Pimple Popping

When I was a teen I had very oily skin and had many blackheads and pimples . I even tried covering them up with my mother's makeup. Then came clearasil .... it looked worse than the pimple. I usually popped them and I even resorted to a razor blade to cut them open.
In my twenties they started to get fewer and fewer and I still get the occasional few. I heard if you pop them it will leave a scar . I guess I have a million scars. There was an infomercial with Jessica Simpson selling some pimple cream...... probably costs 100 dollars a bottle.
What do you usually do if one pops up ?

I try for ages to ignore it but it grates on me more and more till in the end I give in and .............. POP !

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.

this is how my skin picking began. now going on not quite a decade of terrible struggling with it :/

I have BDD so my hands are constantly picking at my face, the first thing I did when I saw this thread was instantly touch my face. I'm in my 20's and still have acne, it started getting me incredibly depressed. I started some medication, which I think was working, it smoothed out the tiny ones on my forehead at least, so I started using Benzoyl Peroxide, because I am really having issues around my jawline. It's the active ingredient in Proactive Solution (the stuff you saw Jessica Simpson advertising), so I'd suggest instead of spending $70 on that, buy a $17 bottle of BP at the chemist. It will make your skin peel a little for a few days, it's strong stuff, but there is a website called acne.com which a great site and has reviews from hundreds of people, and about 90-95% of people have said BP was amazing. My only advice is FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. It says to leave it on for 30 seconds and then wash it off. In my head that read

30 seconds = good results
4 hours = GREAT results

W-R-O-N-G. I had a rash for 4 days and my skin started peeling 3 times worse than it did initially.
Now that I've recovered from that, it seems to be working well, I just need to stop touching my face. My doctor has also given me a subscription to some other stuff because he said the doctor who put me on the antibiotics should have given me something for my face too. So lets see what 3 things can do to help completely clear my face...

I agree with la doctora. My husband had HORRIBLE acne, and t's that type where if you don't get the core out, it simply keeps coming back, and the irritation from it alone scars the skin. If you can't ignore it or if it simply hurts too much, out with the foul jelly! (paraphrase Shakespear).

Sometimes, if it's the only way. I am familiar enough with my own face I can usual tell which route will get rid of it the fastest.

Sandpaper makes fast work of pustules.

Would it be bad to say I HAVE actually done that? Although it was more because my skin was flaking rather than anything else...

fine or grit ????

How big are the pustules?

Did you do it by hand or use a sander, Evening? A friend of my son used a sander, but then he has other issues...