Why not to do extractions on your face yourself!

Dr. Irwin
May 17, 2014
I am 53yrs.old & post menopausal(since 36yrs.old) I have extremely sensitive/dry skin and possibly rosacea. My skin is very fair and I have light green eyes.I was told by an Estetician I had a milia on my cheek. I made the mistake of trying to remove it. I am know having a breakout on the same cheek and it seems to have caused a flare up. I have additional bumps on this cheek and my skin is very red and feels more dry than normal. I use Dove soap daily for facial washing and I exfoliated the cheek with an Aveeda product (twice) this week to see if it would help clear it up. I seem to be worse now. I do not take any hormone's.(I took for 10 years..my skin was better then when I did). Any suggestions is appreciated. Thank you. Carol

Okay ………so I completely understand the temptation to do this.  But here’s why you really don’t want to!  Finding a good doctor.

  1. You can cause infections that then need a doctor’s visit, culture and antibiotics.
  2. You retard the healing by causing more inflammation and rupturing the inflammation deeper into the dermis.
  3. You just cause more irritation
  4. Sometimes things aren’t what you think they are!  For example, a patient recently explained her persistent chapped lips which were really precancerous lesions.  Another patient explained her persistent shingles to me when it was really an early form of skin cancer.  Another patient thought she was having an acne outbreak when it was a particularly pustular type of yeast on her face (culture proven).

I know you see my point.  Please see your doctor about this because this could be an infection – Staph is quite common.

Dr. I

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD

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Hi, I’m Dr. Irwin. I believe that consumers deserve a medically trained and unbiased skin care advocate.

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