What happens when you leave a pimple alone? [Acne]
Hello! Hope everyone is having a good day!
Is anyone willing to share their experiences with getting a pimple or pimples and leaving them alone? I have dermatillomania, and I've had it my whole life, so I have never actually let a pimple run its course. What happens usually? Does it just go away? Does the infection in the pustule slowly get smaller until it's gone? Or does it dry up and flake off? How long does it usually take? When is the skin completely flat again?
I have just never left a single pimple alone long enough to know what happens, I actually believe at this point that a pimple will never go away if I don't pop it myself. Obviously everyone says not to pop your pimples, but I think it would be helpful for me to leave them alone longer if I actually knew what was going to happen. I can't find a time lapse or information about what happens as it heals anywhere. So if anyone could please help, I would really appreciate it!
Currently, I have a few tiny pimples with white pustule heads on my face, and it has been about three days that I have left my skin alone (which is huge for me). I thought I would ask here because any subreddit for compulsive skin picking may not be able to help answer this question since I am assuming most users would have similar issues to mine.
Thanks!
Edit: Wow, thank you to everyone who responded! You don't know how helpful this is to me! Now that I have more of an idea of what will happen if I leave my skin alone, I'm feeling more motivated to not interfere. Thanks again, everyone :)