Warm compress for a pimple, including on the lip

A warm compress is a clean cloth soaked in warm water and held on the skin. It is one of the few home steps the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends for a deep, painful pimple. This guide explains what the compress does, how long and how often to use it, what to check first when the spot is on your lip, and when the bump needs a doctor. Skinli gives general education and is not a doctor. For the full picture on squeezing, see should you pop a pimple.

What the AAD recommends

The AAD's page on deep, painful pimples puts the compress second, right after "Hands off." Its instructions are: "Apply a warm, damp washcloth to try to bring a pimple to a head. Soak a clean washcloth in hot water, then apply the warm, damp washcloth to your pimple for 10-15 minutes, three times daily. This will help the deep pimple move closer to your skin's surface so it can heal. Make sure to use a clean washcloth every time, and resist popping the pimple."

A 2023 AAD news release with dermatologist Jacqueline Watchmaker, MD, gives the same steps. It adds that deep, painful pimples are "caused by nodular or cystic acne," and that "You often can feel nodular acne or cysts more than you can even see them on your skin."

The goal, in the AAD's words, is to help the pimple "move closer to your skin's surface so it can heal." The AAD then says: "Topical medications are more effective when the pimple is at the surface of your skin." The compress brings the pimple closer to the surface, where treatment works better.

How to use a warm compress, step by step

1. Wash your hands. You will be touching your face.
2. Soak a clean washcloth in hot water. The AAD says hot water. The cloth should feel warm and comfortable when it touches your face, so wring it out and hold it against your inner wrist first.
3. Hold it on the pimple for 10 to 15 minutes. Rest it there. Do not press hard or rub.
4. Warm it again when it cools. If the cloth cools during the session, dip it back in the warm water.
5. Repeat three times a day. That is the AAD's schedule.
6. Use a clean cloth each time. The AAD asks for this, and a used cloth that touched a pimple should go in the wash.
7. Leave the pimple alone afterward. Pat the skin dry.

For boils, which are larger lumps filled with pus, the NHS gives a close routine: "soak a clean cloth in warm water and hold it against the boil for 10 minutes 4 times a day." The two routines match: a clean cloth, warm water, around 10 minutes, several times a day.

Which bumps it suits

The AAD's advice is written for "a deep, painful pimple," the kind that sits under the skin and has no head. That is the bump people call a blind pimple. A pimple that already has a white or yellow top is at the surface, so the step the compress aims for has already happened. For that pimple, move to treating it.

Acne across the face needs treatment across the face. The AAD's page on skin care habits says to treat the whole acne-prone area with a thin layer of acne medicine. A compress is for one sore spot at a time.

If the spot is on your lip

A spot on the lip needs one extra check. A spot on or at the edge of the lip can be a pimple or a cold sore. They need different care.

The NHS describes a cold sore this way:

• It "usually starts with a tingling, itching or burning feeling."
• "Over the next 48 hours one or more painful blisters will appear."
• The blisters are "usually small and filled with fluid," and later "burst and crust over into a scab."
• Cold sores are caused by a virus called herpes simplex and are contagious "from the moment you first feel tingling" until the sore has "completely healed."

A pimple is a single bump, often red, that may get a white or yellow top. The guide pimple on lip goes through the differences in detail.

If it is a cold sore, warmth can still help with pain. MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, says: "Apply ice in a washcloth or a warm washcloth to the sores to help ease pain." Take extra care with the cloth. MedlinePlus says you can catch the virus if you touch "something that has been in contact with the herpes virus, such as infected razors, towels, dishes, and other shared items." The AAD says not to share "personal items like lip balm, towels, or razors," and to wash your hands right after you touch a cold sore. Use a cloth once, then wash it. Do not use it on any other part of your face.

A pharmacist can help with a cold sore. The NHS says a pharmacist can recommend "antiviral creams to speed up healing time" and "cold sore patches to protect the skin while it heals." The guide pimple patch on a cold sore explains why a cold sore patch is the better choice for a cold sore.

What to do after the compress

Once the pimple sits closer to the surface, the AAD's next steps are:

• Treat it. "Choose a product that contains one of these acne-fighting active ingredients: adapalene, azelaic acid, benzoyl peroxide, or salicylic acid." Use one product at a time. "Apply a thin layer, as using too much can irritate your skin even more."
• Cover it. "A hydrocolloid acne patch can be applied to protect your skin and improve healing." Hydrocolloid is a soft material, also used in wound dressings, that forms a gel as it takes up fluid.
• Protect it from the sun. The 2023 AAD release says inflammation in the skin, such as an acne bump, carries a risk of darker skin at that spot, and that the risk is higher without sun protection.
• Do not squeeze it. The AAD's habits page says squeezing pushes "pus, dead skin cells, or bacteria" deeper into the skin, which "can lead to more-noticeable acne and sometimes scarring and pain."

If the pimple opens by itself, keep it clean and covered. The guide what to do after popping a pimple covers the care for an open spot.

Mistakes to avoid with a compress

• Reusing the same cloth. The AAD asks for a clean washcloth every time.
• Pressing or squeezing while the cloth is on. The compress is meant to rest on the skin. The AAD says squeezing a nodule or cyst raises the risk of infection, marks and scars.
• Water that is too hot. Warm and comfortable is enough. Skin that stings or burns needs the cloth taken off.
• Adding toothpaste or other home mixtures afterward. The AAD's adult acne page says toothpaste often contains baking soda, whitening agents, color and flavor, and "None of these ingredients fight acne, but they can irritate or harm your skin."
• Using several products at once. One acne ingredient in a thin layer is the AAD's advice, because "using too much can irritate your skin even more."

Warm or cold?

Warmth and ice have different jobs in the AAD's advice. The warm washcloth is there to help a deep pimple "move closer to your skin's surface so it can heal." Ice is there for pain. The AAD's page on pimple popping says: "Relieve pain with ice. Some acne can be painful, especially nodules and cysts. Ice reduces the inflammation."

The AAD does not give a single rule for combining them. A practical way to use both is warmth on its schedule to help the bump come up, and ice wrapped in a cloth when the pain is the main problem. The guide ice on a pimple covers how to use ice without hurting the skin.

When a compress is not enough

The AAD says: "If your deep, painful pimple doesn't go away after following these tips, or if you develop multiple deep, painful pimples, partner with the acne expert, a board-certified dermatologist." A dermatologist can inject a corticosteroid, a medicine that calms swelling, which the AAD says "will flatten most acne nodules or cysts within 48 to 72 hours."

The NHS page on boils says to ask for an urgent GP appointment if the skin around a lump "feels hot, painful and swollen," or if you "feel hot, cold or shivery." For a sore on the lip, the NHS says to see a GP if a cold sore "has not started to heal within 10 days," if you think it may be something else, or if it is large or painful.

A compress helps one spot at a time. If you get deep pimples again and again, the acne underneath needs daily treatment. Skinli's plan uses benzoyl peroxide 2.5 percent and adapalene 0.1 percent across the acne-prone area, and the free Skinli acne plan builds it from a photo of your skin and tells you when to see a doctor instead.