# Dr. Pimple Popper (2018)

> A dermatologist known as Dr. Pimple Popper removes cysts and growths from patients whose skin conditions have shaped their lives.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/69359

## Facts

- Seasons: 9
- Episodes: 86
- Episode runtime: 42 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: reality
- Network: TLC
- Cast: Sandra Lee, Marcell Dareus
- TMDB rating: 6.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6045142/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: clinical, empathetic, gross out, uplifting

## What critics say

Critics generally find the show's warmth toward patients and its frank, clinical procedures engaging, though its formula changes little across seasons.

## Synopsis

Dr. Pimple Popper (2018-2023) is a United States reality medical series created for TLC, following dermatologist Sandra Lee, who appears as herself and is known online as Dr. Pimple Popper. Each episode, she meets patients living with unusual skin conditions and works to remove the cysts, growths, and lesions that have led them to hide their bodies and avoid ordinary life. The engine of the show is the patient's wish for relief and a return to normal daily routines, set against the difficulty and risk of each extraction, with the procedures filmed at close range. Across nine seasons and eighty-six episodes, the format stays consistent: a single case per segment, a consultation, the removal, and the aftermath as patients see themselves differently. Presented in a television-14 style, the tone is clinical yet warm, with a gross-out fascination balanced by empathy and visible relief. Set in present-day American clinics, it sits in the lineage of medical reality formats such as Botched and Body Bizarre, appealing to viewers who enjoy transformation stories and unfiltered medical curiosity. The show is lighter on drama than scripted medical series, focusing instead on the human stakes behind each unusual case.

## Shows like Dr. Pimple Popper

- [My 600-lb Life (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/58268)
- [My Cat from Hell (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/53367)
- [Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/72438)
- [Face Off (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/32535)
- [Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/3884)
- [Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-Up Star (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/74210)
- [Hotel Hell (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/40411)
- [Emergency: NYC (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/140900)
- [Lenox Hill (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/85732)
- [Untold Stories of the ER (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/248)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt