A woman has gone viral online after revealing how simply popping a pimple landed her in urgent care.
When Alisha Monaco, 32, noticed what seemed to be an ordinary pimple on her face, she didn’t hesitate to try to pop it. It was located on the right side of her nose, just beneath her nostril.
However, it quickly became clear to Monaco, from Michigan, that this was no ordinary blemish. She told Newsweek that she “noticed something was wrong” when she used a sanitized pimple tool to pop it, but, as she prodded the area, her right ear popped.
“That’s when I realized I made a mistake and that it was in the Triangle of Death,” Monaco said. “I didn’t spend that long trying to pop it, maybe five minutes or so. I didn’t even end up popping it—imagine the pain from that.”
The Triangle of Death, otherwise known as the Danger Triangle, is from the bridge of the nose down to the corners of the mouth. When you develop a blemish or a pimple in that area, you should never attempt to pop it, regardless of how tempting it may be.
The Cleveland Clinic says that this area is a direct line to the brain due to the cavernous sinus. As a result, an infection in this triangle has a chance of traveling from the face directly to the brain.
“I felt dizzy right away and knew I should stop messing with the pimple. I realized I should probably just clean it, patch it up with a pimple patch, and go to bed. It was unbearably painful, especially because it didn’t pop,” Monaco said.
Several hours after going to sleep, Monaco woke up in excruciating pain, and her face was swollen. She was too afraid to look in the mirror because she dreaded what her reflection would show.
There was no other option than to get to urgent care first thing in the morning. By then, even her husband was stunned that such an innocuous blemish could cause her face to swell up so drastically.
Monaco said she felt “super embarrassed” to be at urgent care just because of a pimple. However, doctors told her she did the right thing because of the risks associated with the Triangle of Death.
Rather than picking pimples, the Cleveland Clinic recommends applying a warm compress or using a pimple patch instead.
Monaco said: “The doctor put me on an oral antibiotic, a topical antibiotic cream, a steroid pack, and Flonase because I did in fact have a ton of fluid in my right ear coincidentally, as that was the ear that popped when I poked my pimple.”
She continued: “I’m feeling back to normal now; the pimple swelling went down significantly within the first 12 hours of taking medicine. Within three days, the swelling was completely gone, and by day seven, the pimple was gone.”
After winding up in urgent care, Monaco documented the experience on TikTok (@lishmarie1) as a reminder for others not to pop a pimple in the Triangle of Death. The video has gone, leading to more than 10 million views and over 231,000 likes on TikTok at the time of writing.
It was a “brutal” experience for Monaco, but she said she hopes that, by sharing it, she can raise awareness and prevent others from going through the same. Sometimes, not touching it is the best course of action, as Monaco said people should just be patient.
Monaco added: “I was shocked by the number of views I received from the video, but most shocked at how many people didn’t even know the risks.
“I really hope I can help educate others about how important it is to not pop pimples. I know we want relief from the pain, but letting it heal on its own is way less painful.”
The viral video has generated over 2,800 comments on TikTok already, as many people thanked Monaco for sharing her experience.
One comment reads: “So you’re telling me I’ve been playing Russian roulette with my life the whole time?”
Another TikTok user wrote: “Guess I’ve cheated death about 400,000 times.”
A third person replied: “Omg [oh my God], that is so scary I didn’t know that was a thing.”
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