Sunday, May 27, 2007
I get sebaceous cysts on my face sometimes. Just that sentence alone grosses me out! But let me explain:
I get these bumps, usually near my lower lip, indicating something is going on at a sub-dermal level. They aren't noticable to anyone but me. The area hurts, and is slightly raised, but that's all. There's no redness, no "head" - no blackhead or whitehead or anything. It's not a pimple. It's just a slight bump.
I tell myself, "leave it alone and it will go away" (and it really would). But what do I do? I insist on squeezing it. Every. Single. Time. Of course, my idea of "squeezing" is something akin to a vise-grip. I basically maul my face. And then it takes about a week to heal. And during that week, all I want to do is hide under the covers.
Why do I do this to myself? Is there a pre-teen masochist lurking within?
Anyway, I did it to myself erev shabbos. And all shabbos long I had this huge red continent on my face. Ok, I'm exaggerating - but it's at least the size of Utah. And did I mention red? Shabbos afternoon, Yaakov says, "Do you want to take the girls to the shabbos party?" "I'm not going out with this thing on my face." "Are you kidding? Are you that vain?"
Well, yes.
Love, Maven @ 
10 Comments:
At 10:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
Utah? did you say Utah?
<singing> dum dum dum dum dummmm </singing>
At 9:34 PM,
Ayelet Survivor said…
I get those cysts, too, and I also squeeze them. I don't know why we do something so stupid. I guess I can never just leave blame well enough alone.
At 12:57 AM,
Mrs. Joseph aka SackJo22 said…
I think it has somthing to do with the idea of getting the yuckky stuff inside the cyst outside of the body -- of course it isn't really cleansing to squeeze the cyst because then it really becomes inflamed -- but somehow there is the fantasy that there is something purifying about squeezing the stuff out there.
At 9:45 AM,
Mrs Andy said…
I get these too sometimes. I always have to ask myself, why at 33 years old, do I have more acne, and other problems than I did as a teenager?? Why???
At 12:18 PM,
Anonymous said…
you are definitely my soul sister. i have always had an obsession with "popping" any little ANYTHING. whether or not a normal person could see it. when i practice self control and leave it alone, it goes away within two days. otherwise its mine for a least a week. and i hate doing it to myself. afterwards i feel like sucha loser. everyone's always telling me "you have such nice skin, stop picking your face". oy. and yes it does have to do with the fact that it feels relieving to get rid of the grossness underneath your skin, even if it makes you look horrible. i feel for you :)
At 9:03 PM,
Dinosaur Mom said…
Does slathering them in goo help? I (rightly or wrongly) put the stuff they sell for cold sores on them when they appear. Don't know if this helps them but it reminds me to keep my mitts off and its strong smell makes me feel vaguely purified.
Squeezing gunk out of zits and cysts is totally satisfying, though. I actually offered my older son a dollar to let me pop his first zit. He rightly refused.
At 7:36 AM,
Maven said…
oy vey. of all the posts on this blog, i never thought i'd get comments on THIS ONE!
i never considered this "purifying" aspect that a couple of you mentioned. maybe there's a psychological need we all have to cleanse ourselves of nastiness...?
y'all make me feel so normal - thank you!
p.s. dino mama, you shoulda offered him ten.
At 7:40 AM,
Maven said…
p.p.s. if i ever, ever, EVER get the urge to molest another cyst, i'm going to come back to this blog post.
maybe i should take a picture of it as a visual reminder? (it looks pretty bad. sigh.)
At 2:02 PM,
Anonymous said…
I thought you are supposed to steam them. Put a moist washcloth in the micro for like 15 seconds and then put it on the cyst. Gently. It will reduce the swelling and speed up the healing. (Either way, I will try to pop it as well. ;)
At 5:43 AM,
Ayelet Survivor said…
Sometimes if you steam them it helps you extract the gunk with less lasting redness. (Not that I want to encourage you to squeeze them....)
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