Dr. Pimple Popper's Best And Worst Cases
What are Dr. Pimple Popper's best and worst cases? Dr. Pimple Popper is known for sharing some of social media's most polarizing posts. While some viewers gag at the mere thought of her videos, her fellow "popaholics" can't get enough of the squeezing and oozing.
But Dr. Sandra Lee, a dermatologist who lives in Southern California, never intended to gain a following because of her pimple popping videos. When she posted her first extraction video on Instagram, she didn't think it would perform as well as it did. But fans loved the gross content and wanted to see more.
Since posting that first video, Dr. Lee has gained a cult following of popaholics, and regularly posts all sorts of pimple-popping content — blackheads, whiteheads, cysts, lipomas, she does it all. In addition to her popular Instagram page, Lee has a YouTube channel, a TV show on TLC, and her own skincare line. Her cases range from small and easy blackhead pops to large lipoma removals, so we've compiled Dr. Pimple Popper's best and worst cases for all the popaholics out there who can't get enough.
Dr. Pimple Popper's best: The "jungle full of diamonds"
This is one of Dr. Pimple Popper's best pops. Named the "jungle full of diamonds," this case started when Dr. Lee found an interesting pop on a patient's chest during a body exam. Though it looked like a blackhead because the pore was so dilated, it was actually an epidermoid cyst under the skin. An epidermoid cyst is a common type of cyst made up of dead skin cells, called keratin, and Dr. Lee described the cyst as looking like pulp because of its slightly soft texture.
Dr. Lee said it was easy to miss the cyst because the patient's chest was so hairy, but of course she wasn't fazed. Dr. Lee went in with a scalpel to remove the cyst, and once she opened it up, she was able to squeeze most of it out in one satisfying and gross shot. She then went back in with tweezers to dig out the rest of the cyst, and was able to squeeze out every last drop, and sew the patient up to heal.
Dr. Pimple Popper's worst: The "abscess waterfall"
One of Dr. Pimple Popper's worst cases was this "abscess waterfall." The abscess was almost as big as Dr. Lee's hand, and she was prepared for the "waterfall" that was to come; she was wearing "full splash gear," which was certainly needed. Dr. Lee identified the abscess as an epidermoid cyst that had become inflamed and "infected." Though not a true infection, according to Dr. Lee, the cyst had swollen up and become tender and painful, similar to an infection. Incision and drainage often resolves the symptoms and heals the abscess.
Dr. Lee started the three-part extraction with two days of warm compresses to bring the abscess to the surface. She then made a few small incisions, and the cyst immediately started gushing. The abscess waterfall certainly lived up to its name, as Dr. Lee had to hold a pan underneath the cyst to catch most of the contents.
Dr. Lee drained the cyst for over 10 minutes and it flowed like a waterfall the entire time. To help it heal, Dr. Lee actually put a gauze inside the cyst which she removed a few days later.
Dr. Pimple Popper's best: The "biggest cyst" she's ever seen
Dr. Pimple Popper called this case the "biggest cyst" she'd ever seen, and was quite shocked it had grown so large. "If you blow a balloon up enough, it's going to pop," she explained. "And so I'm just shocked that he has a cyst here that's blown up to this size and the balloon hasn't popped." To that end, as they do with large extractions, Dr. Lee and her team prepared to "get wet" during the extraction, dressing in gowns, glasses, face masks, and face shields.
As soon as Dr. Lee opened up the cyst, it almost immediately began oozing. Descriptive as she is, Dr. Lee said the contents looked like oatmeal. Additionally, you could see the relief on the patient's face when Dr. Lee started draining the cyst. He said it was extremely painful, and he could immediately feel the pressure decrease when Dr. Lee opened it up.
This case is one of Dr. Lee's best because of the satisfaction that came with this pop, both for the patient and for viewers at home.
Dr. Pimple Popper's worst: The two dilated pores of winer
This patient came to see Dr. Pimple Popper for multiple dilated pores of winer that needed extraction. Dilated pores of winer are similar to the regular blackheads we all get, and Dr. Lee pops a lot of them in her practice. These particular pores of winer were large, and buried deep in the patient's skin, making for one of Dr. Lee's more difficult extractions.
Once Dr. Lee loosened the pimples, she was able to start squeezing them out — but she said these were still some of the largest blackheads she'd ever worked on. Plus, the second blackhead was hidden under the skin, meaning Dr. Lee had to widen the incision and go in with tweezers. She explained both the pimples were hard like little rocks, and said they even sounded like rocks in the tray.
