That clear liquid is often serum (watery fluid from tissue), sebum (oil), dead skin cells, and sometimes a little blood, indicating the body is starting to heal or the follicle wall is ruptured; it's best to stop squeezing when you see it, as it means you're likely just pushing out normal fluids or causing damage, not extracting gunk. If it's thicker and yellowish, it's likely pus, a mix of dead skin, oil, bacteria, and white blood cells.
Signs You Should Stop Popping
Once you start to notice blood or a clear liquid oozing out, step away and let the pimple heal. “That clear liquid is just the normal water that's in your tissue. If you see that, you're not getting anything,” says Dr. Howe.
Serous drainage is clear or slightly yellowish. It is thin and watery, often occurring in the early stages of healing. This type of drainage can indicate that the body is responding to the healing process by fighting off infection and repairing tissue.
Pimples refill after popping because you often don't remove all the pus and debris, pushing some deeper, while the inflammation continues, and the pore wall itself can be damaged, allowing oil (sebum) and dead cells to collect again, leading to recurrence in the same spot. Popping also creates an opening for bacteria, causing more inflammation and new pimples nearby.
When you pinch or squeeze whiteheads on your nose, a white substance resembling thin strands is often expelled from the pores. This is referred to as sebaceous filaments. They are composed of sebum and dead skin cells that accumulate around hair follicles.
Many people believe popping a pimple helps it heal faster, but the opposite is true. Pressing on a blemish can push bacteria, oil, and debris deeper into the skin, leading to more inflammation, swelling, and an increased risk of scarring.
You may be tempted to pop this unwanted guest, but it's not a good idea. Contrary to what pimple popping videos may show, squeezing your skin to extract the contents of a pimple — a mixture of oil, dead skin and bacteria — can cause scarring and infection.
The body's immune system responds by sending white blood cells to the affected area, resulting in redness, swelling, and the formation of pus. Over time, the pimple may either burst, allowing the pus to drain out, or it may resolve on its own as the inflammatory response subsides.
While the disorder has become extremely uncommon with the development of antibiotics, it still carries a very small chance to develop a high risk of death, and needs to be treated aggressively with antibiotics and blood thinners.
The Life Cycle of a Blemish: How to Spot-Treat a Pimple At Every...
The other half of the pus gets sucked inside since you're putting pressure when you release. It just stays there. You can't get it out anymore because it's inflamed and irritated. That's why pimples come back on the same spot, sometimes bigger than the one before it.”
Your body can gradually break down pus and reabsorb its components. That's why small accumulations of pus (like in a pimple) often don't need treatment.
Apply a warm, damp washcloth to try to bring a pimple to a head. Soak a clean washcloth in hot water, then apply the warm, damp washcloth to your pimple for 10-15 minutes, three times daily. This will help the deep pimple move closer to your skin's surface so it can heal.
Warm compresses can help bring a pimple to a head so that the sebum, dead skin cells, and bacteria can exit the skin's surface. Using ice can help relieve inflammation. Other treatments, such as benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, may help manage acne and prevent pimples from forming.
The trauma caused by the squeezing can also cause blood vessels underneath to burst, causing the pimple to fill with blood. Regular pimples occur when the skin's pores become clogged with bacteria, sweat, or dirt. More severe acne can be due to hormonal changes in adolescents and adult women.
Pimples usually last between three and seven days. Most pimples go away on their own, but it may take some time. Deep pimples (pimples under your skin with no head that may feel hard to the touch) may take a few weeks to go away, if not longer.
On the other hand, bumps caused by STDs, like herpes sores or genital warts, are often accompanied by pain, itching, or changes in appearance, and they tend to appear near the vulva, vagina, and anus.
Acne fulminans is the rarest but also the most severe form of acne. Unlike other forms of acne which are chronic, acne fulminans is an acute form of the disease. Acne fulminans appears abruptly, mainly in boys during adolescence.
Pimples form when dead skin cells mix with excess oil (sebum). This mixture plugs the pore, causing swelling. Bacteria can grow in the mix and lead to infection and pus.
Both aerobic bacteria (bacteria that require oxygen to grow) and anaerobic bacteria may cause a foul smell in your acne discharge. Acne severity: Mild acne generally does not produce a strong smell. Moderate to severe acne with pus discharge, however, may be more likely to have a bad smell.
Additionally, popping a pimple can lead to a nodule (hard, red, painful blemish deep within the skin) or a cyst. The most serious form of a blemish, cysts are large and painfully inflamed lesions.
Why do Blackheads Smell? The smell is caused by the oil produced on the skin. Why do Blackheads return so fast? The skin is constantly producing oil, especially on the face.
Why Do They Come Back? Typically, patients who have pimples that come back in the same spot over and over again are suffering from an underlying problem with bacteria in the skin. When you have too much bacteria in one area, and you aren't treating it, you won't ever fully get rid of the pimple.
This encourages the production of sebum and thus can cause a breakout. High-glycemic index foods that break down quickly in the body, such as white bread, processed breakfast cereals, white rice, pretzels, potato chips, cookies and cakes can increase the severity of an acne outbreak[2].