Well, welcome back to the show. You know,
it seems that one thing always
stands the test of time. It's acne.
Yes, stubborn skin care woes that seem to
plague teens as well as some of US adults.
Well, if you're not even close to your teens,
you may have experienced acne.
Someone who knows a lot about
this subject is Doctor Sandra Lee,
dermatologist and star of
the very popular TLC show,
Doctor Pimple Popper.
And heads up some of this.
That we're about to show you
might make you a bit queasy,
but we are so glad to have you here.
Doctor Lee,
thank you for joining us.
Thank you for having me for sure.
So you are famous around the world for
for one thing, talking straight about
skin conditions. So first Doctor Lee,
tell us what is acne and what causes it?
Well, um, acne, we all know what acne is.
We've all seen acne.
We've all had a pimple sometime in our life.
But it really is driven by the oil
in our skin and that is controlled
by the hormones that we have.
And that is why during teenagers
the hormones are raging and acne
can be pretty severe at that time.
But you know, these hormones kind of
fluctuate throughout our lifetime.
So we can get acne breakouts anytime really.
And it could be, you know,
you could be any gender and it couldn't.
And acne can occur at any age.
So
OK with this acne and that we have it
and and and yes I am having some now.
I guess my hormones are changing.
Can I ask you, is it ever OK to pop the
pimple or should you just leave it alone?
Well, this is a tough question for me
to answer because I'm going to tell you,
as any dermatologist would,
that you shouldn't pop your pimples.
And the reason is because it can
increase your risk for infection,
bleeding, even permanent scarring,
especially if you do it at the wrong time.
But I know a lot of people are
going to do that, even myself.
You know, I'm a picker I can't get away from,
not, you know, you're tempted to do it.
So there's probably ideally a
best time to do it. You know,
when it's the most superficial on your skin.
Because the deeper something is,
the more inflammation,
the more it'll probably just get
bigger and not even resolve,
and the more potential you have to scar.
OK, that is
great advice. We'll have
more on that in a minute.
But first I want to ask you
why did you join this campaign
about dispelling acne myths?
Well, this is really all about education.
I think that that's really
important and this is what I try to,
you know, impart on my social
media and on my television show.
I think you can see that I try to
explain whatever skin condition it
may be to up to a patient and have
them understand it because that is
really the key to really being able to
be able to accept certain treatments
and certainly be compliant to them.
So I think that that, you know,
it's the same with acne.
I think a lot of people have acne,
but some people.
Just don't want to use the
medications that somebody may give
them just because they're like,
what does this even do?
I don't even know why I'm using this.
So if people understand why and why
they're getting acting in the 1st place,
they're probably going to be better
about treating it and then they're going
to see the positive results from that.
Yeah,
no, that makes sense.
So can you pop some other acne
myths and misconceptions? Sure.
Yes of course like a big
one is greasy foods, right.
If you your mom is probably told
you don't eat that greasy food
because you're just gonna break out.
Well greasy food is only gonna break
you out if you if you rub that food
all over your face it's not really
going to cause more oil if you eat it.
So that's a really big myth that we
can you know we can refute and another
one would be you know I think a lot
of I see a lot of my parents tell
me to tell their kid to wash their.
In their face more, you know,
because their face is dirty and
that's why they're breaking out.
Well, you know, you can wash,
you shouldn't over wash your face.
I think I see a lot of problems with
that because people think that their
face is really dirty or even the
acne makes them feel like there's
dirt on their face and they really
want to scrub hard and scrub it off.
But this can actually do more harm.
You know, it can cause rashes,
irritation, bleeding even of your skin.
And so really it's it's just as bad to
over wash your face than to under wash it.
OK,
these
are good. So don't rub French
fries on my face. Don't over wash.
I haven't another myth.
I wanna ask you about hemorrhoid cream.
I was just telling you before we
came on air that I used it under
my eyes to depuff in the morning.
But can it help with acne too?
I've heard that.
I think it depends on what
products it has in it.
I think if it has hydrocortisone in it,
which a lot of hemorrhoid creams have,
that is a little steroid cream.
And you know sometimes if you have a
pimple and you see a dermatologist,
they might shoot a little corticosteroid into
it to make it could go down within 24 hours.
It's a similar kind of thing.
You're just putting it on as
a cream form on your skin.
So sometimes we'll ask,
we'll tell people to use over
the counter hydrocortisone,
but that is also an hemorrhoid cream.
So hemorrhoid cream has some
other you know you know uses,
but just don't use the same cream
for multiple places is what I would
say. OK, that's good to know.
What about salic acid?
I know that they sell a lot of
that for for pimples and stuff.
Is 1 better than the other?
Should you be using salic acid or
hydrocortisone for different things?
Well, so that's part of the education too.
So salicylic acid is a chemical peel
acid that actually settles down into
your pores and kind of helps prevent
blackheads and whiteheads from forming.
So if you have a lot of like comedones
or blackheads and whiteheads,
you want to focus more on salicylic acid.
Or if you have pores that are really
prominent to you and you feel like
there's a lot of dirt in them,
that's what you want to use.
You can use it in topical form,
like as a as a cream or a lotion,
or you can even use it as a wash, OK.
And so then if there's a big.
Different purposes for different
things, I see. And This is why I
love talking to you about this.
And This is why. I don't know.
People love you so much.
And I just always wanted to know,
why do you think we're so
fascinated with the skin?
Like, I don't want to.
I don't like watching
other people's pimples,
but I do like going after my
family and my loved ones.
So what is that?
Yeah, you know, there's, isn't there? Like,
there's sort of a resolution of something.
It's like you're getting rid of a problem.
It's not always easy in our lives.
To get rid of a problem.
Right. But here you are.
You can squeeze something, it's gone.
It's a happy ending in the end,
and everybody walks away pleased, right?
So that's really what it's about.
It. For some reason,
popping pimples is like a
release that makes people happy.
I mean, there are a lot of people that
watch these videos to go to sleep at night.
You know, they say it's their
bedtime story or they're,
they have a really stressful job
and they come home and they watch
these videos to make them relax.
So that's pretty cool.
And that's pretty amazing.
And I was shocked to hear.
That's why I started building
this in the 1st place.
Well, it makes total sense.
And now you made me feel
a little bit less strange.
So I appreciate you so much, Doctor Lee.
And not alone. You sure?
Thank you for all this advice.
Alright. Well thank you
for that and coming up.