Back in my freshman year in medical school, we were repeatedly told back in Otorhinolaryngology (the new term for ENT) and Dermatology that popping acne is a no-no. It’s not just about the atrophic (crater-like) scars that bad pimples could produce. According to the lecturers, the act of squeezing pus out of your infected hair follicles (that’s what a pimple is) can introduce bacteria to the cavernous sinus – a mesh of thin-walled blood vessels that are close to the sphenoid bone. These vessels drain an imaginary triangle with your nose smack at the middle. What does that mean?
Well, the cavernous sinus is also in contact with the brain.
If you refuse to accept the obvious, let me run it down for you.
- When your follicle gets infected, you develop a pimple.
- If your pimple is inside the cavernous triangle and you pop it, you introduce bacteria to the cavernous sinus.
- The cavernous sinus is very close to the brain, so bacteria can spread hematogenously to the brain.
- The brain gets infected, develops an abscess (too overly simply it, a pocket of pus! YES, PUS IN YOUR BRAIN).
- You get bad symptoms (probably secondary to cavernous sinus thrombosis), you go into coma and you die.
It sounds like a really bad horror story, right? I didn’t really believe it. Come on, how many people actually pop zits on their noses on a daily basis.
Well, apparently, it can happen. Just today, a sixteen year old girl died of the complications of cavernous sinus thrombosis. She popped a zit four days ago, fell into a coma and then died. It was that sudden. According to the imaging results, the patient developed a brain abscess and even had her brain herniate! Yes, brains also herniate. You could just imagine how hard is it to survive from something like that.
As weird as it sounds, scratching and popping pimples can really kill you.
That’s all. Carry on.
Did that make you feel sad? Here’s one of my favorite songs to cheer you up. hehe
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OH. MY. GOD! Then.. how can I get rid of my pimples/acne if I can't pop them? How about blackheads? LOL
nyay. thanks for the info!!!!!!!!!!!
yeah, like what jhed said. how can we GET rid of 'em if we cant pop ' em?!
bloghop
When i read your twitter message, i thought this is just a joke but oh my.. sixteen year old popping her pimples then 4 days after she died? Thanks for the information this is an informative read Kuya Benj
Btw, what happened to your first patient?
Hala. Buti na lang, di ako naano dati. :p
popping zits is bad? popping pimples is a no-no?
oh yes! most definitely! I had to learn it the hard way…
Now I have scars of yesterday… ang bakas ng kahapon.. huhuhu
pano pag ang pimple nasa pwet?
Now that I know that I can die from popping my zits, I will drink to being alive!
Scaarryyy. o_o
What about blackheads? The same? Hehe.
Does that song really supposed to chear as up? Haha. I mean, the sound gives me a spooky feeling. LOL.
@Aajao: Pigsa yun. Hehe.
I heard that popping pimples can indeed kill, but… four days?! FOUR DAYS?! That soon?
I've also heard of this same thing way back college days that's why i just let my facial skincare products handle my pimples.
..it was really a stunner that someone actually died 4 days after popping her pimple.
salamat ha, i was just about to eat breakfast.
whew, salamat at buhay pa ako hanggang ngayon
Scary! Good thing I'm not the type to grow a lot of pimples.
But I hate whiteheads 