'Never again': Scary outcome after woman's innocuous pimple pop

A woman has shared a terrifying story highlighting the dangers of popping pimples — after she contracted a staph infection.

"[I] noticed a little bump on my face a couple of days ago and thought it was a normal pimple," Josie Miller wrote on a TikTok video.

She said she popped the pimple.

"But then [it swelled] and started going down my neck," she continued, showing a series of photos where her face and neck are completely swollen and red.

Ms Miller, from Tennessee, US, said she went to a doctor and they drained the swollen area, but not long after was feeling feverish, writing she felt "like death" and still didn't know what was wrong.

In a follow-up video, Ms Miller said she was eventually diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA — a type staph infection.

"We're almost fully better now," she wrote, adding she's "never popping a pimple again".

TikTok users initially thought Ms Miller could have been bitten by a spider, urging her to seek medical treatment.

"Fever is not a normal reaction to a cyst draining, pls go to the ER," one user wrote.

Others said they have contracted staph infections from popping pimples.

"I got MRSA once from popping a zit and never again," another commented on the video. "Cured me from ever picking my face again".

What is a staph infection?

According to Health Direct, a staph infection is caused if the staphylococcus aureus (staph) bacteria enters the body and multiplies.

The website states that many people carry a lot of different strains of staph bacteria either on the surface of their skin or in their nose, and in most cases, they do not cause any problems.

There are many different types of staph infection, ranging from boils to blood poisoning, and some are resistant to common antibiotics.

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The bacteria can also be transmitted from person to person, and sometimes live on objects long enough to transfer to the next person who touches them.

Mayo Clinic says MRSA often begins as a painful skin boil and is usually spread by skin-to-skin contact.

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