Woman who popped spot left with horrifying staph infection that ‘disfigured’ her face

'It felt like something was going to burst out of my skin'

A young woman’s Twitter post has gone viral after she shared what happened when she popped what she thought was a pimple; but it was something much worse.

Most of us are well aware that squeezing spots carries the risk of infection but nonetheless, temptation kicks in and we take the risk anyway.

Chances are you’ve popped a pimple at some point but according to one woman you should resist the urge - not because it’s gross or will leave unsightly scarring, but because it could actually kill you.

Katie Wright shared her story on Twitter, alongside two photographs of her face before and 48 hours after she popped the spot.

“A week ago, I decided to pick at what I thought was a giant under-the-skin pimple because it had been hurting for a while and got too painful to ignore,” she wrote.

“Within an hour, my entire face swelled up and HURT. It felt like something was going to burst out of my skin.”

It turns out that Wright didn’t have a spot but a serious case of cellulitis – a staph infection which had affected the deep cellular tissue in her face.

After squeezing, doctors warned that she was at serious risk of the infection spreading to her brain or eyes which could have caused her to go blind, or in serious cases death.

While the young woman says she’s usually ‘super strict’ about washing her brushes, she confessed that she believes the infection was caused by a dirty eyebrow brush.

Now, she’s warning others to clean their make-up tools regularly and avoid squeezing spots where possible.

“If you wear make up PLEASE make that a step in your cleaning routine,” she wrote.

“It's a small thing to do to avoid a painful, expensive and traumatising infection on your face.”