Acne surgery is a skin treatment which is an additional option to help maximize the effectiveness of acne treatments. Your dermatologist can perform an incision and drainage procedure to treat a large pimple, painful cyst or nodule. This reduces pain and swelling. Intra lesional injections can be an effective treatment for reducing the size and inflammation of acne blemishes. This is done for large and painful cysts and nodules when other treatments have failed to treat. The injection will flatten most inflamed acne in 48–72 hours