So tomorrow’s a big day. Maybe you have a job interview, or a big date. And now you have a big pimple. Is there anything you can do?

Roy Grekin is the director of the Dermatological Surgery Center at UC San Francisco – and he says he’s seen it all. He’s seen patients who’ve tried to burn a pimple off with matches. He’s seen people try to scrape them off with a razor – or fry them off with a sunlamp. 

Dr. Grekin says – obviously, none of those things work and you’ll only damage your skin more. And don’t bother popping that zit either – it’ll only scab, scar and take longer to heal. 

So what can you do? Dr. Grekin says your goal is to flatten it and reduce the redness so it’s less visible And the best thing you can do is to get a cortisone cream. The strongest one on the market requires a prescription – it’s called clobetasol – and a couple of dabs will get rid of almost all the redness and inflammation within 12 hours. But the downside is, long-term use of that cream can thin your skin – and by long-term, he means 2 weeks.

If you can’t get your hands on a prescription cortisone cream, get an OTC one. You want one with 1% hydrocortisone – you can get it at any pharmacy. You also want to get some benzoyl peroxide – like Clearasil. Then put a dab of each on your pimple before you go to bed and cover it with a band-aid. Do the same thing in the morning when you wake up. The band-aid will increase the potency of the creams. 

But whatever you do, don’t use Neosporin – or any antibiotic cream on a pimple. There are so many people allergic to it that you may have a much worse reaction than just a pimple. Basically, whatever you put on your skin, gets into your skin, and then into your blood supply.