‘Triangle of death’: Doctor warns against popping pimples

A doctor has issued a chilling warning about popping pimples in an area of the face known as the “triangle of death”.
In a recent TikTok video, Dr Ever Arias, a resident doctor at UCI Medical Center in the US state of California, explained why you should “never ever” pop a pimple inside the triangular area of your face between the bridge of your nose and both corners of your mouth, as it can cause a serious life-threatening infection.
“There is a reason why this area is called the triangle of death — because it has resulted in a number of cases of people losing their lives as the result of popping a pimple in this area,” he told his 144,000 followers.
Dr Arias said popping a pimple in this area could expose bacteria to the bloodstream, causing rare blood clots or meningitis, a potentially fatal inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
“These life-threatening infections occur because the facial nerve, which is right in the triangle of death, connects to something called your cavernous sinus, which is a system of veins that drain into the brain.”
He added that popping a pimple causes “microscopic wounds” to your skin which can cause serious infection and inflammation.
“Inflammation could result in [rare] cold blood clots called keratin sinus thrombosis, but it could also result in an infection called meningitis, which is an infection of the meninges or brain tissue. It could also result in even brain abscesses.”
If this were occurring, be suffering “confusion, fever, seizures, or even death,” he explained.
“Even though it’s rare, my recommendation is to not pop any pimples in that area because the chances of you getting this could be low,” he concluded.
“But it could be very life-threatening with a very high mortality rate.”
A doctor has issued a chilling warning about popping pimples in an area of the face known as the ‘triangle of death’. Picture: TikTok
Dr Arias’s warning comes after a woman in China died from doing exactly that — popping a pimple.
A 19-year-old woman was rushed to hospital after she popped a pimple on her nose using both her hands in 2020.
Known only by her surname Yang, the woman described feeling pain under her skin around her right eye quickly after squeezing the pesky zit.
Local media reported that she was diagnosed with cavernous sinus thrombosis, a blood clot in the cavernous sinuses, which are hollow spaces located under the brain, behind each eye socket. This is a type of brain infection believed to have been brought about from the pimple being popped.

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.