Why Do Pimples Depart Darkish Spots—Even If You Don’t Pop Them? We Requested a Dermatologist

Welcome to Ask a Derm, a sequence from SELF during which board-certified dermatologists reply your urgent questions on pores and skin, hair, and nail well being. For this installment, we tapped Susan C. Taylor, MD, the Bernett L. Johnson Jr. Endowed Professor of Dermatology and the vice chair for range, fairness, and inclusion for the division of dermatology on the College of Pennsylvania’s Perelman College of Medication. Her specialties embrace hair loss, beauty dermatology, hyperpigmentation, and pores and skin of coloration.

One of many golden guidelines of skincare: By no means pop your pimples. In fact, it’s powerful recommendation to observe if that offended bump is simply sitting there, taunting you—and even tougher whenever you do go away it alone and nonetheless find yourself with a hard-to-ignore darkish spot.

In case you didn’t know, selecting your zits causes trauma to your pores and skin, which might result in scarring and hyperpigmentation. That’s why just about each derm on the market will beg you to maintain your arms (and extraction instruments) off your face. In case you’re something like me, although, from expertise that leaving your pimples alone isn’t a foolproof answer: Even once I summon the willpower to let a zit run its course, I’m generally nonetheless left with a flat crimson or brown mark as a replacement. To determine why this occurs, I known as within the assist of a professional.

Mainly, the buildup—of extra oil, lifeless pores and skin cells, and generally micro organism—that causes zits can set off an inflammatory response, Susan C. Taylor, MD, professor of dermatology on the College of Pennsylvania’s Perelman College of Medication, tells SELF. Throughout this course of, your physique releases pigment-producing melanocytes (the cells answerable for your pores and skin’s coloration) to guard the affected space, Dr. Taylor says.

Because of this superior immune response, chances are you’ll discover smaller, surface-level blemishes like whiteheads and blackheads resolve on their very own—with out leaving a mark. However let’s say you’re coping with extra extreme irritation (from angrier, deeper cystic zits that has lingered for months, or perhaps a nasty bug chunk). In that case, your physique would possibly overreact and pump out a number of (and generally an excessive amount of) protecting melanin. “This could trigger post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation,” Dr. Taylor explains—a.okay.a. brownish or blue-gray spots that stay even after the blemish has healed.