Unfortunately, Dr. Lee didn't get the entire blackhead in one piece, which makes it one of her worst cases to watch. After the extraction, both the dilated pores left large holes in the patient's skin, but Dr. Lee left both of them open and felt confident they would heal on their own.
Dr. Pimple Popper's best: The lipoma the size of a grapefruit
This lipoma is one of Dr. Pimple Popper's most intense cases yet. A patient came in for a lipoma the size of a grapefruit – a large grapefruit — on the back of his neck. The patient said he'd never seen a doctor for it before, so Dr. Lee wasn't sure what it was at first. But naturally, she couldn't wait to find out whether it was a cyst, lipoma, or something else entirely.
It took Dr. Lee three videos to show the entire extraction from start to finish, but she was able to safely remove the mass. After a few tests, she identified it as a lipoma, and was able to begin the extraction. In a gross but fascinating video, Dr. Lee used some serious slicing skills to open the skin, and used her hands to dig around inside the wound. She was worried her hands would be too small to remove the lipoma by hand, but eventually, she was able to do so.
Dr. Pimple Popper's worst: The 30-year-old Blackhead
One of Dr. Pimple Popper's worst cases is this 30-year-old blackhead. Almost the size of a fingernail, this blackhead doesn't look like much compared to some of Dr. Lee's other cases — but there was plenty more hiding under the skin. The patient told Dr. Lee that he tried to pop it once or twice with no luck. Dr. Lee even had to use a bit of muscle to wrangle it out. The blackhead was so deep in the skin that Dr. Lee had to pull out scissors and tweezers to extract it. This is what happens if you don't remove blackheads!
Once Dr. Lee used tweezers, she was able to pull out a sizable chunk of blackhead, which she described as looking like a raisin or a cigarette butt. But toward the end of the procedure, Dr. Lee said she wished she'd left it alone because she was worried it would come back. This is one of Dr. Lee's worst cases because the blackhead didn't come out in one pop, and it might become a problem again in the future.
Dr. Pimple Popper's best: The lipoma that weighed more than a newborn baby
This patient went to Dr. Pimple Popper for a large lipoma he had on his shoulder — for almost a decade. Not only did he say that it caused him pain and discomfort in his day-to-day life, he also was emotional during the initial consultation because he wasn't sure if Dr. Lee would be able to help him.
Dr. Lee initially felt the lipoma to ensure it was not life-threatening before she removed it. After an examination, Dr. Lee felt confident the lipoma was benign and she could safely remove it. The mass was roughly the size of a rugby ball, and Dr. Lee was, of course, excited to remove it.
Though the patient had the lipoma for 10 years, it only took Dr. Lee 10 minutes and five seconds to remove it, almost in one fell snip. Afterwards, Dr. Lee weighed the lipoma, and it clocked in at nine pounds and two ounces — roughly how much a newborn baby weighs! This emotional case was not only a satisfying removal to watch, it was amazing to watch how happy it made the patient.
Dr. Pimple Popper's worst: The "big back blackhead"
This patient visited Dr. Lee for large blackheads on her back — but Dr. Lee said they weren't just blackheads, there were cysts underneath that needed treatment. These large, disintegrating cysts presented Dr. Pimple Popper with one of her worst cases. In fact, as soon as Dr. Lee touched one of the pimples, it started to leak, as the cyst had started to "break down and dissolve" underneath the skin.
At first, everything that came out of the pimple was a white liquid from the cyst, but after a few minutes, larger, more solid chunks started to flow out. As Dr. Lee proceeded, chunks started flying out of the pimple onto Dr. Lee in the "splash zone," which is quite common with some of Dr. Lee's more difficult cases.
Dr. Lee continued to pop more of the patient's cysts, which were all messy. Though the ending was satisfying, the mess made this one of Dr. Pimple Popper's worst cases.
Dr. Pimple Popper's best: The blackhead on an 85-year-old woman
This blackhead presented Dr. Pimple Popper with one of her most satisfying pimple pops yet. An 85-year-old woman came in with her daughter to get a large blackhead removed from her shoulder. Removing dilated pores of winer, the technical name for these large blackheads, is one of Dr. Lee's specialties, and it's one of her fans' favorite extractions to watch.
A dilated pore of winer is a fancy name for congested skin that often takes years, or sometimes even decades, to form. The patient had gotten the dilated pore of winer drained before, but it grew back over time. So, Dr. Lee used her tweezers to remove the blackhead, and said it looked like "a plug in a faucet."
