Board Certified Dermatologist
This article is based on an expert interview with Margareth Pierre-Louis, MD, conducted by wikiHow Staff Editors. Dr. Margareth Pierre-Louis is a board certified Dermatologist and Dermatopathologist, Physician Entrepreneur, and the Founder of Twin Cities Dermatology Center and Equation Skin Care in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Twin Cities Dermatology Center is a comprehensive dermatology clinic treating patients of all ages through clinical dermatology, cosmetic dermatology, and telemedicine. Equation Skin Care was created to provide the best in evidence-based, natural skin care products. Dr. Pierre-Louis earned a BS in Biology and an MBA from Duke University, an MD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completed a residency in dermatology at the University of Minnesota, and completed a dermatopathology fellowship at Washington University in St Louis. Dr. Pierre-Louis is board certified in dermatology, cutaneous surgery, and dermatopathology by the American Boards of Dermatology and Pathology.
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If you’ve ever popped a pimple and had something hard erupt out of it, you’re probably wondering what exactly just came out of your face. Is it normal? Should you be concerned? In this video, dermatologist Margareth Pierre-Louis breaks down what’s inside of a pimple and why you might be finding something hard come out when you pop one.
Key Takeaways
- The stuff that comes out of a pimple is sebum, or oil.
- Sometimes sebum can become compacted and feel hard when it comes out of your skin.
Video Transcript
What's coming out of your skin is called sebum, or oil, or it might even be a hardened amount of sebum or oil. So if it's oozy and draining, it could be that it’s inflamed material. But when it’s very hard, what you're actually getting is compacted oil production from that oil gland. We call that a cyst or we call it a milia, but that's what happens when it's kind of very white and hard. But most of the time the oozy stuff that comes out is just some of the sebum or oil that is inflamed or irritated coming out of that oil gland.
