Over the course of human experience there have been developed several different ways to get rid of zits. It seems that these pockets of puss have been the bane of many a societies young ones and has almost universally been disliked in all cultures and all societies. There is very little praise for these corpuscles in the long annuls of history and there is little doubt why - they are actually kind of disgusting.

They are disgusting in a really interesting, I-can't-believe-that-just-came-out-of-my-body sort of way. Its not quit as disgusting as having a foul smelling discharge or having a colonoscopy, but it is till pretty gross. I mean, how often is that we can sit in front of a mirror and make this stuff come out of our faces, backs, chest, and arms? Not very often. This is what makes it interesting. But what makes it gross is know that what is coming out of you is nothing but infection and that the blood mixed with it is your blood. chances are you just spread that infection to other pores and now you will have more zits because you popped that one zit.

Which brings me to the first way that people get rid of zits - they pop them. Just the sound of that is a little disconcerting. You can actually get a popping sensation and sound when compressing the skin on either site of a whitehead. This is probably where the term came from, if we are going to get all linguistic. Sometimes when you are getting rid of a zit by popping it you will project your puss into the air and it will land on a mirror, marking your territory.

While popping zits can be interesting it is also not recommended as a way to get rid of zits. You can cause permanent scaring using this zit removal method so be sure that you don't pop zits on your face or other important body part.

The next way to get rid of zits is to apply a hot compress. This is much like popping zits because you eventually push the infected matter out of the pore with your fingers, but it is different in that it prepares the skin for the activity by:

1. Bringing the infected puss stuff to the surface of the skin
2. Softening and gently removing the thin layer of skin that is still keeping the puss inside your face

Using a hot compress is certainly not a fool proof way to avoid unwanted scaring while still getting the joy of popping an unwanted zit, so don't go to town on this method to remove zits.

This next method is a bit of a wive's tale and I'm not sure that it should be beleived or seen as credible so take it for what it is worth. But I have heard that saving a bit of the days first urine and then applying it to the zits that you want to remove is an effective way to get rid of zits. I am not saying that it IS an effective way, all I am saying is that I have heard that it is an effective way to do it. Try this one at your own risk or consult a physician about it.

Probably the least popular way to get rid of zits (yes, probably even less popular than applying your first urine all over your body) is to just let the zit die on its own. Your body will eventually kill the zit and restore itself to its original operating condition, it is just really hard for us to let it do that. Even if we aren zip popping addicts there are still a lot of other things that will prevent us from using this method.

The first is the zits ich. This means that we could be focused on something else and have a unconcious stracth response to a zit that is located on our face, neck, back or chest. We didn't mean to rip off the head of the zit and put some puss on our fingers but that is exactly what we just did.

Another enemy of the wait and let it die method of zit removal is that sometimes normal acitivity will pop our zits for us. Wearing a hat, backpack, helmet, or even getting a back rub can all pop zits inadvertently.

And finally, there is the use medication method of getting rid of zits. Medication can come inthe form of a pill, like child deforming Accutane, or in a topical solution like ProActive. These drugs can be very harsh on the body, leaving skin extremely dry and prone to chapping as well as leaving it particularly sensitive to the suns rays. Medication does work for some individuals, but should only be undertaken with the utmost seriousness and really, really good information.

In the end though, getting rid of zits is a fools focus. We shoudl be spending out time thinking about things that have long lasting significance and not the passing complexion of our skin. In 60-80 years the vast majority of the worlds teenagers are going to be dead and no one will care about whether or not they had a clear complexion or how big a zit was on their face. Instead they will be remembered the contribution that they made to society at large.

Were they nice? Did they show a geniune concern for their fellow man? Did they do good as much as they were able? Did they make the world a better place?

You cannot do these things and spend much time thinking about how to get rid of zits. They are simply incompatible.