Social media users have become obsessed with watching videos of people popping their pimples.
Pimple popping craze
Research has revealed online channels on YouTube, such as Dr Pimple Popper, have racked up millions of views within days, with clips of people squeezing out their pus-filled pores under a microscope becoming the most watched footage.
And it is believed the grotesque nature of the footage, which has been magnified to up to 200 times more to capture the moment the dirt is excreted from the skin, is what attracts people to the recording.
Daniel Kelly, assistant professor of philosophy at Purdue University, told Cosmopolitan: ''It's the same kind of thrill people get from, say, riding a roller coaster or bungee jumping - it activates the experience the typically comes with a real kind of danger while actually being protected from the harmful effects typically associated with those situations.
''One of the main functions of disgust, the heart of this particular emotion's primary job or core mission, is to protect us from infectious diseases.''