Fleshy Plugs Under Skin In Pores on Face

[M7166]

there is a spot on my nose that i've rubbed raw washing, trying to get these "things" out of my pores.  these are not whiteheads, nor blackheads.  these are clusters of white or fleshy hard and sticky plugs-- not filled with anything, but they stick straight out from the pores. They are not bumps.  If I rub the area w/ a towel they do not rub off at all.  I tried to remove one with tweezers, and it was very tacky (as in sticky)  and clearly goes deep under the skin.  Part of it broke off but I could still see that the pore was plugged and a day or two later top of the plug was sticking out again. i can't find ANYTHING online that looks like it.  

[bean0bean]

I've also had this issue for about 20 years! It starts as a cystic acne lesion and just never heals. They mostly seem to occur in the winter when my skin is dry. I admit I pick at them. They eventually form a scaly layer on top. And yes, I've pulled the "plugs" out with tweezers too. I've gotten some of them to heal this way, but not always. Not sure if the plug is just my hair follicle that I am pulling out. I've seen several dermatologists with little help. I've tried topical steroid, steroid injections, prescription acnes creams, none of which worked at clearing the problem. Even tried cryosurgery. It worked well on one lesion but did nothing for a few I have had for years. A day in the sun at the beach has been the best cure I've discovered so far. I've had lesions I'd had for months disappear in a few days after a day at the beach. I also found blister bandages helpful. I had a lesion on my back for years that nothing helped. I covered it with a blister bandage, only changing it once a week. It took about 6 weeks, but it finally healed after years! Harder to do this with the ones on my face because I would feel awkward wearing a bandage on my face in public for that long...but I guess it's really no worse than a crusty lesion.

[Aenika]

I'm skeptical about parasitic nature of this condition, but found at another forum such suggestion:

"Pelodera (Rhabditis) strongyloides is a small saprophytic nematode it can invade the mammalian skin, causing a pruritic, erythematous, alopecic and crusting dermatitis on skin sites that come into contact with the ground.

Diagnosis of the disease is based on case history.with characteristic skin lesions and on the demonstration of typical larvae in skin scrapings or biopsy.

Pelodera (rhabditic) dermatitis cases have been reported mainly from typical histopathological lesions (epidermal hyperplasia, epidermal and follicular hyperkeratosis, folliculitis and furunculosis with large numbers of nematode larvae of 25–40 μm of diameter within hair follicles) were present Central European countries and the United States".

[LGP76]

As nursery1989 has said..its def a yeast infection..as I wrote above I blve it is a form of folliculitis that presents as acne. I got a script for nystatin fungal ointment to treat yeast infections 2 days ago and it works extremely well. Yrs ago when I first wrote here and they were full blown sores prescription silver cream healed them. Now im back to hvng laser treatmnt..taking a probiotic and using fungal cream I now hve it bck under control....

[straymanatee]

I had one if these lesion on my chin that had grown about the size of a pencil eraser that was raised and would not go away for over a year.  I finally had my family doctor cut it off and had 5 stitches.  I will have a little scar there but it will be better than a raised, itchy, peeling irritated skin lesion.  I don't think anyone is ever going to really figure out what these are for sure and dermatologists do not seem to know or be very interested from multiple posts I read.  I had another one of these in 2004 just under my chin and had it cut off also back in 2004.  Whenever I see a little place come up that looks like the start of one I immediately put Mario Badescu Buffering Lotion on it and it goes completely away usually within a 24 hour period.  You can buy this at Ulta or Nordstroms or Mario Badescu online site.  Mario Badescu has some wonderful skin care products.  I think the secret to controlling these things is to never ever pick at it at the start of it and "nip it in the bud" so to speak by putting something to dry it up or dissolve it at the start.  I think other products would probably keep them from forming too like Margarete zinc cream for problem skin found at health food stores, tea tree oil, etc. I picked at this lesion is why it kept growing and getting bigger.  I would pick at without thinking. It started as one tiny white hard dot under the skin and if you pick and inflame it it multiplies into multiple white dots that turn into those rice like plug things.  It's hard not to pick it so put a round dot bandaid over it and leave it alone.  I have really clear skin except for an occasional lesion like this.  I really don't think it would develop if I just didn't pick it.  My family doctor thinks problems like these start in the "gut" by eating too much gluten and not eating healthy whole food diet.  She could be right but there is no way to prove it. Good luck everyone and please stop picking  - it just makes it worse.

