Sandra Lee Dr. Pimple Popper
Hollis Johnson/Insider
  • To kick off season 5 of her television show, Dr. Pimple Popper treated three patients will debilitating skin conditions. One was Juan, who was covered in painful cysts including three on his neck.
  • Juan was unable to move his neck, so Lee drained the three cysts. Two released a potato-like substance and one cyst spurted in an assistant’s face.
  • After Lee drained the growths, Juan said he felt a physical release and was excited to be confident about his appearance.
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It’s just a few days into 2021, and Dr. Pimple Popper has already blessed her fans with fresh acne content to get them through the year ahead.

For the season 5 debut of her TLC show “Dr. Pimple Popper,” dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee removed a woman’s cheek cyst and helped a man find a doctor to remove his rare and enormous neck growth.

Dr. Pimple Popper also helped Juan, a 32-year-old in Texas, whose body was covered golf ball-sized boils. Juan started getting the bumps when he was 13, and said they only increased in number and size over the years, which led to him getting bullied in school and eventually dropping out.

Juan said he’d seen other doctors for his condition, many were afraid to touch him once they saw the extent of his growths. Others drained Juan’s growths, but they grew back a few months later.

To cope, Juan grew his hair long to hide the big lumps on his neck. Still, the growths felt painful at times, Juan said, like a softball trying to escape through a pinhole.

Dr. Pimple Popper said she'd be able to treat Juan's biggest cysts, or fat-filled growths, but she couldn't promise they would never return, since he had a lot of scar tissue that promotes cyst growth, Lee said.

dr pimple popper season 5
Dr. Pimple Popper examines one of Juan's cysts.
TLC

To start, Lee went after the largest cyst, which was the size of a grapefruit, on the back of Juan's neck. She numbed the area and then cut it open, and an off-white chunky liquid gushed out.

"It looks like mashed potatoes," Dr. Pimple Popper told Juan, who was laying face down on the operating table.

As more liquid seeped out of the growth, Juan said he felt instant relief, and Lee found another cyst that was previously hidden by the first one.

Similar to the first, the moment Dr. Pimple Popper cut it open with a surgical blade, it spurted liquid, this time directly into her assistant's face.

"It's never fun to get splashed, but it's never dangerous. I mean, just close your eyes and don't open your mouth," said Lee of the somewhat common occurrence.

After draining liquid out of each cyst, Lee used scissors and a blade to remove the remaining pouch that held the cyst under Juan's skin. She said this part was essential to prevent the cysts from returning. She also drained one smaller cyst on Juan's neck that didn't require as much prodding.

Finally, Lee used sutures to close each of the three incision she'd made over the cysts.

Following surgery, Juan said it was "such a big relief" to be able to turn his head again and feel more confident in his appearance.

"Soon as I get back to Texas, I'm going to my barber and I'm going to get my hair cut," Juan said.

Read the original article on Insider