A new use for an old favourite

I have a confession to make. I'm a Perpetual Pimple Picker (do you see what I did there, with the alliteration?). Ever since my first spot appeared in my early teens, through to the adult acne that still plagues me now in my (late-ish) 30's, I've been completely unable to keep my hands away from them. I'm well aware that this is a Bad Thing - picking spots spreads the infection, can lead to scarring and half the time makes them look worse than they did before I started prodding at them, but I'm completely unable to stop myself.

A couple of weeks ago I developed not one, but two of Those Spots. You know, the massive, painful blind spots that throb painfully and feel (even if they don't look) like a giant beacon shining from my chin. So of course I had to squeeze and pick and generally mutilate myself, until I ended up with a patch of painful, raw, red skin on my chin, even after the pimples had long since gone. After two weeks of trying every moisturiser in my arsenal and even a bandaid (which looked really stupid and itched like crazy) in an attempt to stop myself from picking at the scabbing and help it to heal, I finally, in desperation reached for the Chapstick I always carry around in my handbag, figuring that if it helps chapped lips then maybe it would do something for my poor, sore chin. And what do you know, it worked a treat. The thick, sticky texture of the Chapstick meant that I wasn't tempted to pick at it, and it very quickly soothed the raw skin. Within a few hours the skin was less inflamed, by the next day it was smoother and the inflammation had gone down even further and now, several days later, I have only a patch of slightly pink skin in place of the social life-destroying monstrosity (ok I may be exaggerating slightly) that was there previously.



In future I'm obviously going to try to stop myself from squeezing pimples in the first place, but I'm also going to ensure that I always have a tube of Chapstick handy just in case.