One of the most commons things Dr Sandra Lee hears is: “This is gross, yet oddly satisfying.”
Sandra Lee, aka Dr Pimple Popper. Photo: Supplied
She is a California-based dermatologist who began putting videos of her blackhead busting surgery online - videos which have gone viral.
And this is an odd fascination that is shared by many - her YouTube channel is called Dr Pimple Popper and has almost 1.5 million followers.
It all began when Dr Lee decided to post her work on Instagram, she told RNZ.
“I have really interesting patients and I think that we do things that are very interesting in dermatology and people can relate to that, because it’s skin and everybody knows what normal skin is like. So I started to post clips and pictures.”
A month or two into her Instagram, with only about 100 followers, she posted a blackhead extraction and got a jump in likes - which prompted her to join YouTube.
That’s when it all began - Dr Lee discovered YouTube’s niche pimple popping community.
“When I was there I realised that there was a community of people who watched popping videos and they shared them on this reddit sub-community. So there’s actually this subculture – a big group of people who like these types of videos and I thought ‘wait a minute, I have access to this – this is what I see every day and I have access to some pretty big blackheads too’…So people have been crying out for more, so it just grew from there.”
She started her own account on reddit, her username? Dr Pimple Popper.
Dr Lee said at first many people questioned what doctor in their right mind would be posting the videos.
“But the other thing was that they saw what I had and they wanted it, they actually helped and encouraged me,” she said.
It’s been more or less smooth sailing/squeezing since then for Dr Lee. She said the videos had allowed her to market her skills and business in a new and innovative way.
“It provides entertainment, but it also actually showcases your skills and shows your personality now. So I’ve been doing some TV work as a dermatologist for the last five years, but the attention I’ve got in the last two years as Dr Pimple Popper is stratospheric compared to that.”
And Dr Lee is reaping the rewards of the wide audience she reaches through her videos.
On a daily basis she has people travelling across the US or across world, to come and see her because they’ve seen her work in videos and trust her to diagnose and treat their conditions.
And there are quite a range of conditions the dermatologic surgeon treats - Not only does Dr Lee pop pimples, but she also does surgeries to remove cysts and lipomas.
“Blackhead extractions we call soft pops because they’re a little bit softer, there’s no surgery involved, there’s not really blood involved anything like that.
“But when you talk about the harder pops, like cysts or lipomas or abscess or anything like that, that’s what we consider hard pops. So there’s really a range.”
But Dr Lee said her YouTube channel was strictly reserved for popping.
“It’s really quite amazing how many people really like popping and one of the most commons things I hear is: “This is gross, yet oddly satisfying.”