Acne is a disorder that affects the skin’s oil glands and hair follicles. The small holes in your skin (pores) connect to oil glands under the skin. The pores connect to the glands by a canal called a follicle. Inside the follicles, oil carries dead skin cells to the surface of the skin.
Stress triggers acne and acne results in more stress, so it’s a very vicious cycle. Basically, when you’re under pressure, your skin produces stress hormones, including cortisol, that can stimulate your oil glands to make testosterone that then increases oil production and clogs pores.
Crush up aspirin and mix it into water to form a paste, put it on your face and let it dry as a face mask, then rinse it off. It dries up acne, healing it at the source. 20. Apple cider vinegar works as a toner to help clear your skin by balancing your pH level.
Prepping Your Hands and the Pimple
Wash your hands. This will prevent bacteria from spreading to your face. Wash thoroughly, especially underneath the nails, and use plenty of soap and warm water. You’ll want to avoid touching the pimple with your finger nails, but just in case you do, having them clean will reduce the likelihood of irritation and infection.
Consider using a fingernail brush to get dirt out from under your fingernails.
Cover your hands. Put on disposable gloves just before you’re ready to pop the pimple. Not only will this put a barrier between any remaining bacteria on your fingers (and in your fingernails) and your skin, but it will also prevent the sharp edges of your nails from impacting the pimple.
If you don’t have disposable gloves, you can cover your fingers with clean tissues.
Clean the skin surrounding the pimple with a face cleanser or rubbing alcohol. Apply cleanser to a cotton ball and spread it. When you pop the pimple, you’ll be opening the skin, creating a way for bacteria to enter. The pimple will heal faster if you don’t give bacteria a chance to settle in and create a new or worse infection.
Don’t scrub the area too hard, or you’ll irritate it further. Gently cleanse the area, rinse it with warm water, and pat it dry with a towel.
Popping a Pimple with a Pin
Sterilize a pin with fire. Use a match or lighter to heat up and sterilize the pin. Expose every bit of the pin to fire for several seconds to kill off any bacteria.
Allow the pin to cool. Give the pin at least a minute to cool down. It should not be painfully hot when you use it to pop your pimple.
Sterilize everything with rubbing alcohol. Apply rubbing alcohol to the pin, to your hands, and to the zit. Be sure that everything involved in the procedure is sanitized with rubbing alcohol.
Hold the pin parallel to your face. You do not want to point the pin toward your face. Instead, you should hold it along your face, so that when you poke your pimple it won’t penetrate anything but the very tip of the pimple.
Pierce the white tip of the zit. Do not touch anything but the white part of the zit. Penetrating the red part of the pimple will cause scarring. Instead, run the pin through the very tip of the pimple, so that it goes through one end and out the other.
Pull up with the pin. The pin should have penetrated the length of the white tip. Pull the pin out, away from your face, so that it ruptures the white tip when you remove the pin from the pimple.
