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Ingrown pubic hair, swollen inguinal lymph node
Hello, I am a 31 year old mother of two in a monogamous relationship with my husband of 7 years. I am in excellent health (as far as I know) and am having a problem with an ingrown hair. About a week ago, I noticed an ingrown hair along my right groin area, just outside of my labia where my underwear rests. I plucked the infected hair, ignored it and assumed that it would heal, it was not painful or large at the time. It has progressively gotten larger and feels almost like a rubbery pea, but the "head" of the pimple is no longer there and on the surface there appears to be no infection although it is red and warm to the touch. When I walk, it now causes rubbing and discomfort and the size has not decreased. My big concern is that I now have a very tender, swollen inguinal lymph node on the same side. The lymph node pain has been present for about 3 days and does not seem to be getting better. I have excellent medical insurance, but don't want to make an unnecessary appointment if this is not something to be concerned about. If I am fighting some type of common bacterial infection, do these usually heal without medical treatment? Could the swollen lymph node be a sign of something more serious, such as a staph infection? I have a 10 month old baby and an immunocompromised 6 year old and am concerned that if it is a form of staph or something similar and I inadvertently infect them it cause serious problems with their health. I am also concerned about developing some type of systemic infection. Thank you for your input/advice.
I have tried the tea bag thing and it works great! It usually brings it to a head over night, or even drains right into the tea bag. I hope the treatment helped.
Beckaroo1996
Beckaroo1996
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi!
It IS possible that you have a staph infection in the hair follicle. It sounds fairly minor, because if it were serious, I would expect to see it rapidly increasing in size, red, and warm to the touch. The lymph gland is probably handling the drainage from the infected follicle.
If you were my patient, I would probably ask you to come in, and I would possibly lance the abcess (if it is an abcess) and possibly treat with antibiotics.
Alternatively, you could try using warm (not hot) tea bags applied like poultice to the area to bring the infection to a head and help it drain on its own.
Because of your 6 year old, and because MRSA is becoming much more prevalent in the community, I wouldn't want you to waste too much time trying to treat at home.
I hope this helps!
Good luck!
Dr B
It IS possible that you have a staph infection in the hair follicle. It sounds fairly minor, because if it were serious, I would expect to see it rapidly increasing in size, red, and warm to the touch. The lymph gland is probably handling the drainage from the infected follicle.
If you were my patient, I would probably ask you to come in, and I would possibly lance the abcess (if it is an abcess) and possibly treat with antibiotics.
Alternatively, you could try using warm (not hot) tea bags applied like poultice to the area to bring the infection to a head and help it drain on its own.
Because of your 6 year old, and because MRSA is becoming much more prevalent in the community, I wouldn't want you to waste too much time trying to treat at home.
I hope this helps!
Good luck!
Dr B
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