Cystic pimples are a severe type of inflammatory acne that causes painful, pus filled pimples underneath your skin and the acne cysts can scar.
Cystic pimples or cystic acne occurs when bacteria, dead skin cells, and sebum (the substance that makes your face feel oily) get trapped beneath the skin's surface and become infected.
This leads to a large, swollen cyst (bump) that can hurt just to touch.
Some things you can use to get rid of cystic pimples and cystic acne include.
Antibiotic creams, gels solutions and lotions to kill bacteria and decrease inflammation.
Azelaic acid (Azelex, Finacea®) or salicylic acid to kill bacteria and get rid of excess dead skin cells.
Benzoyl peroxide to reduce the number of bacteria on the skin.
While a cystic pimple heals, it is important to be gentle with the skin.
Do not try to pop, pick, or squeeze a cystic pimple.
It may be tempting, but popping a pimple can introduce more bacteria to the pore, slow healing, drive the infection deeper into the skin, and increase the chance of scarring.
Cysts/Nodules are much bigger infections that often rupture the hair follicle and get trapped deeper in the skin.
As a result these cysts can take 2-3 weeks to heal, are often quite painful, can look, and feel like a proverbial “iceberg” because they are in the deeper layers of the skin.