Pop My Pet Doc Explains Our Sick Fascination With Pimples - Exclusive

What is it that's so fascinating, so obsessively compelling, about popping a pimple. We've all done it. It's so hard to resist in fact, dermatologists everywhere have been scolding generations of teens to leave their acne to the experts — for fear of scarring.

But of course we don't. There's something so sickly satisfying about the whole thing a cottage industry of purely voyeuristic pimple popping videos has emerged. This of course includes TLC's reality show, Dr. Pimple Popper, wholly dedicated to one derm who specializes in lancing all manner of bulbous skin anomalies. 

Well, if you can't get enough pressurized puss, discovery+ is coming in hot with a twist on this genre called Pop My Pet. It's just what it sounds like: animal cysts galore! It's a truly explosive reality experience, and not at all for the faint of heart or anyone who has recently eaten solid food. Nicki Swift sat down with the Miami-based vet and star of the fascinating new franchise, Dr. Jackie Dueñas, so she could explain to us why we can't turn away from this corpuscle little curiosity.

Dr. Jackie Dueñas has seen all manner of cysts and puss-filled growths in her Miami-area clinic — from benign to the genuinely life-threatening for her furry little patients. But that doesn't mean she's totally immune to the ick factor of it all. "It's funny because I think it takes a lot for us to get grossed out," she told Nicki Swift. "I think we all, individually, have our own different bugaboos; for me, eyes, eyeballs freak me out. If an animal comes in with an eye that's just hanging out, that's it for me. I can do it, but I have to stomach my way through it."

At the same time, Dr. Dueñas admits, like any veteran veterinarian, she does get a bit numb to it all. "I was just doing a cat spay earlier and my stomach was grumbling and while I'm inside removing a uterus, I'm kind of really hungry. I'm wondering what we're going to order for lunch!"

But what is it that makes all this so watchable? Dr. Dueñas says it's the taboo of it all. "it's the ick factor," she explains. "It's like I want to look at it, but I have to turn away. I think people just like the satisfaction of seeing things pop and squeeze. Not everyone can handle it but I am definitely one of those give me a slow-motion, pimple popper video, and I'm a big fan!" Beyond just the grisly fascination, Dr. Dueñas did also marvel, "It's crazy to think that, our bodies are so amazing, but they also create such nasty things." 

As of March 1, 2021, Pop My Pet is streaming exclusively on discovery+.