So I discovered something on YouTube that I have to share. If you avoid shows like Grey’s Anatomy or Code Black like the plague, it is probably not the channel for you, but apparently for tons of viewers, it’s good stuff. It’s also known as pimple p*rn.
Dr. Sandra Lee, also known as Dr. Pimple Popper (drpimplepopper.com), performs dermatological procedures on consenting patients and films the results for informational purposes for other doctors in the skin industry. It also turns out that watching acne and other skin problems being nipped in the bud is enjoyable for the average person, and some of the videos have over a million views. This is educational surgical sebum shenanigans that come in two main categories: blackheads and whiteheads that are called “soft pops,” and benign lumps and such which are called “hard pops.” Dr. Lee has appeared on the daytime show The Doctors with some of her “greatest hits,” and though the audience often says a collective “Ewwww,” they can’t look away. I learned about the channel in a weekend newspaper article, and after watching a video I admit it’s got an attraction to it.
If you have ever (or deny having ever) had acne, you know to some extent what it is like to try to exorcise one of those demonic date-ruining suckers from your flesh. Doctors don’t recommend squeezing acne yourself because of the risk or infection, but we do anyway. This is a look at some people who are not you at your cosmetic worst, getting zits and lipomas (those benign lumps I mentioned) taken out by a professional. Dr. Lee always asks the patient to make sure they feel nothing once the local anesthetic kicks in. She uses a special extraction tool for the blackheads and such, and sometimes a punch tool (yes it does what it says) or a scalpel to open up larger growths. The fun views are usually of blackheads which emerge in long curlicues, and the patients sometimes have so many, they look as if their torsos need daily shaving from chronic five o-clock shadow. The other videos show cysts which resemble seed pods or tubes as they get chased out of their follicular abodes. Some exit quietly, while others ooze massively as if a floodgate has been opened. Grossed out yet?
These videos give “what lies underneath” a whole new meaning. Imagine a follicle of your skin being invaded by fluids native to your body but not co-existing well at the time. Sometimes acne runs deep, and excision is quite a relief. Having had acne through most of my life until I found what worked for me to prevent it, I can relate to these patients and the sense of closure that comes from saying goodbye to an acne invasion. It’s interesting to watch and learn what can happen when body oils go outlaw. But then I reach for a warm cloth and some cleanser and sigh with relief that Dr. Lee won’t be filming me anytime soon.
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