Once the blackhead was removed, it left the dilated pore open, which Dr. Lee joked could act as a coin purse. And while Dr. Lee left the pore open at the end of the extraction, she said she planned to close it with a couple of stitches in the near future.
Dr. Pimple Popper's worst: The cyst that returned
The cyst that returned is definitely one of Dr. Pimple Popper's worst and messiest cases. This patient came to see Dr. Lee after a cyst that he had removed two years prior grew back — bigger and more painful than before. Fortunately, Dr. Lee knew what she was getting into, and put on full protective gear; she was prepared to be splashed, and rightly so.
The pimple started leaking clear fluid as soon as Dr. Lee made the first incision. And just as Dr. Lee started popping, the cyst exploded, spewing dark, mushy-looking contents gross enough to make any viewer cringe.
However, Dr. Lee said the cyst was simply expelling old skin trapped in the pimple, and after a few minutes of spurting, things started to calm down. Dr. Lee was eventually able to cut out the entire cyst and close up the skin to heal, so hopefully the cyst won't return again.
Dr. Pimple Popper's best: The invisible blackhead
This "invisible" blackhead is one of Dr. Pimple Popper's most interesting pops. Upon first look, you can't even see the pimple, so Dr. Lee pointed out the small bump under the skin on the patient's top lip that she was removing. To the average viewer, it's almost invisible, but Dr. Lee was able to detect and extract it.
Dr. Lee started by making a small incision on the bump, and then widened the incision to remove the pimple. But things got really interesting when Dr. Lee began squeezing the mass, as typically, the insides of pimples are somewhat wet, comprised of old skin cells. But in this case, a small, solid, kidney bean-shaped mass jumped out of the skin in one swift pop.
Dr. Lee described the mass as "a little river rock," and told her patient she thinks the mass was a calcified cyst, but she wasn't positive. After removing the mass, the patient was ready to get stitched up and sent on her way, but the interesting pimple makes it one of Dr. Pimple Popper's best cases yet.
Dr. Pimple Popper's worst: The "enormous" dilated pore of winer
This blackhead could be one of Dr. Pimple Popper's biggest dilated pores of winer ever. The "enormous" mass sat square on a patient's forehead, and Dr. Lee almost couldn't believe how large it had gotten.
Once Dr. Lee made the initial incisions, she went in with an extra-large extractor to get as much of the pimple out as possible in one pop. However, she had to go in with her extractor multiple times to fully drain the pore, as this was a tough pimple to pop. So to ensure she got all of the cyst out, Dr. Lee had to widen the incision and dig around to finish the procedure.
After going in with extractors, scissors, and tweezers, Dr. Lee was able to finish removing the mass. And though it wasn't a satisfying one-pop removal, she was able to remove all of the cyst.
Dr. Pimple Popper's best: The fireman's blackheads
If you can't get enough of blackhead pops, you'll love this video of extractions of a fireman's blackheads. The blackheads aren't especially large or deep compared to some of Dr. Pimple Popper's other cases, but there were tons of them throughout the patient's face for Dr. Lee to squeeze. Additionally, the patient said he'd had the blackheads for quite some time, but never knew how to remove them. Dr. Lee explained that because the patient was a firefighter, working in the soot and ash likely contributed to the number of blackheads on his face.
Dr. Lee got to work with her trusty extractor, and the blackheads popped quite easily. For over 10 minutes, Dr. Lee popped these blackheads, and for popaholics, it never got old. The best pops were on the neck behind the ear, where there were larger blackheads in addition to whiteheads.
This video may be tame compared to some of Dr. Lee's other cases, but watching blackhead pops for nearly 10 minutes was extremely satisfying to see.
Dr. Pimple Popper's worst: The"cheesy" cyst
This "cheesy" cyst presented Dr. Pimple Popper with one of her most gruesome pops yet, as while it may have been a small cyst, the contents were hard to look at. Dr. Lee identified this pimple as an epidermoid cyst, which occurs when skin cells reproduce in a small space within the skin. Additionally, epidermoid cysts are often filled with wet skin cells, which gives them the "cheesy" texture — which may make even the most hardcore popaholics look away.
Once Dr. Lee opened the cyst, she was able to get to work. Then, she started popping the "cheesy" insides, which came out quite easily — but it was certainly a vivid image. After Dr. Lee extracted a sizable chunk of the "cheesy" insides, she cut the rest of the cyst out.
With this extraction, Dr. Lee emphasized the importance of removing the entire cyst, including the cyst sac, so it doesn't grow back. And though this pop was satisfying, it was graphic, making it one of Dr. Pimple Popper's worst cases.