Airdate: Dr. Pimple Popper

Given the title I’ve endeavoured to find a photo for this one that isn’t a deterrent!

US medico-observational special Dr. Pimple Popper, featuring Dr. Sandra Lee, will air on TLC channel next month.

Lee, who has over 3.8 million YouTube subscribers, pokes, prods and squeezes in order to resolve some of the most unusual dermatological cases.

California-based Dr. Sandra Lee is a licensed dermatologist and her ‘popping’ videos have become a cult phenomenon on YouTube, amassing an enormous 3.8 million subscribers and 2 billion views (and counting) from a growing community of popaholics who love to watch her perform extractions on her patients’ skin. While a relaxing evening might involve a home-cooked meal and an early night for some, for others, there’s a satisfying relief that comes from watching one of Dr. Lee’s blackhead removal videos.

This eye-opening special follows the emotional journey of four extraordinary cases, sharing the stories of: Angelina, a woman with a large chest lump affecting her love life and diminishing her self-confidence and worth; Delano, an ambitious but downtrodden young man with a football-sized lump on his back affecting his ability to get a job, resulting in bouts of homelessness; Carla, an energetic woman from Mississippi with five large, painful cysts on her scalp; and Brenda, who has a four-inch protruding forehead lump dangerously close to her left eye.

For each case, Dr. Lee uses careful discussion and close-up physical examination to diagnose the lump and check for risky signs of cancer or other diseases, while trying to keep her patients feeling calm and comfortable. Many lumps are familiar and easy to diagnose but the skin’s billions of cells are always producing something new that Dr. Lee has not seen.

Every lump and bump is different and no two extractions are the same, so before breaking out the syringes, scalpels, and squirt-protective face masks, she sets a plan before she ‘pops’. Removing each lump as completely and as safely as possibly, Dr. Lee and her team do everything they can so that each patient can return to living a normal and healthy life.

Monday 30 July at 8.30pm on TLC.