If you were hit with the awkward stick as hard as I was, then maybe you have also been on the acne struggle bus. I am, by all accounts, a grown up adult human, but I still get zits on the reg. Alas, if I'd been more self-aware, apparently I could have turned my acne into an empire. Dr. Sandra Lee created a blackhead popping Instagram that does just that. Under the guise of "Dr. Pimple Popper," she posts videos of people getting their blackheads and zits popped, and she has an alarming number of followers who eagerly await the grizzly posts.
I just need to check in with the human race for a quick sec to make sure we're all OK, because according to Lee, people find these videos deeply satisfying. In a statement to BuzzFeed News, she explains, “For many, I think there is an enormous feeling of satisfaction or resolution when they watch blackheads being extracted or pimples being popped. And who doesn’t want to feel good and relaxed?”
Um, me. If watching someone's zit goo get yoinked out of their insides is the new standard for relaxation, then I'm just going to start pinching my armpits and eating vinegar to de-stress. Lee admits that her niche isn't for everybody: "People who see my videos and pictures either love or hate what they see. Lucky for me, whether they are obsessed or disgusted, either way, they tag their friends!"
In case you think this is crazy (ACTUALLY, though), apparently there is a whole legion of "popaholics" on Reddit who actively seek this stuff out. For whatever reason their brain waves just dig this gross human phenomenon. You do you, pimple-watchers. Follow your passion, I guess.
Lee is actually a skin cancer specialist and cosmetic surgeon, and before she became Insta-famous as a zit popper, she encountered these kind of zits all the time. She didn't imagine back then that so many strangers on the internet would derive strange calm from then.
Here is Dr. Sandra Lee, on the left:
In order to get all of her videos, she offers outpatient treatments for free in exchange for the ability to post the video of the blackhead getting popped on her channel. So I guess everybody wins. BOOM.
There's a hell of a lot more where that came from on her Instagram. Not gonna lie, I haven't watched a single one of these and kinda squinted at the screen while I posted so I didn't have to, so for all you self-professed "popaholics"—let me know how following your zit zen goes. In the meantime, I'll be trying to eat my lunch and live my life like THIS NEVER HAPPENED.
