• Some of the best pimple popping videos feature cysts.
  • INSIDER rounded up some of 2018’s most memorable and most-watched cyst popping videos.
  • Warning: This post contains graphic videos and images

Fans of pimple popping have all different proclivities. Some can’t get enough blackhead extractions. Others adore complex lipoma removals.

And some like to watch cyst popping.

There are a few different types of skin cysts, each with unique attributes, but they all share the same basic definition, according to DermNet NZ, the educational website of the New Zealand Dermatological Society: They’re typically benign, round, encapsulated growths filled with “fluid or semi-fluid” material from the body.

And when they're squeezed, they can make for great popping videos, too.

Here, in no particular order, are some of 2018's best cyst pops caught on tape.

1. The cheek full of oatmeal

No roundup of popping videos would be complete without the genre's undisputed queen: Dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee, a.k.a. Dr. Pimple Popper. In this video from February, Lee slices open and squeezes out an epidermoid cyst on a man's cheek.

Epidermoid cysts are growths full of keratin, a protein in our skin, Lee writes on her blog. They're contained inside a thin sac. These cysts don't need to be removed because they're benign, but they don't go away on their own and some people opt to remove them for cosmetic reasons.

Read more: Dr. Pimple Popper says her new board game provides that 'satisfying feeling' you get when you pop a pimple - but without ruining your skin

To truly vanquish a cyst, all that keratin and the sac must be removed, Lee writes. Otherwise, it'll just keep refilling. This is why it's crucial to see a doctor for cyst removal. You can squeeze out the keratin over and over again at home, but you need a doctor's expertise (and sterile tools and anesthesia) to safely, painlessly get at the sac.

Often, the pungent innards of an epidermoid cyst look like cheese. In this case, they happen to resemble oatmeal. It's a quick, clean pop that Lee describes as "pretty perfect." In the video, she even speculates that it'll make her top 10 list for the whole year.

2. Dr. Pimple Popper's biggest cyst ever

Perhaps the year's biggest popping news came in February, when Lee announced that she would be starring in a TLC series titled "Dr. Pimple Popper." It premiered in July and was picked up for a second season before the first one finished.

In the second episode, a patient named Ronen seeks Lee's help for a painful, decades-old leg cyst. Lee describes the cyst as "the biggest" she's ever seen, and as soon as she slices into it, a waterfall of cottage-cheese-like keratin bursts forth with remarkable velocity. It's the most jaw-dropping pop of the whole first season.

Sadly, complete video of this pop isn't available on social media, but you can see a sneak peek below, and the entire episode is available to stream on TLC's website. This one is well worth taking the time to watch.

3. The 'pearls' trapped under the skin

Pops don't need to be explosive and dramatic to be good. In fact, aesthetician Josefa Reina has amassed more than 400,000 YouTube subscribers by sharing popping videos that are just the opposite of dramatic. Her channel is a treasure trove of long, soothing popping sessions set to classical music. In this 12-minute video, uploaded in May, Reina gently extracts several milia (or, as she describes them, "pearls...those little gems under your skin.')

Read more: Watch Dr. Pimple Popper extract dozens of tiny white bumps that cover a woman's eyelids

That description is apt. Milia are small cysts containing keratin that manifest as "pearly white" bumps under the skin, according to DermNet NZ.

They're harmless and don't need to be treated, but patients may opt to have them removed anyway. Lucky for popping fans, this patient did.

4. The cyst lodged deep in the neck

Dr. Geoff Butler is a family physician in Canada who populates his YouTube channel with a range of medical videos, including some stellar cyst pops.

In this video, posted in June, Butler removes an epidermoid cyst stuck fairly deep in a patient's neck. The first satisfying squeeze happens right around the 6:05 mark. Later, just after the 6:42 mark, Butler expertly teases out the entire cyst and its sac in one fell swoop. This one is proof that, while DIY popping videos can be fun, the best pops usually come from experts.

5. The inflamed cyst

In a video from February, Lee deals with a skin issue not common on her channel: An angry, red, inflamed cyst.

Rather than fully removing the cyst, Lee opts for an "incision and drainage" procedure, cutting the skin open and then squeezing out what's inside. The gentler, less invasive approach helps reduce the risk of infection in the inflamed cyst, she explains on YouTube.

When the contents really start flowing (around the 4:50 mark) they come out in one long, almost square-shaped tube, thanks to the shape of Lee's cut in the skin.

6. The exploding cyst

This video was discovered by a few members of Reddit's /r/popping subreddit - a community of roughly 150,000 pimple popping fanatics. It's technically from 2017, but it was re-shared on /r/popping in February and August of 2018, and it's among the subreddit's most-upvoted cyst videos of the year.

The pop comes courtesy of an Instagram account called Dr. Zit Zapper, which appears to be run by California dermatologist Dr. Steven E. Hodgkin, though it isn't verified. And it features a cheek cyst that explodes, quite literally, throughout the popping procedure. One Redditor commenter called it "everything I've ever asked for in a pimple pop."

http://instagr.am/p/BbvLXfEHzsA

7. The 'fidget spinner' in a patient's head

Here's another entry from the prolific Lee. It shows the removal of a pilar cyst that's been on a woman's head for 20 years.

Pilar cysts can look very similar to standard epidermoid cysts, but 90% of them occur on the scalp, according to DermNet NZ. Like epidermoid cysts, they're also filled with keratin.

Read more: Dr. Pimple Popper removed a cyst in the 'triangle of death' on a man's face - here's what that means

What makes this pop so unique is the triangular shape of the extracted cyst. Near the end of the video, Lee remarks that it looks like a fidget spinner, the toy that surged in popularity (and drove teachers crazy) back in 2017.

It starts getting interesting around the 3:25 mark.

8. The cyst that looks like an eyeball

This Dr. Pimple Popper video from November is titled "A Pilar Cyst for the Books," and it's not an overstatement.

Skip ahead to 1:53 and you'll see the cyst's wall peeking through Lee's incision in the skin. In that moment, it looks like a creepy, cloudy, zombie-esque eyeball. The rest of the pop is just as captivating. Don't miss the minor explosion of cyst gunk near the 4:03 mark.

9. The cyst that erupted on Dr. Pimple Popper's scrubs

This video, also uploaded in November, shows a cyst that's so pressurized it squirts some of its contents onto Lee's scrubs as soon as she gives it a gentle squeeze. The eruption itself happens at the 1:48 mark. Don't worry if you blink and miss it: There's a slow-motion replay afterward.

Then, skip ahead to the 3:25 mark to watch Lee gently tug out the surprisingly massive cyst sac. You'll see why one YouTube commenter called the entire saga "gleefully repulsive."

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