When you pop a pimple, you’re basically forcing the contents and inflammation out through damaged skin. What happens next depends on how you do it and what kind of pimple it is.
🩹 What can happen
- It may temporarily look better: Some pus or fluid comes out, reducing pressure.
- The skin gets injured: Squeezing can rupture the follicle and surrounding tissue.
- Inflammation can increase: Instead of releasing everything outward, some of the contents can be pushed deeper into the skin.
- It can become infected: Breaking the skin gives bacteria an opportunity to enter.
- You can get a dark mark: Inflammation or injury can trigger post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, especially in darker skin tones.
- You can cause a scar: Deeper inflammation or repeated picking can lead to permanent depressed or raised acne scars.
What if you’ve already popped it?
Don’t keep squeezing. Wash the area gently, pat it dry, and cover it with a hydrocolloid patch if it’s an appropriate superficial/open pimple. Leave it alone while it heals.
If it’s becoming increasingly red, swollen, hot, painful, or producing worsening drainage, get medical advice, particularly if the redness is spreading.
The safest general rule: a pimple that isn’t ready to drain is better left alone. Treating the acne and preventing new breakouts is much less likely to leave marks or scars.
