized tweezers is handy to pull out remaining pus, as sometimes it is hard or string like.

7. Check to make sure all the pus is gone. There will be a hole or a red (blood) dot. Wipe area with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide.

8. Place an ice cube on the now former whitehead. This closes the pores.

9. Apply a small amount of Vitamin E on spot to prevent scarring. Make daily Vitamin E applications until healed.

Tips & Warnings

• To hasten the forming of a whitehead, use an over the counter pimple cream or dab the spot with toothpaste or a baking soda paste. Experiment, the number of pimple cures equals the number of people with pimples.
• Drinking lots of water helps the body flush out toxins resulting in better looking skin.
• Popping a pimple isn’t a pleasurable sensation, but it shouldn’t cause excruciating pain either. Consider an appointment with a dermatologist if your pimples are painful.

Resources

• Some say popping a pimple can scar, others say it can't scar.