I usually pop as soon as it is ripe! I have found that as long as you don't keep squeezing until you bruise your face, there is no scarring. Once the gunk is out, you are finished. Maybe it is different for others, but that is my experience. They are painful and just get bigger if you don't pop them. Once they are popped they can begin to heal. If I don't pop I will have a zit for about 5 days instead of two. I can understand why you shouldn't pop them if they are inside your nose bc of staph infections. But otherwise, I can't believe that people don't just pop them and get it over with, lol.