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Blackheads, cysts, boils and zits aren’t the first things that come to mind when thinking about what’s popular on YouTube .

But there is an entire sub-genre dedicated to the science of skin extractions – and they aren’t being made by professional vloggers.

Dr Sandra Lee is an American dermatologist working in California.

She started uploading videos of her practise on YouTube in 2010 but began amassing a large following after posting her first skin extraction video in 2014.

With her patients’ written permission she continued to post videos of her treatment and she now posts several videos on her channel a week.

(Image: Dr Pimple Popper/TLC)

Dr Lee now has 5.6 million subscribers on her YouTube page which goes by the name “Dr Pimple Popper.” Her most recent videos receive millions of views with some of her most popular videos seeing upwards of 40 million views.

Her regular videos became so well known that she was even offered her own reality TV show on TLC in 2018 which followed her patient’s lives before and after treatment.

Many of the participants on the show have severe skin conditions and the results are often life changing experiences for them.

Now in it’s third season, Dr Pimple Popper is more popular than ever.

The psychology of pimple popping

But what makes videos of other people having their skin popped by a professional so satisfying for some?

According to Abigail Cline, M.D., Ph.D. of the Center for Dermatology Research at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, says that people “self-extract” for a variety of reasons in an interview with Men’s Health .

“Some people may get a sense of control and satisfaction that they are ‘treating’ themselves.

(Image: Instagram) (Image: TLC)

“They are cleaning or ridding their body of something that doesn’t belong,”

Dr Cline also explained why some people receive satisfaction from watching other people self-extract.

“Others might enjoy the grotesque aspect of extractions and feel a bit of bizarre fascination when they see the outburst of pus.”

In an interview with the Washington Post , Heather Berlin, a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York said, "evolutionarily speaking, it's normal behaviour to want to remove bumps from your skin.”

This is because unusual bumps on the skin could be seen as parasitic and the act of removing them releases dopamine into the brain as a “little hit of pleasure.”

Dr. Adam Friedman, professor of dermatology at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., said in an interview that the “grotesque” aspect of pimple popping videos are another reason that they are so popular.

Speaking to the Today Programme , Dr Friendman said “P.T. Barnum had it right — we want a taste of the other side.

“We want to see, not be, that which is abnormal, grotesque or just plain different. “Inherently we are curious creatures, and Dr. Lee offers a window into a new world for the viewing public.”