Dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee — best known as Dr. Pimple Popper — has
netted more than three million YouTube subscribers with her videos of
pimple pops. One of her latest uploads, first shared on Monday, features
a pilar cyst lodged in a woman’s scalp.
With Lee’s surgical expertise and some numbing medication, the removal
is swift and satisfying. Near the 1:48 mark, the cyst unleashes a stream
of gunk; at 2:30, Lee teases out the whole thing as a single, smooth
bulb.
During the procedure, Lee also strikes up an interesting conversation
with the patient, who describes a previous attempt to pop one of her
cysts at home. The woman says that she squeezed the cyst and then
noticed “something pointy” sticking out of it a few days later — the
growth hadn’t been totally emptied.
The anecdote is a great reminder that DIY cyst popping is usually futile — and potentially dangerous.
Pilar cysts are benign growths commonly found on the scalp, according to
DermNet NZ, the educational website of the New Zealand Dermatological
Society. These cysts are sacs in skin that fill up with keratin — the
protein that makes up hair and nails, and the cheesy, pungent stuff that
comes out when a cyst gets squeezed.