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October 15, 2008, 7:16 pm
Flag as Inappropriate 2Ronnies  

I have a relative who tries to tell me I will get meningitis from popping a spot. It seems to me that if you take proper precautions for wound care, you won't have a problem.

Is this an urban myth?

I have always been told about the dangers of infection but I have never heard about getting meningitis from popping a zit. I'm not even positive how to go about researching it.

Well I guess technically that any infection could eventually cause sepsis, and maybe that could kill you, but I would think that just keeping it clean would be enough.

I wouldn't be too worried.

I heard of infection and scarring but never meningitis. Does this person have any type of proof that can back this up? I would love to hear about it.

That's most likely an old wives tale or something your friend was told in order to stop him from doing it. It does, however, cause scarring and can bring other infections which isn't a good thing. It's better to bring the blemish to a head using a heat compress and gently squeeze it to remove the buildup if you are not wanting to use a commercial remedy.

After reading you topic's headline, what followed in your post was totally unexpected. I have never heard of it. I had a friend in high school who died from meningitis. So I know it's a life threatening disease. I would love to hear more about this, and in the meantime stop popping my zits.

Are there some types of infections that you could get without really inspecting? I am sure you could pop one and see something like a rash start out but what about the things we can not see?

Sure, infections like MRSA could be a possibility, but I think that this relative is just passing on things that were used to scare them, and obviously it did a good job on them. I'd not worry about it.