Horrible Hair Bumps & Bruising on My Chin

[miris828]

I have severe bruising & bumping on my chin from hairs. They never come thru the skin & when they do they are very fine & basically invisible. They almost always cause my chin to be sore & bumpy. The bumps fill up with pus or whatever the stuff is. Whether I release the pus or it eventually dries up on its own, if the hair isn't released the bump is still sore. Sometimes I can't even see the hair but I just know it's in there because it hurts so bad. The time frame from the original soreness & inflammation til the time I can actually see a hair can take up to a month. So that's a month of pain & bumps all over my chin. How in the world can I stop this or at least slow it down. I am using Proactiv to for my acne & it's helping with lightening the dark spots on my chin but that only lasts a couple days since more bumps are always coming.

[Rowena Santos, MD]

Hi,

Folliculitis or inflamed hair follicles in the chin may be due to repeated tiny cuts caused by the razor on the skin which often creates small openings. This allows bacteria to enter the skin and invade the deeper hair follicles. Additionally, excessively close shaving may cause trapping of small hairs beneath the skin surface, causing more inflammation. Try to stop shaving with a razor for a few days to a few weeks and use antibacterial washes and topical antibiotics. Pseudofolliculitis barbae, on the other hand, is a very common ingrown hair condition on the beard area  of men that presents with groups of red bumps on the beard area that may flare with repeat shaving. Other treatment options include professional laser hair removal, electrolysis, electric razors, or cream depilatories.

Take care and regards.

[miris828]

I've never shaved my chin since the hairs never really come to the surface. I do pull the hair with tweezers once they are outside of my skin or the bump, since that's what's causing the pain originally. Thanks for the advice though. I may have to take a trip to the dermatologist.