It's probably even worse than you think.

That white pus is packed with a cocktail mix of bacteria, dead skin cells, white blood cells, and an oily waxy material called sebum.

Under the right conditions,

these four ingredients create the perfect storm for infection.

Here's how.

Inside each pore of your skin are tiny sacs called sebaceous glands.

These glands secrete an oily material called sebum, which lubricates and waterproofs your hair.

But that's not the only thing Sebum is good for.

It's also an energy source for a type of bacteria called Propionibacterium acnes.

Normally, Propionibacterium acnes lives harmoniously in and on your skin.

But sometimes it gets out of control--

and that's when the trouble starts.

When your sebaceous glands grow more active like during puberty,

they generate a surplus of sebum.

The excess sebum can clog your pores.

The pore is now a food fest for bacteria, which start to multiply out of control.

This triggers alarms in your body, which identifies the infestation as a threat.

So your body dispatches white blood cells to the area to fight the abnormally large cluster of bacteria.

As a result, the area becomes inflamed,

causing the skin at the surface to swell and redden.

Eventually, that swelling will come to a head, literally.

Even worse, popping the pimple opens a gateway for additional bacteria on your fingers,

which could prolong, or even worsen the already infected pore.

So the next time you have the urge to pop a pimple, consider the consequences.