Mysterious Red Bumps

[heyo]

Hey there,

    I have always had a history of acne (mild but involved an occasional cyst), but more recently I have had 2 bumps that start off being tiny red bumps that are hardly noticeable that proceed into being inflamed and getting bigger and more red, then remaining for what has been a little over a month.  They are both in an area of hair on my face so I though at first it was an ingrown hair, but have had no success with warm compresses.  A dermatologist I went to injected one of the larger bumps with kenalog and it has gotten smaller but there is still a hard bump under my skin that will not go away and has inflamed again twice since the injection.  My acne consists of stubborn non-inflamed acne as well, but I was under the impression that non-inflamed acne remains colorless (well white or black comedones) until it becomes inflamed.  An esthetician attempted to extract the bump that was injected but it just proceeded to get bigger and stay under the skin.  Do you have any ideas for me?  I'm at a loss as the dermatologist doesn't have many suggestions, but he also was more concerned with my acne in general and just assumed that this would go away.  Thanks for any information.

[heyo]

Well the thing is, I haven't touched it and it has recurred in the same area 3 times over the course of 2 months.  When it isn't inflamed, it still does not heal like a normal pimple would.  It just looks like its inflamed when there isn't inflammation and it remains in a viscous cycle.  I'm aware that acne leaves knots under the skin, but this certainly does not seem to be the same case (comparatively with my other acne lesions).

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

After acne pimples go away, they often leave small knots of tissue under the skin.  The body reabsorbs them over the course of months.  They go away faster if you leave them alone, which is what you should do.  I don't know where you got the impression "that non-inflamed acne remains colorless (well white or black comedones) until it becomes inflamed."  That is not necessarily the case.  This does not sound like rosacea.  If your dermatologist isn't concerned that it's something else, then I am not either.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[heyo]

Thought I should add, I have a history of extremely mild rosacea in my family, and my cheeks do tend to blush periodically in the area of the bumps but it's never anything prominent.  Maybe it could be related to rosacea though, if that sounds possible to you.