I post on these boards often about my mild to moderate acne, but I've never had a cyst before. Until a few days ago:

I had a TINY little bump on my chin, it had not even turned into a pimple yet and definitely did not have a head. I squeezed at it and it didn't pop. A few hours later I squeezed at it again, some pus came out, but there was no blood so I knew that it didn't really pop. And it was started to look irritated...

Next morning, my entire chin area was bright red, swollen, and painful. I looked like someone had punched me in the mouth. Scary AND disgusting.

Went to an emergency doctor, he injected it with something (forgot to ask what, but I assume cortisone?) yesterday. Today it is flat but the surrounding skin (a large area, maybe a 2 inch circle) is still bright red, dry, and painful. I'm hoping the inflammation will go away with some neosporin over the next couple of days...

So, who knew you could create a cyst? Apparently, every other time I have squeezed at pimples in my life, I was just lucky that I didn't create this kind of infection. The doctor said that if I hadn't gone to see him, it would have gotten much worse, and as it is, he said it will take weeks to heal.

I really REALLY REALLY hope that in the future I will remember this mess and not pick at my face. Or at least, not unless it has a head. (It's a hard call because sometimes when I can cleanly pop a pimple I really do think it helps it go away faster...)

Hope somebody else can learn this lesson without actually having to go through the embarrassment that I have right now. (going outside with a huge bandaid on my face, and having to explain to everyone that I gave myself an infection...)

good luck all!