Woman shares pimple popping horror story: 'It disfigured my face'

It’s hard to believe this common (and yes, gross) habit could leave you with permanent skin damage or even blind.

But Katie Wright’s horror story will have you thinking twice about popping zits for good.

Wright says she found a giant pimple lurking under her skin that had been “hurting for a while” and was “too painful to ignore”. So, she did what most of us would do. She squeezed it.

But within an hour, her “entire face swelled up and HURT. It felt like something was going to burst out of my skin,” Wright reveals, writing about her horror experience on Twitter.

It got so bad that she had to go to the emergency department, where she was told she had a “very serious case of Cellulitis”.

She posted images to Facebook and Twitter taken only 48 hours apart, revealing “how quickly and dramatically it disfigured my face”.

It turns out that despite it's appearance, it wasn't a pimple after all, Wright explains.

“[It’s] a version of a Staph infection, but instead of having a head like a Staph, it affects the deep cellular tissues with no main source to attack.

“Since it was on my face, there was a huge risk of it spreading to my brain or my eyes, causing me to go blind. Serious s---.”

Posting the images to the Facebook page ‘Makeup Heavens’, Wright issued a warning to others, explaining that she believes the infection was caused by bacteria on her eyebrow pencil brush. It has already been shared more than 9,000 times and reacted to more than 3,000 times.

Wright says while she had been “super strict” on washing her face and beauty brushes, she says she had “never ever thought” to disinfect her eyebrow brush and so encourages others to do so.

“If you wear makeup PLEASE make that a step in your cleaning routine! It’s a small thing to do to avoid a painful, expensive and traumatising infection on your face.”

Many people have come forward to share similar experiences.

Luckily, Wright confirms she has made a full recovery but will think twice before picking at a pimple next time.