We’ve heard a lot of things about zits and popping them. We’ve feared that they’d scar yet we’ve been guilty of doing it. And most of the time, wondering there’s no scar. I’ve gone through that teenage phase of zits, acne and visits to the dermatologist. I always wondered why doctors can pop our zits for us while we can’t.

There’s a lot of stuff on the net about zits and popping them so I asked my old dermatologist what’s the real deal about it. Apparently, what causes concern for popping zits is cleanliness. As you might find in those facial treatments dermatologists give is that all of their equipment are sterilized - surgically clean.

Most of the time, when people pop zits, we use our bare hands and some of us even forget to wash them. That’s when the possibility of infection and scarring can occur.

Here’s a great how-to on zit popping form iEmily.com:

• Take a warm shower or bath to soften your skin.
• Wash your face and remove all makeup.
• Wash your hands to prevent spreading germs and infecting the pimple.
• Sterilize a needle by running it through a flame (a dirty needle will cause an infection and maybe a bigger pimple).
• Gently prick the tip of the pimple with the needle.
• Take a clean tissue or piece of toilet paper and wrap it around your index fingers.
• Gently apply pressure to the sides of the pimple to ease out the pus. Stop when blood or clear fluid comes out.

Instead of a needle you can purchase disposable sterile lancets from your drugstore. Note that they only recommend popping those pus-filled ones. Smaller ones may be dealt with medication like benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid (consult your dermatologist before applying any medication). Whiteheads go away after a few days.

Here are some other great sites on acne and zits:

• Acne.org
• iEmily.com
• Acneway.com