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Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
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One woman popped a pimple in the “triangle of death” and ended up in the hospital with facial paralysis.
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The triangle of death is an area on your face that can fast-track infections to your brain.
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In rare cases, infected pimples can affect the health of a patient’s entire body.
You’re a sophomore in high school again, begrudgingly getting out of bed after snoozing your alarm one too many times. As you look into the mirror while getting ready for school, a painful, red bump stares back at you. Every teen’s worst nightmare: a pimple. You may be tempted to squeeze and prod at the lump until it pops, but a recent account suggests you should hesitate before your next skin-picking session. One woman, Lish Marie, tried to pop a pimple beneath her nose and ended up in the hospital with facial paralysis—and experts say the infection could have been deadly.
While pimples primarily occur during puberty, they can appear at any time on anyone. Puberty in particular causes hormone changes that can lead to sebaceous glands becoming overactive. Typically, healthy sebaceous glands produce oil to keep your skin from drying out, but when the glands are overactive, they can get clogged, leaving your back, face, chest, and shoulders riddled with those painful red spots.
Not all pimples are dangerous to pop, however. Lish was unlucky and popped a pimple in a zone that dermatologists call the “triangle of death” or the “danger triangle.” The term refers to the area from between your eyebrows to the corners of your mouth, and dermatologists recommend avoiding picking at the area all together because it’s practically an infection highway to your brain, thanks to your cavernous sinus (a bundle of nerves just behind your eyes). Its main job is to drain blood from the brain, so if an infection is introduced to the area (like it was in Lish’s case), there’s not much in its way before it reaches your body’s control center.
“There is the possibility for a facial infection to become an infection that impacts the rest of your body,” dermatologist Alok Vij said in an interview with Cleveland Clinic. “The infection may start to get bigger, spreading to cover more of an area, and you may start to feel more systemically ill—a fever, shaking, chills. If this starts to happen, see a doctor as soon as you can for diagnosis and treatment.”
Luckily, Lish unknowingly followed Vij’s advice and sought medical help pretty much right away. She was treated with multiple antibiotics to fight the infection, and now claims that while the crooked smile and inflammation caused by the infection remained for a few days after treatment, she ultimately received a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, others haven’t been so lucky. In one extreme instance, a woman contracted a staph infection from picking at a blemish. Severe cases of Staphylococcus bacterial infections (staph infections) can lead to inflammation of the heart, toxic shock syndrome, and even sepsis.
Now, before you spiral over how many times you may have unintentionally put yourself at risk in the name of a satisfying pimple pop, know that cases like Lish’s don’t happen every day—otherwise, millions of teenagers would be at risk each year.
“Thankfully, it’s relatively unlikely,” Vij explained, “but whenever there’s a violation of the skin and interaction with bacteria, there’s always a possibility for infection, which can lead to greater health concerns.”
So, next time you go to pop a pimple, wash your hands and maybe avoid the triangle of death.
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