The ugly: Using a book to pop ganglion cysts
Everyone knows how popular pimple popping, blackhead squeezing, and cyst squashing are on social media. Dermatologist Sandra Lee, better known as Dr. Pimple Popper, used her YouTube platform of the same name – which boasts over 7.42 million subscribers – to cinch a reality television show on TLC. Viewers on TikTok are no different and love the satisfying (and often gross) relief of clearing out a nasty pimple or two.
In this stitched TikTok from emergency medicine physician Fayez Ajib, DO, aka @lifeofadoctor, Dr. Ajib reacts to an original video of someone popping a ganglion cyst with a textbook.
There are plenty of other videos on TikTok of people using books to smack ganglion cysts, which develop on the wrist. People have looked for remedies for ganglion cysts since the 1700s, at which point many strange options arose, as discussed in BBC Future. The one that still holds up, however, is smacking the cyst with a heavy book, like a Bible (hence the ganglion cyst’s nickname, “Bible bump”).
In his video, Dr. Ajib explains why smacking the cyst is a bad idea, even if it appears to temporarily resolve the issue.
“Not only have people broken the delicate bones in their wrist from getting hit,” Dr. Ajib says, “but they actually have a high chance of recurrence. A doctor will actually remove the sac itself rather than just draining it from being hit.”
The lessons we glean from TikTok remain the same: Leave it up to the professionals.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.