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?