If you’ve ever popped a pimple you’ve probably had to deal with the hole you get afterwards. This article looks at why this happens and how to deal with it.

After you’ve popped a pimple you can develop a hole in your skin. When you pop a pimple you rupture the skin and damage it. The deeper the hole the more damage you cause. You need to clean the area and keep the area moist to allow the skin to heal well

Acne can be a real hassle in itself, and the scarring that it comes with is something that no one wants to deal with either.

As if the acne wasn’t enough to worry about you also have to worry about the holes you get if you pop the pimple as well as the scabs that are left behind after popping the pimples.

Does your popped pimple leave a hole? This is how to deal with it. Also in this article: how you get them, how to prevent them and how to get rid of them.

This article will be a closer look at the holes left on the skin after you pop a pimple.

How you get them, how to prevent them, how to get rid of them and more information on them. You will know how to treat them and have clear skin after reading this article.

Popped pimple leaves a hole, how to deal with it

Types of acne scars:

There are 3 types of acne scars: depressed, raised and discoloured.

Depressed: These are the scars that leave a hole in your skin if the tissue sinks into your skin after popping a pimple.

They appear on the cheeks or the forehead. Ice pick scars fall into this category. The same can happen if you pop a blackhead, read more here.

Raised: These scars rise up from the skin layer. This happens when the pimple or the cyst that was there heals but causes a raised bump as a result of too much scar tissue taking the place of the broken skin. This is known as a keloid.

Discolouration: This type of scar is a discolouration. It can be very dark almost black, it can also be brown, white or red.

The discolouration can be worsened by the sun’s rays but it will fade with time. To get rid of this quicker you can use an exfoliator. This is a great product that will help get rid of scars.

You can also use an at-home LED light to help with the discolouration, learn more here. This is a well-loved LED light

Will popping a pimple leave a hole?

Yes, popping a pimple leaves a hole. When you pop a pimple your skin becomes damaged and ruptures. This is because the act of popping breaks your skin open damaging small blood vessels and scuffing your skin

When a pimple is popped you don’t usually only pop the outer later but the dermis as well, which is the second layer of the skin.

This damage prevents new collagen growth in that area. What we see from the naked eye is a hole.

These can be treated with laser treatments which will enable collagen to regrow at the scar location.

What to do if you popped a pimple and there’s a hole?

The hole needs to heal in order to minimize the scarring that you can get from popping a pimple. A good way to enable good wound healing is to keep the skin moist.

Before you make the wound moist I suggest cleaning the area to remove bacteria and germs, you can use a mild soap and water for this.

Moisture will heal the wound and prevent the open hole from creating a scab. The moist healing will promote the growth of new cells without creating a scab.

What to put after popping a pimple? 

There are a couple of steps you need to follow after popping your pimple, just using one product won’t give you the best result, its a process. Doing this will ensure that the pimple heals as fast and well, these steps include:

Applying which hazel: you can use which hazel or use a toner that contains witch hazel.

Witch hazel has been used in skincare as a toner because of its astringent properties.

When you use it on your skin after popping a pimple it will help to sterilize the area killing off any acne-causing bacteria that may have spread to the skin around the pimple or deeper in the skin.

It also helps to calm, and soothe the wound site, helping with redness and inflammation. This is my favourite which hazel.

Cool it: Using ice on the wound site will also help reduce any swelling and inflammation on the skin, this will prevent you from picking at any red bumps and allow the skin to heal with no interruptions.

Treat it: Treating it with an anti-bacterial treatment will help heal the wound better.

You can use Neosporin on the wound to help keep the area free from bacteria. This will also keep the area moist, moist skin heals well and keeps scabbing and scarring at bay. This one offers protection from infection.

Let it be: Don’t touch it, don’t poke at it, don’t rub it, just let the skin heal and do its thing, it may be difficult, but trust me, you’ll b better off if you just leave it alone and let it heal.

Not touching it also prevents bacteria from spreading on your hands to the opening.

Avoid makeup: If your skin is still open you shouldn’t be using any makeup on the opening, you wouldn’t want makeup getting into your skin.

If you really have to use make up use a gel spot treatment to cover up the opening making sure it’s a good barrier between the opening and the makeup. Some ingredients in makeup products cause acne, read more here

Does Vaseline help popped pimples?

There is some truth in using Vaseline on pimples. After you pop a pimple it would be a good idea to keep the skin moist for good wound healing. This can be done by adding an occlusive like vaseline.

Vaseline in itself isn’t moisturising but rather prevents moisture from escaping. It needs to be used over your moisturiser which will actually add moisture to the area. This, in turn, will allow you to have smoother healing with little to no scarring.

