Dr Pimple Popper is currently in its ninth season on TLC.
Options: We’re so excited to learn about your Malaysian connection. Tell us more!
Dr Sandra Lee: A few online Malaysian news outlets started picking up on a comment I left on American TikTok couple Alexis and Dean’s video about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight. I was just drawn to the way he was speaking. All I said was: “My mum is from Kuantan, I hear your subtle accent!” and went to bed. And I woke up to all these reactions about my Malaysian connection.
How often do you come back to Malaysia?
I haven’t been back for six or seven years now. This visit is extra special because my mum is turning 80 and we’re having a big birthday celebration. It’s a little bittersweet too because there are family members who passed away during the pandemic. I’m here with my husband and kids, and my brother is here too with his family. So it’s really nice because I feel my boys are old enough to understand how important and precious it is to develop these relationships.
We will be here for four days and then we will go to Singapore, which is where my father is from. I’m also giving a lecture at the 25th World Congress of Dermatology. But what’s interesting is that my retired dermatologist father, who did his training there, will be in the audience without knowing I’m presenting. It will be a nice surprise for him.
Your reality television show on TLC, Dr Pimple Popper, shows no sign of slowing down. Why can’t people get enough of it?
We’re in the ninth season, believe it or not! They are airing new episodes every Wednesday in the US. I know a lot of people watch these videos before they go to sleep at night or to relax after a very stressful day. It’s like a release and people get some sort of satisfaction or closure. You just know there’s going to be a happy ending, unlike some movies that don’t end the way you want them to.
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How did it all start?
I posted a video of myself on the clinic’s Instagram account doing a blackhead extraction in late 2014 and it went viral. The next video I posted had the same effect. From Instagram, I went on to YouTube and today, we have about 35 million followers across all of our platforms. But for the latter, we have 5.5 billion lifetime views because they are watched over and over again. Never did I imagine I would be where I am today and I don’t let it [the fame] get to my head.
When did the TV deal happen?
So, what happened is that I got more popular on social media and I thought it was interesting that it’s the kind of content that walks into your office. I didn’t have to dream up a scenario or write a script for something to happen. Production companies started to pursue me. While I thought it was fun, I wasn’t very interested because I liked the control I had over what I produced and when to post.
Then I realised nobody really gets asked to do something like this, so I gave it a shot in 2018 with the condition that my patients were treated with respect and kindness and that my profession was not made a fool of. I was scared but when the first episode aired, it quickly became one of the top shows on the network, and I must say the production company did a pretty good job of putting it all together.
Do you watch your own shows? What are your favourite shows on TV?
I did in the beginning and don’t anymore. I just think you’d be really full of yourself to watch yourself on TV all the time. I pretty much have all the streaming channels because I tell everybody it’s for research. But the truth is, I’m a big TV watcher. I watch some serious stuff like Silo, which I just finished watching, as well as The Real Housewives when I want to dumb it down and tell myself that I’m not that crazy and there are other people out there crazier than I am.
What is it about being a dermatologist that you love the most?
I love the job because you can really use it to play on your strengths as a person and your technical skills as a dermatologist. I love my patients. Dermatology is wonderful because you develop a long-standing, close relationship in many ways with your patients. I have learnt to be really chatty, asking questions about them or their families to distract them. My patients have taught me so much about life. It’s so interesting how you can talk to a stranger and learn so many amazing things. And it really increases your connection with another human being within a short period of time.
What milestones are you celebrating now?
My mum’s 80th birthday, my 18-year-old older son who will be going away to college, and we are approaching our 100th episode but I don’t know if we’re going to film again yet. I never aspired to fame and recognition, and I am still coming to terms with that. It is really crazy how I have five-year-olds coming to see me to tell me how they want to be dermatologists. It’s such a treat. It is things like that that make me feel very fortunate and special.
One piece of skincare advice you would give anyone.
We all know the answer to this: sunscreen, a healthy diet and exercise. But I like to add a smile because happiness is contagious. I think when you spread it around like kindness and joy, everybody feeds off that and it grows much bigger.
What are you currently reading?
I do love to read but I have got too busy for that, so I find myself listening more to podcasts. There’s also an audiobook I just started, The Dutch House, written by Ann Patchett and beautifully narrated by Tom Hanks.
This article first appeared on July 17, 2023 in The Edge Malaysia.
