I get these hard, painful bumps under my skin that don’t come to a “head.” What are they?

Yes, those are common and uncomfortable! Anybody can develop one, particularly when stress is high.

People often call them “underground zits”, which is not exactly incorrect. In esthetician speak they’re known as “bind pimples or nodules”, located deep in the skin that may or may not surface as a whitehead.

The worst response to these is squeezing, as tempting as it is to get down there and release whatever is inside those little monsters. But that will only make it angrier and stick around longer, just to show you who’s the boss.

Applying a warm, damp face cloth to the pimple for 10 minutes a few times daily can cause the infectious debris in the pimple to surface where it can be extracted, or using retinol or an exfoliator can also help resolve the problem.

But be patient! These guys can hang around for more than a week, especially if played with. Neglecting blind pimples seems to bore them, and so they’ll go away without your help.