A burst of success:
How Dr Pimple Popper squeezes the most out of her subject.
Dr Pimple Popper Sandra Lee can’t believe her ‘popularity’. When she started posting videos of her work on YouTube in 2015, the California-based dermatologist had no idea they would attract three billion views in less than four years and turn her into an international internet sensation.
“It has amazed me,” she says, in the lead-up to the New Zealand debut of her latest venture, the 12-part TV series Dr Pimple Popper.
“The thing is, with social media it’s not just national. It becomes international and now with this show also being shown all around the world, it’s truly making (pimple popping) a worldwide phenomenon.
“Popaholics – people who like to watch pimple-popping videos – are all over the world.
“It’s not just an American thing. It crosses all races and religions and geographies. In a bunch of people you’ll probably find at least one popaholic and, if you find a fellow popaholic, it’s like an instant bond.”
Dr Lee’s YouTube channel has more than 4.5 million subscribers and the new TV series proved such a hit, a second season was commissioned immediately.
Strangely enough, given the premise makes many people a little squeamish, women are the biggest audience.
Dr Pimple Popper is something of a makeover show.
Sandra Lee knows how to squeeze the most out of her specialist subject area – pimples. She is now known as Dr Pimple Popper and her latest TV series and YouTube channel is proving hugely popular, as Kerry Harvey finds.
In the first episode, Dr Lee’s patients include Melissa, who has tried to cover a big lipoma on her neck with a sweatshirt for years; Tyler, whose fear of cancer has kept him from having his huge head lumps diagnosed; Tahj, who is covered in painful boils; and Amber, whose ear keloids have taken control of her life. Despite her internet success, Dr Lee was uncertain how the TV series would be received. “I was scared initially, wondering, ‘Are people going to find it interesting?’ But it’s been better than I think I could have ever dreamed,” she says. “It really is a feel-good show. It’s interesting that you can have a show that deals with something that is very shocking – and maybe something that many people can’t look at – but you’re making them better and it actually makes people feel good after they watch it.” Dr Lee says the show has been an eye-opener for her as well as the audience, enabling her to see how her surgery changes lives. “That’s the wonderful blessing about this show,” she says. “I don’t really see that in real life. When I remove something from somebody it’s my job and I move on to the next thing. I don’t really get to see them again or follow up. “It’s actually been nice from my perspective to see that. It makes me realise what a significant impact it makes on people. I don’t think I realised that before.” Given many of her patients have spent years hiding their skin conditions under layers of clothing or, as one man did, by growing a huge, distracting beard, she is full of admiration for the way they agree to have their surgeries filmed.
“I do think it takes a certain level of guts to tell your story on national TV but I’m proud of them in general because I think they are helping to show that they are normal, that this happens in life and that people shouldn’t feel embarrassed of something that they may have,” she says, adding the extra advantage is that it encourages other people to seek help too.
“I do believe that. Even on my YouTube channel, I have people who say they watched a video and it gave them the confidence or the bravery, courage to go and see their dermatologist.”
One of her biggest concerns when she first started her Dr Pimple Popper journey was how her fellow dermatologists would react to her growing stardom. However, it seems those early fears were baseless.
“I think it is very unusual for me to be here and I don’t know how I got here really,” Dr Lee says.
“I am now getting wonderful opportunities but along with that comes a lot of pressure. I just want to make sure I don’t hurt anybody, that I make them feel better about themselves, that I help them with whatever I can.”