The urge to pop that white head, or that pus filled pimple is so strong that you cave in and pop it, and keep going at it until you bleed. That is totally normal, and everyone in the world has done this, even though we all know not to. Black heads, white heads and pimples are all acne, and acne is caused by bacteria. Black heads are exposed to oxygen, so they are open and that is why they have the black color, and everything else is closed and not exposed to oxygen and the bacteria is more prone to spread.
Professionals do pop pimples, and use fingers and tools to do so, but there are techniques to do it like, how far to be from the breakout site, the direction to push, the amount of pressure each type of acne needs, when to stop, how to prevent it from coming back, not scaring and so on. It is important to know the right way of extracting your skin without scaring it, hence that is the main reason to lead to acne scars, and most preventable as well. Here are a few tips on how to extract your own breakouts to prevent any damage from happening.
CLEAN HANDS & CLEAN FACE
Since acne itself is stemmed out of bacteria called P. acnes and it spreads easily on your face. It is crucial to start off with a clean cleansed area and washed and clean hands, before picking or touching your skin. So you don’t spread more bacteria into an already inflamed and compromised breakout (it’ll be like adding fuel to fire). Do use a double cleanse method and then extract your skin very gently, before proceeding to tone and use other products.
Cotton Swabs
Using cotton swabs or q-tips is crucial in extracting, they prevent you from over digging your nails in your skin, causing more trauma to the area. The secret to a successful extraction using q-tips is to go a few centimeters from the diameter of the breakout, so that you are targeting everything outwards, and not pushing bacteria deeper into the skin. Takes practice, but will prevent any permanent damage from happening.
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Finger Wraps
Wrapping your fingers while doing any pimple popping is a great way to prevent bacteria from spreading, it gets absorbed into the tissue. And it is also the same idea as the q-tips, prevents you from over digging your fingers into the breakout. It gives you more control on the amount of pressure your applying and the place to apply the pressure so that you push all the pus out of your skin, and not deeper into your skin, which prevents future breakouts from happening. Finger wrapping gives you more control than the q-tips as well, you can try both and see which one works best for you.
Cleanse Area
After picking and popping your zits and blackheads, there is a lot of unwanted bacteria roaming around your face looking for the next spot to breakout in. Cleansing and purifying the extraction area and your hands after is what will prevent more breakouts from happening soon after. Hand washing and using an antiseptic after is ideal, as well as killing any bacteria left in the breakout under the skin, to prevent future acne from happening in that same spot.
*Important reminder when popping your own zits, especially the pus filled or inflamed ones, you have to know when to start and when to stop. It is best to let your acne take its course and heal from the inside while helping without touching it, If your pimple is not ready to be popped it will only hurt you and make it last longer. (it will pop easily with very minimal pain when it’s ready, it won’t pop easily if it is not ready). Stop as soon as everything is out, don’t keep picking it until you see blood, and it scabs, when the pus is out, it’s out, there is nothing left in there, then you cleanse and leave it alone to heal.
