University of Queensland PhD candidate James Sherlock said the reasons why we just can't get enough of this viral sensation is because the videos are highly arousing, thrilling and have been linked to an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"Every culture has scary bedtime stories, ghost tales, and in modern times, blockbusters featuring all manner of violent ghouls, monsters, and murderers," he said.

"What horror movies and pimple-popping videos allow us to do is expose ourselves to stimuli that are highly arousing.

"In the case of horror movies, our brains tell us the bogeyman on screen is a threat and our body prepares to leap out of the seat and flee by flushing blood into our muscles and increasing respiration.

"In similar fashion, when we watch a surgeon expertly extract a big gooey blackhead from the nose of a patient, our disgust responses are engaged, albeit in a diluted format. We're not actually in any danger, but our brain still rewards us with a little thrill."

Mr Sherlock said the intrigue could be linked to dermatillomania, a disorder involving excessive skin picking, caused by the obsession of needing to remove an imperfection from the skin.

"In dematillomania, skin picking is reinforced by dopamine releases from the brain - because the brain thinks the patient is responding appropriately to a potential threat," he said.

"By watching experts excavate skin imperfections via our computer, we can stimulate a thrilling situation, even though in reality we might still be in our pyjamas in bed."

However, Mr Sherlock reassured those who have become addicted to pimple popping that they shouldn't question their mental health and said the sources of thrills for our ancestors were more disturbing than modern-day habits.

"How we satisfied this curiosity has changed from the extreme, for instance public executions, to more benign forms such as television shows in which contestants eat bugs for the chance of a cash prize," he says.

"What thrills, excites and disgusts us as human beings tends to be a mixed bag.

"For instance, most Westerners look on the practice of eating satay crickets with a good degree of repulsion, but the practice is quite common in many East Asian countries.

"In the case of pimple popping, by tapping into disgust these videos have triggered one of the most ancient and widespread of human emotions."