Excoriated Acne: The Skin Struggle We're Ashamed to Talk About

Remember, you’re not weird: this is a recognised medical syndrome, and for many addressing any underlying anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, or depression and low mood can help them overcome an addiction to picking skin.

Okay, so you know you need to stop picking your skin, but what about those really obvious spots that have the raised white tips—aren’t those the exception to the rule? Doesn’t the pus need to be drained from those? And, what happens to them if you exercise vast amounts of self-restraint and manage not to squeeze them? Where does the pus go?

Pus is our body’s natural defence response to the bacteria in clogged pores; by the time pus forms into a visible, raised white head, it’s essentially dead white blood cells mixed with oil and dead skin cells or whatever caused the blockage in the pore in the first place. By this stage the inflammation in the spot should start to subside (unless the area gets infected), as the body’s immune response has been fulfilled.

If you don’t squeeze the pus out, it will usually come out naturally by itself when it’s ready (usually while you’re sleeping and your skin is in contact with your pillow—so make sure you change your pillow cases regularly!), and sometimes it can re-absorb back into the skin.

Sometimes, very occasionally when the pus is concentrated very close to the surface of the skin in a raised white head, careful evacuation of the pus can speed up the healing process without spreading. 

Acknowledging the problem is a great first step to dealing with it, so if you’re reading this then well done! Getting over excoriated acne or compulsive skin picking has two sides:

1. Take care of your mental health and ask yourself how you can get help or reduce the stress in your life that’s driving the compulsive behaviour.
2. Implement a skincare routine that satisfies your need to take action without doing harm to your skin.

If you can break the vicious cycle, start healing the wounds on your skin, and then introduce some effective anti-acne products into your skincare routine, you’ll put a positive cycle in motion. By building healthier habits to take care of your skin, you’ll start to see some improvements that will encourage you to stick with it and you’ll find it less and less tempting to go back to your old skin picking ways the clearer your skin gets.

Many highly-effective acne treatments shouldn’t be applied to broken skin, so you’ll need to heal any open wounds on your face before you can start clearing up your skin properly. Don’t over-wash your face while you have wounds that are developing scabs, and make sure that you don’t rub your skin on a facecloth or towel but just pat it dry. You can also apply an antibacterial ointment to the affected area once a day, to keep it from getting infected and potentially speed up the healing

Once you’ve healed any open wounds (which usually takes a few days to a week if you well and truly stop picking and squeezing), you can then introduce some acne-fighting products into your daily skincare ritual, which will get to work clearing up your acne and any scars, marks, and hyperpigmentation you may have as well.

We’ve chosen the best, most effective products on the market to help you get the clear skin you’re craving as fast as possible: check out our anti-acne routine sets, here.

And, good luck kicking the picking habit—we believe in you!