Dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee, also known as Dr. Acne Popper, has attracted more than three million YouTube subscribers with her acne videos. One of his latest videos, posted on Monday, showed a glandular cyst on a woman’s head.
With Lee’s surgical expertise and pain medication, removal is quick and satisfying. Around the 1:48 mark, the cyst releases a stream of dirt; At 2:30, Lee scoffs that the whole thing is just a lamp.
During the procedure, Lee had an interesting conversation with a patient who shared that he had previously tried to open a cyst at home. The woman said that she had been squeezing the cyst, and after a few days she noticed that “something” had come out of it – the growth had not completely disappeared.
This anecdote reminds us that self-removal of cysts is often useless and dangerous.
According to DermNet NZ, the educational website of the New Zealand Dermatology Association, glandular cysts are common benign tumors of the scalp. These cysts are sacs of skin filled with keratin, the protein that makes up hair and nails, and a corrosive substance released when the cyst is squeezed.