• In a new Instagram video, Dr. Pimple Popper extracts a large blackhead.
• Dr. Pimple Popper uses a comedone extractor tool to extract the contents of the blackhead.
• Blackheads form when sebum and dead skin cells block pores, causing them to be clogged.
Even when you’re dealing with blackheads, it helps to have the right tool for the job—a point that Dr. Pimple Popper makes clear within a few seconds of her newest Instagram clip.
“Do you have one of these instruments?” she asks the anonymous patient. “You need a comedone extractor.” (The tool, which is nearly ubiquitous in Dr. Pimple Popper‘s blackhead extraction videos, is a safer, more gentle option for removing blackheads than pinching them. Conveniently, it’s also for sale on Dr. Lee’s site if you’d like to buy one for yourself.)
In the brief clip, Dr. Pimple Popper—aka, dermatologist and TLC host Dr. Sandra Lee, MD—uses her comedone extractor to push into a blackhead that releases a surprising amount of sebum, a moment that she immediately embraces as a teaching opportunity. “Sometimes people ask me why a cyst’s contents might be a little darker, and I’m going to answer that right now: The reason is that your skin is color is different,” she says. “The darker your skin color is, the darker your cyst contents will be, because it’s just skin that flakes in there.” Come for the blackhead extractions, stay for the dermatology lessons.
Season 3 of Dr. Pimple Popper currently airs on TLC onThursday nights at 9/8 central.