The ultimate guide to banishing your spots - by Britain's Dr Pimple Popper: The ... trends now

Love it or loathe it, we're a nation obsessed with ­pimple popping.

As bizarre or gross as it might sound, video-sharing apps and websites heave with footage of people squeezing spots, cysts and boils. On TikTok alone there are more than 570,000 videos tagged 'zit popping', and 670,000 tagged 'satisfying pimple pops' – many of which have been viewed tens of millions of times.

And these clips are not for the faint-hearted. It seems the more stomach-churning – and explosive – the better.

As a dermatologist with more than 20 years' experience in the NHS and in my Harley Street clinic, OneWelbeck, I understand why these videos can be oddly satisfying. I've treated some extraordinary cases myself over the years. In fact, talking about pimple ­popping is one of my favourite things.

On my Warner Bros Discovery Channel show, The Bad Skin Clinic, we cover every skin disease you can think of which involves spots or pimples, lumps or bumps.

Briefly, most spots are caused by a blockage to the tiny follicles, or sebaceous ducts, in our skin which produce hair and – from the sebaceous gland at the bottom of the ducts – sebum, which is mostly an oily substance.

Normal skin bacteria get trapped inside the duct and start to multiply, causing an inflammatory response that leads to whiteheads, blackheads or even cysts and boils. I've seen spots the size of grapefruits, and even mandarin-sized cysts on the scrotum.

There's something pleasing about the moment a spot explodes. People are also fascinated by the (admittedly sometimes rather gruesome) things their bodies produce.

Is there an evolutionary element to it also? ­Monkeys groom one another, picking or squeezing lumps they find. The urge serves a purpose, say scientists, as bumps may hide parasites.

This isn't much of an issue for humans (although I have seen some cases, including a spot on a man's back that, when squeezed, was actually the larvae of a botfly which burst across the ­clinic floor).

Medical advice is if you squeeze spots, you risk infections and scarring – and even, rarely, death. But people will still do it. So, with that in mind, here's my expert guide to the do's and don'ts of pimple popping to keep your skin healthy and blemish-free…

Warm your skin with a boiled egg 

Some trends are potentially dangerous. In one TikTok video a man microwaves a cup of water before placing a metal spoon inside the cup to warm it up. He then puts the spoon on to his face to warm his skin to make a spot easier to squeeze. But while warming the upper layers of the skin can be helpful for tackling a zit, please don't do it like this.

A hot metal spoon can damage the skin. What started off as a spot could end up as a spoon-shaped burn. Instead, use a clean flannel or cotton wool pads. Soak in warm water from the tap, so you can test the temperature on your skin. If it is comfortable, press gently on the area around your spot.

Hold it there for around two minutes to soften the skin and open the pores.

This should make it easier and less painful to squeeze that pimple or blackhead, and will cut the risk of additional damage.

Make sure your hands are clean before you squeeze, and use two cotton buds on either side of the spot to apply gentle pressure. If the head doesn't budge, it's not ready. Leave it alone until it is.

If the pus does come out, don't keep squeezing until you see blood – that's a sign you've damaged the blood vessels around the spot, so it will take longer to heal with scarring risk.

Apply some salicylic acid – available in blemish gels from High Street chemists – to reduce swelling and redness. You can also top it with a hydrocolloid patch, or ­'pimple patch'. These are popular on social media among beauty influencers, and they really work – it's like a small blister plaster that creates a barrier against bacteria and promotes healing.

You could also use a peeled boiled egg to warm the skin.

Decades ago we used to recommend them to warm the eye area when a patient had a stye – a pimple-like blockage of an oil gland in the eyelid.

If the egg is cool enough to peel, then it is cool enough to use on the delicate skin around the eye. It's also sterile, having been boiled, and is just the right shape for the eye socket.

Drain a cyst yourself with a sterile needle 

The internet is full of clips of ­people taking a DIY approach to their own cysts. They insert a ­needle and – bang! – it explodes.

Cysts are basically spots that don't have a whitehead, meaning the pocket of pus is trapped under the skin. It's better to get it treated by a professional. You risk deeper infection and scarring by doing it yourself, because cysts penetrate the skin towards the fat layers. If part of that fat layer is damaged, that's what causes a scar.

It's hard to get a GP referral for minor cosmetic problems such as cysts, and then there's a long ­waiting list for an appointment with a dermatologist.

If your cyst is on your face or neck, it can be very distressing. So – while I can't condone it – here's how I'd do it myself in clinic, which is a safer approach than the techniques shown in most of the videos circulating online.

First I cleanse the skin with an alcohol wipe or antiseptic wash.

Do not attempt to sterilise a needle yourself. I've seen online advice to rinse them in alcohol or put the point in

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