[NURSEY1989]

It is yeast of the skin if you will. I would get them to. Touching my face to much would irritate pores that were filled with this candida toxin. Your body tries to flush excess yeast out every way it can. It helps to was your face with dial soap to ease the inflammation. If you can stand waiting your body with absorb it. Its is a form of folliculitis.

[hifrequency]

I hope this works for you and everyone here! I had this problem for 2 years and it’s destroyed my face and I lost almost all of my hair.  I almost put my gun in my mouth at one point. Having my own doctor accusing me of taking drugs as I was begging him to help me was a pretty low point for me. I read a post on a different forum and this woman said to use salt. I went to lowes and got a 40lb bag of salt. I think it was around $8? I took a bath twice a day and in those baths I put a full red solo cup full of the salt pellets and would lay on my stomach just placing my face under the water for as long as I could doing that over and over. I would stay in for about 30 minutes and I had the water as hot as I could take it. I brought in a cold water so when I would got too hot I would lay on my back in the water with my head almost covered with water with just enough of my mouth out to keep the water bottle in my mouth. This kept me from overheating. Within a month, they were gone!


I went about 2 months of not showering not bathing and not using salt and they just came back. So it’s not a cure but I'm ok with salt baths for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes!

[Helen_55]

God bless you, hifrequency!

[luna2552]

Hey Hifrequency, what type of salt are you using? sea salt or pink salt, or just the normal iodine cocking salt?  does still working for you?  Thanks for sharing.

[LGP76]

I wrote very earlier on in this thread when I had a terrible outbreak about prescription silver cream clearing up these lesions...I then went months without any..I then had another smaller outbreak...ive done it all docs..antibiotics..topical creams..tee tree oil..acne washes...did nothing...aftr yr of research and I blve was mentioned in this thread I do believe it is malassezia pityrosporum folliculitis. Everything ive read about this matches maj of our symptoms...recently I had 2 show up...I used nizoral fungal cream and nizoral dandruff shampoo as a wash for my face...has worked a treat...bfre this break out I also had laser hair removal on my upper lip and chin...as I hve very dark hair I used to get random dark hairs...I found when I had this I didnt suffer from these lesions...in last few months I moved to a humid area where sweating is the norm...I also cldnt complete my laser as im in a very small town. Soon as humidity came and laser stopped...I had small outbreak..I used nizoral and found it worked along with taking probitics...as was prev mntd in this thread by anthr member im convinced its malassezia pityrosporum folliculitis...its fungal..yeast...presents like pimple and is often misdiagnosed as acne by docs who prescribe antibodies and topical treatments that simply dont work and aftr researching malassezia pityrosporum folliculitis actually make it worse...only thing that has worked has been fungal creams...I bought nizoral aftr reading much feedback...my face is now clear of these things..best of luck to you all...

[Aenika]

LGP76, thank you!

Yes, this description of Piturosporum looks like our case:

Splendore-Hoeppli phenomenon in Pityrosporum folliculitis (pseudoactinomycosis of the skin)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1939789
And more:
“Involved follicles are dilated and often plugged with keratinous material and debris. There is a mild chronic inflammatory cell infiltrate around the infundibular portion of the follicle. Intrafollicular deposits of mucin are sometimes present. If serial sections are examined, disruption of the follicular epithelium is sometimes found, with basophilic granular debris, keratinous material, neutrophils, and other inflammatory cells in the perifollicular dermis .  A few foreign-body giant cells may also be present when rupture of the follicle has occurred. A PAS or silver methenamine stain will reveal spherical to oval yeast-like organisms, 2–4 µm in diameter. These organisms are sometimes budding. They are found most often in the follicle, but following rupture they can also be found in the perifollicular inflammatory exudate.  Sometimes a few hyphae can also be seen. Pseudoactinomycotic granules have been reported in two cases.”
Its and abstract from Pityrosporum (Malassezia) folliculitis description from here:
http://plasticsurgerykey.com/mycoses-and-algal-infections-2/#st0070

[luna2552]

Hey LGP76, I have followed your comments since it looks like as me you have visited every single derm and tried it all :)  I agree with you  this is a type of folliculitis not sure if is (malassezia) or Eosinophilic folliculitis but definitely Folliculitis, in my case it started after using nono (hair removal device and dermarroling), I have being using a clotrimazol solution, l wanted to ask you if the nizoral fungal cream still working for you, I found that this solution it does help but always looking to find something else that can help  since I am afraid it may develop some resistance .  Thanks

[Angela123go]

Thank you thank you!! I have the exact same thing and it will not go away! It's been persistent for months. I'm running to the store...