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.
Thanks to Lee’s surgical skills and pain medication, the removal is quick and satisfying. Around the 1:48 mark, the cyst releases a flow of mud; At 2:30, Lee laughs that it’s 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 was squeezing the cyst and after a few days she noticed that “something” came 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 Association of Dermatologists, glandular cysts are common benign tumors of the scalp. These cysts are skin sacs filled with keratin, the protein that makes up hair and nails, and a caustic substance released when the cysts are pressed.