Videographer / Director: Joel Forrest

Producer: John Balson, Nick Johnson

Editor: Sonia Estal

PRO 9 Simple pimple: Dr Sandra Lee removes a cyst from the neck of patient Emily Kalk

Better known as Dr Pimple Popper, she has amassed almost half a million fans on both YouTube and Instagram in the last year alone. She even claims the ‘pimple porn’ is playing a positive role by bringing dermatology to the masses and encouraging people to look after their skin.

PRO 9 Pop star: Dr Sandra Lee has become an online sensation thanks to her pimple-popping videos

She said: “I think that people have a strong reaction to pimple popping - whether they are grossed out by it or they are enchanted by it. “I feel like I have really brought this sort of thing out of the closet in a way. Previously people were hiding in their rooms, at their computer sweating and worried that someone was going to come in and catch them looking at pimple porn.

PRO 9 Pus-uasion: Dr Lee has convinced scores of patients to allow her to film their cysts and blackheads being removed

“But now they they feel like they have this community and it’s okay to kind of like this and be into this.” Dr Lee is based at Skin Physicians and Surgeons, in Uplands, California, and has been a certified dermatologist for 10 years.

PRO 9 Spot the difference: Dr Lee gets to grips with a cyst

But it was only a year ago that her popularity erupted when she began posting minor operations on social media. “It’s become something that I would have never imagined,” she said.

PRO 9 Cyst-ematic: Dr Sandra Lee specialises in removing blackheads, spots and cysts for patients

“All these people were subscribing. My numbers suddenly went up from 1000 to 20,000 to 30,000 and up and up. “There are two main categories for my fans. There are soft pops and there are hard pops.

PRO 9 Blackhead down: An elderley patient has a stubborn blackhead removed by Dr Lee

“Soft pops tend to be milder things like blackheads and smaller cysts. There’s really no blood, it’s really very smooth and minor. The hard pops are bigger pops that involve cysts and abscesses being popped out of the skin.

PRO 9 Abscess-ed: Dr Lee now has half-a-million combined subscribers on Instagram and her YouTube channel

“These usually need to involve an incision or surgery and there might be a little bit of blood or there might be some stitching involved." She added: “What’s been very interesting to me are the reasons people say why they like watching this. “For some I've heard it can release their own sense of wanting to pick themselves.

PRO 9 Star burst: Some of her videos have ammassed millions of views on YouTube

“If they have actually got a pathologic condition that causes them to pick their skin, they will actually stop picking as much - as they’ll watch my videos instead.” With her popularity coming to a head, Dr Lee is now able to offer free pimple and blackhead removal to some of her patients - as long as she's able to film and post the procedure online. She sees about 30 patients a day, but blackhead and pimple extraction makes up a small amount of treatments that she offers, including removal of skin cancers.

PRO 9 Spreading the word: Dr Sandra Lee hopes her videos will bring dermatology to the masses