Does the satisfaction of popping a pimple outweigh the risks — like an infection spreading to the brain or even going blind?
Twitter user Katie Wright shared a terrifying experience in which she tried to pop what she thought was a pimple, but it actually turned out to be a staph infection underneath her skin that affected deep cellular tissue.
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when you go viral for being ugly pic.twitter.com/anwVTHGusH
— katie (@katiewright) August 1, 2017
“Within an hour my entire face swelled up and HURT,” Wright wrote on Twitter. “It felt like something was going to burst out of my skin. I went to the emergency room and they said it was a very serious case of Cellulitis, which is a version of a Staph infection, but instead of having a head like Staph, it effects the deep cellular tissues with no main source to attack.”
She went on to explain that because the infection was on her face, it ended up being very dangerous. “Since it was on my face, there was a huge risk of it spreading to my brain or my eyes causing me to go blind,” she wrote.
After being picked up by various makeup accounts, her scary experience went viral. Wright received treatment at the hospital and is totally fine now, but she’s reminding people to be careful about popping zits and to clean their makeup brushes — she thinks the infection may have been caused by her eyebrow brush that she hadn’t cleaned.
“If you wear makeup PLEASE make that a step in your cleaning routine!!!!” she concludes in the original post. “It’s a small thing to do to avoid a painful, expensive, and traumatizing infection on your face.”
What’s more is that even popping normal zits that don’t happen to be a hidden staph infection can spread bacteria all over your face, resulting in basically open facial wounds and scarring. Think of all the bacteria on your hands, then think about the bacteria that spreads on your face after you pop the pimple. While that oh-so satisfying pop is almost addictive, it might be time to re-think your stance on pimple popping.
Next time you’re dead set on popping that monster zit that appeared overnight, think about Katie Wright. And wash those makeup brushes!
