Three year long battle

[johnw44]

I have been to a Dermatologist for this, he was NO help at all, in fact he was down right insulting. This started years ago and has moved up my body, not sure if this is a result of shaving (whole body) or an infection I picked up after swimming in a lake. Right now it is on my arms, if I sweat I break out with these more. I do have some on my face but not as bad as my arms, mainly my forearms. When this started my doctor thought I had Shingles, but it was to spread out on my body.

I am a 42 year old male, I have chronic pain so I do take a lot of medications, I do not think this has anything to do with this issue though. I have changed meds over the past couple of years and nothing changes with this issue.

Symptoms:
Ingrown hairs, not coiled hairs, growing under the skin length wise, sometimes for 4 or more inches. I get red spots that become sore, filled with clear fluid and can get a burning/itching feel to them. 90% of the time these will have an ingrown hair in them and sometimes a small white balled up hair root that will have a hair inside of it.  The hairs are usually abnormal, they can be super flat, thin, thick, you name it. This can also show up on already existing hairs, but that is not the norm. They seem to affect more than a single hair folicle, which turns into a patch on my arm. There are some that show up, fill with clear fluid (could be oil but it does not seem as viscous) and have no hair that I see or ever find.

I have tried leaving them alone for weeks on end, very few just go away on their own. If I can get the hair or the balled up hair out of my skin, they heal much much faster...for the most part. Sweating seems to make them worse, I have not shaved anything other than my head/face for the last few years, yet these keep coming back and them seem to come back in the same area each time. I have scars from some of them now, I have tried several ointments (prescription) and antibiotics as well, nothing has helped.  

I also get hot spots, for lack of a better description, in my goatee, to the point I have to shave all the hair off for them to heal and go away.

I can post a photo if needed, ANY ideas?

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi

This sounds like a severe case of ingrown hair. Although, we need to rule out a disorder of the hair follicles themselves. Have you noted if several hairs grow out from a single hair follicle? At this point, there may be an overlying infection. You may need to apply topical antibiotics like Mupirocin over the area. This may help bring down the swelling and the inflammation. I also suggest that you have the area biopsied to obtain a definite diagnosis. Ingrown hairs may benefit from laser therapy.

[johnw44]

First let me thank you for replying, both me and my GP are out of ideas at this point, however I am going to be finding a new Dermatologist very soon. Yes I do have multiple hairs that grow out of one spot. There are times when you get one hair out another full grown hair will just pop out right behind it.

The lower shaft of the hairs are normally covered with a thick and sometimes long root or at least I think it's the root. Been through the expensive cream route, no help at all. My biggest concern is that this is due to some of the meds I currently take or have taken. I have damage in the nerve root area of my L5, RA and chronic pain..it's a long list. We are talking about years of Vicodin, Oxycontin, Fentanyl and various other meds including a couple months worth of Viox.

Is there anything else that could cause it, like lack of some vitamin or god knows what in my system. Due to all the drugs I take, I get a full blood work up every six months and the only thing we have found is low Potassium and Triglycerides so I take a supplement and fish oil for the Omega 3.

Thanks again.

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi

I understand that this is quite discomforting. However, I think that this may not be due to the underlying drugs or medications you took.This may be a localized skin condition. This may be associated with seborrheic dermatitis which may be fungal in origin. The exact cause of seborrheic dermatitis is not exactly known. Weather and stress have been factors in the development of seborrheic dermatitis which may present as yellowish and greasy scales on the skin.

Has your doctor considered seborrheic dermatitis here?

[johnw44]

No she has not, I will mention this to her when I talk to her about sending me to a new Dermatologist.

Thanks for the information Vanessa, as you can tell I am looking for ANY reason at the moment. I feel dirty and embarrassed by this problem and I have pretty thick skin, normally nothing like this would bother me. At least now I have a new direction to go :)


Thank you very much.