Chronic Folliculitis

[MDEddy29]

How is your chronic Folliculitis? Still present?
I am in the healthcare field, an internist, and I have also had issues with chronic folliculitis since 3rd year of medical school(6-7 years). I am very healthy otherwise, no health problems. At first it responded with short a course of Doxy. Then I was put on Clinda for suspected MRSA. then  when it came back again I saw an Infectious Disease doc i was put on BactrimDS and this seemed to be the best . I had multiple purulent cultures from follicles sent to the lab(mostly when i was off antibiotics). 6 Cultures drawn total and all are negative except 2 which grew back Enterobacter in heavy growth isolate, a gram negative rod. A month later i had another culture sent and it grew back Klebsiella(gram+).  My ID doc thought these 2 may have been contaminant's, but based on klebsiella sensitivity pattern, tx me with bactrim.  the bactrim seemed to be the only thing that would take the folliculitis completely away, but after 3-4 days off bactrim it would come back even after 6 months on bactrim… I then got switched to minocycline for long term therapy, been on this about 1 year, and taking anywhere from 50mg a day to 200mg if it flares. it's a constant battle. it seems to flare every week.  it's annoying, exhausting and painful to sleep on my pillow at night.  I always wonder why it came back after being completely eradicated on Bactrim. Is this a colonization of some bacteria that never goes away or chronic dermatitis in the scalp causing bacterial reinfection. Or would this condition respond to IV Antibiotics getting the MIC of some drugs very high for better scalp tissue penetration?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Does Mayo or any other facility specialize in this chronic folliculitis. Also, can a follicle biopsy help in this situation? Any advice is greatly appreciated! it's been years since my last culture, maybe i should repeat it?


This discussion is related to Severe Scalp Folliculitis (Seen 4 Dermatologist already).

[thankuforemailingme]

Have you tried using an exfoliating brush and a using a topical product called Kitikiti on the affected areas?

[redted44]

I had this issue but I found out that I was intolerant to gluten and that was causing it. I'm still diagnosed for Celiac Because I am tired of going to the doctor and not being helped. But I believe I may because I also have become lactose intolerant. I stopped consuming Dairy at first and my condition got better. Then after going through several different anti fungal and bacterial drugs, it still wouldn't go away. I stopped consuming gluten and now my condition is almost completely gone. I still believe I have a lasting infection which I have a bottle of doxycycline that I just got refilled that i am contemplating on taking to possibly try and rid of this issue.

[magicalrhino]

Hi MDEddy29, I'm also suffering from this condition and have had no success in controlling it for the past 8 years or so.  It has ruined so much of my life, I can't even begin to describe.  I currently work from home as my condition(s) 'cause me too much pain, discomfort, embarrassment, and whatever other similar word I could use.

I have had about 4 culture swabs, all of which returned negative, and 2 biopsies for Folliculitis Decalvans (another severe condition I have), which gave no clues in respect of the chronic folliculitis.

Every dermatologist I've seen has no clue what to do.  They keep pumping antibiotics into me but clearly none work.  Isotretinoin is the only thing that worked, but like antibiotics, it only works only temporarily  (and has multiple undesirable side-effects).

Symptoms:
- Acne-like pimples across the occipital area and upper neck
- These cause the area to be sore, tender, painful and feels "dry"  (maybe it really is?)
- Turning my face to look around is painful, as it feels like I'm "stretching" the skin behind
- Have to find a particular position how to sleep every night without resting on an affected area
- Can't wear any caps or helmets
- Itching
- Sometimes when I rub some areas due to itching, I find that very short hairs "fall out" and stick to my fingers.  It's like dead hair is resting all over the place.  Don't know if this is normal.
- Some hairs feel "brittle", in the sense that they feel like a shard of glass in my skin

I would also like to mention that my first flare-up started a day after I mistakenly applied a "hair-boost" shampoo.   I'm not sure if it was a Head & Shoulders variant.  To this day, I feel it definitely had something to do with it, but the dermatologist I've seen simply discard this info by saying "nah, we don't know that it has anything to with it".  Of course you don't know!  That's why I'm bloody telling you!  Hehh..

Can you please update your status?  It would be much appreciated by everyone who stumbles upon this thread.