When TLC's "Dr. Pimple Popper" Puts the Squeeze On, She Changes Lives

She changes livesamp160This isn39t reality show hyperbole The people featured on the series don39t have minor breakouts that a careful steaming and thorough extraction would clarify They aren39t dismayed by blemishes that can be covered up with a layer of concealer Rather many suffer from disfiguring growths of the kind that prompt inadvertent gawking from even the most polite passersby These skin problems often keep those inflicted from living full lives But once Lee works her magic the patients and their loved ones usually embrace Now the newly healed can get on with the business of livingamp160It isn39t until Lee sees the episodes that the emotions hitamp160quotEvery week when I watch the show how great the production crew is how they put the show together I don39t know how deeply it affects them until I see that videoquot Lee told MediaVillage during an exclusive interview quotThat is touching to me and I am lucky that I get to see these things All physicians make an impact on a patient39s life Here I get to see what a big deal it is They are on their last option Every episode I learn something new about my patients and it means so much to me that people are moved to tearsquotamp160It39s a show where crying or at least misting up is the most common bodily response and the one to which compassionate viewers relate The series focuses on what happens when some functions of the body go awry The camera zooms in close as Lee removes nasty substances that fester within The show comes with a warning about the graphic nature of it all and the squeamish should be warned Watching gray pus ooze out of someone39s face can be nauseating And when Lee eversocarefully cuts away as the insides of growths the reactions inevitably fall along the lines of those who find it fascinating and are awestruck by the brilliance of biology and those who scrunch their eyes and squealamp160The surprise is that Dr Pimple Popper is also inspiringamp160People invariably enter Lee39s office downcast as if they would prefer to be invisible After the procedure they leave beaming thanking her They stand taller Sometimes it39s the first time they can move their head because growths on the neck were removedamp160The network covers transportation and medical fees for patients to visit Lee at her Southern California practice There she39s unfailingly upbeat to the patients and can almost always help On the infrequent occasions that she cannot one recent example had a man with eruptions on his scalp which is a tricky area to attend to Lee refers the patient to another physician Most of the time though the person sits in her chair Lee reassures them then gets to workamp160In the time of COVID everyone is masked but as she removes the unwanted things can get messy If one of her assistants gets splattered with gunk Lee offers comfortamp160quotIt39s never fun to get splashed but it39s not dangerousquot she advises quotJust close your eyes and don39t open your mouthquotamp160It may be that some folks are more easily repulsed than others but that is rarely the case in Lee39s office quotWe sort of train ourselves mentally to not be squeamishquot she explained quotIt is very important for me to not have any reaction with my patients They are embarrassed in the first place And all bets would be off if I did not have gloves or have a splash mask I cannot cook chicken at home without gloves It is so similar to the things I do at work It would be disgusting to touch chickenquotamp160Lee39s straightforward approach has earned her 687 million subscribers on her YouTube channel Her online presence which led to the series began six years ago when she posted a blackhead extraction quotIt got a noticeable enough reaction for me to say 39Why is this happening39quot she said Those who watched quotwere tagging their friends so I did it again And it happened again and from there I discovered there were places on the internet where people were sharing pimplepopping experiencesquotamp160Celebrity fans of Dr Lee39s include Selena Gomez Kelly Ripa Gwyneth Paltrow Ashley Graham and Kim Kardashian along with her less famous but equally loyal TLC base All of this has made Lee extremely busy Her practice is booming along with her popularity She has for the last two years been honored with the fanvoted Critics Choice Real TV Award And she also oversees and promotes her skincare line SLMDamp160Interestingly but not surprisingly Lee grew up the daughter of a dermatologist so she was quotkind of surrounded by dermatologyquot she recalled quotMy father had textbooks everywhere and we could thumb through them so I certainly saw some interesting pictures at a young agequotamp160quotThe show represents the opposite of what is going on in the world and on TVquot Lee said in closing quotThere are things they try to make abnormal For us you start with something negative or shocking and turn it into something normalquotamp160Dr Pimple Popper is now streaming on discoveryamp160Click the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160amp160

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When TLC's "Dr. Pimple Popper" Puts the Squeeze On, She Changes Lives

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Jacqueline Cutler

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When TLC's "Dr. Pimple Popper" Puts the Squeeze On, She Changes Lives

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Jacqueline Cutler

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