Can you put toothpaste on popped pimples?

This tip has been passed on for years as a great way to help the skin heal after popping a pimple.

There are ingredients in toothpaste that will help the pimple dry out. These include menthol, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, menthol and triclosan.

Unfortunately, these can irritate the skin too. For some people, toothpaste can over-dry or even burn the skin. It isn’t a good alternative to other targeted pimple treatments.

Does aloe vera heal popped pimples?

Yes, there are a couple of reasons why using aloe vera to heal pimples is a good idea.

The plant has anti-inflammatory properties, this is exactly what you need when you just popped a pimple and need the area to calm down and heal up.

Using it on your face is also a great way to boost any acne treatments or medications you may be using to heal your acne. Here is a well-loved aloe vera product for the skin.

How to prevent pimple holes on the face?

You can prevent them by not getting pimples in the first place.

I know this is a difficult thing to do but this is the only absolute way to prevent developing holes from pimples.

I also recommend maintaining a good skincare routine. This will prevent any pimples from cropping up on your face.

It will also be beneficial to know why you are getting the pimples in this first place. This will allow you to cut out what’s causing your pimples.

You can figure out why you’re getting pimples based on the location of the pimple, here is more information on that.

In addition to regularly washing your face as a part of keeping a good all-round skincare routine, you also need to wash your hair regularly.

Issues associated with using certain hair care products can also cause you to develop acne.

This article goes over how hair products can cause you to develop pimples. This is a great well loved clarifying shampoo.

Do pimple holes go away?

The holes you get from acne can turn into any of the types of scaring mentioned above.

These aren’t permeant and can be dealt with either naturally by the skin or by a dermatologist.

If you have a scar that looks like a crater in your skin then this might take a bit of effort. The crater type scars are not like the dark marks caused by popping a pimple, which will leave in 3-6 months.

This type of scarring needs treatment for it to go away. This is because this type of scarring changes the texture of the skin as the damage done is quite severe. This scarring that needs more than topical treatments and the scarring is known as “cobblestoning”.

The quicker you treat the situation the better the outcomes will be for you.

You need to visit a dermatologist as soon as you see this type of scarring as it won’t heal on its own and can spread very quickly. The dermatologist will break up the damaged collagen in that area forcing it to regrown normally again.

This regrowth will give you smooth skin again

Why do pimples make noise when they pop?

All pimples are a mix of sebum, dead skin cells, acne-causing bacteria and white blood cells.

When these elements combine and become trapped in a pore they form a pimple.

If you have a look at a pimple you’ll find that the skin over it is in tension. When you try to pop a pimple you apply quite a lot of pressure on it.

The act of popping the pimple creates pressure on the skin in tension and if you apply enough pressure you burst the skin, this makes the popping sound.  

Why do pimples pop twice?

The pressure you add to your skin when popping the pimple forces all the contents of the pimple out onto the surface of your skin. (All the bacteria, sebum, dead skin cells onto your clean skin).

If the skin is not cleaned properly after popping the contents can wind up infecting another one of your pores and causing a pimple in a similar area and it will pop again.

If you pop your pimple you can cause the walls of the pimple to rupture and all the content of the pimple will spread either to the lower levels of your skin or the surrounding skin.

You probably won’t notice this and it may seem like you removed all the puss there still may be some of it trapped in your skin. This will form another pimple and it will pop again.

How long does it take for popped pimples to heal?

That depends. If you popped your pimple but haven’t cleaned the area well enough you run the risk of growing another pimple.

A new pimple will take for to five days to form fully, then you may wind up popping it and cleaning it and allowing it to really heal.

If you cleaned the area well initially then you can expect the pimple to heal in four to five days.

Make sure to stop popping your pimple when blood starts coming out, if not then that pimple will take longer to heal.

Is it okay to pop a whitehead?

You need to be very careful when popping any sort of blemish on your  skin. Whiteheads contain sebum and dead skin cells trapped under the skin.

If you pop it there is also a chance that you rupture the walls of the whitehead and spread the contents deeper into your skin.

If you want to get rid of it I suggest you rather extract it, note: you need to do the extraction the right way and use the right tools.

This will include steaming your face to make sure the contents of the whitehead are ready to come out.

Read more on steaming your face to get rid of blemishes here.

You need to use a blackhead extracting tool to get the whitehead out in a sterile and clean way. Make sure to clean and sterilise the tool and your skin before you extract.

This is an easy to use blackhead extracting tool.

I hope you enjoyed this article looking at popped pimples and the holes they cause. If you found this article interesting or useful please share it.

Remember to keep your skin clean and moisturised after popping your pimple to prevent acne scarring and skin discolouration