follicilitus help

Hi everyone,

I have self-diagnosed myself with follicilitus,

I have it in two areas.

The first area is in my head towards the back of my head and behind the ears in the hair. It usually starts off as one or two spots that are soft and have a white/yellow colour and sometimes raised red bumps.

Before you know it they spread allover the back of my head towards the sides like wildfire. They are very painful.

After 3-4 days some of the spots then dry out to become hard yellow crusty scabs surrounded by red skin.

My hair routine : I use head and shoulders daily as I have greasy hair. I do not put any conditioner in my hair. My hair length is short to medium in a slicked back style and I rarely use any hair product.

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The second Acne flair up happens around my mouth. It stars off as one spot like a white head and quickly spreads to my top lip and chin within a day or two.

I do get the odd couple on the side of my jaw line but nowhere as painful or severe as the Acne around my mouth.

Shaving is sometimes impossible and generally I end up looking like a murder scene with cut spots and everything else.


My face routine : I wash my face with hot water from the shower and then apply a plain non scented soap and scrub my face with a soft facial brush. I then moisturise with Seba-medal or cocoa-butter as I get dry skin.

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Generally my skin is extremely oily allover my body.

I never get an Acne flare up on my forehead, body, arms, legs, privates or on top of my head.


I asked my GP---
He tried me on Co-amoxiclav 3x a day for two weeks. Result - really works fast - makes the scalp acne crusty then turns to scab. Clears chin fast. Came back 10days after course completed

The GP then swabbed my scalp on the next flare up and around my nose and mouth - all skin and scalp levels normal no staph reported.

GP then gave a one month course of Flucloxicillin. After 10days the flare up looked controlled but then became worse and new spots on scalp and chin appeared.

Amoxicillin was then given for a chest infection 4 day course - Cleared spots really quickly kept a flare up at bay for 4 weeks then came back.

GP agreed I need to see a dermatologist, done a referral, can take up to 6months.

So it seems the penicillin composition works but does not cure what ever is causing the flare ups.

Any suggestions would be great as I am sick of this. I did notice my glands get swollen during flare ups.

Regards,

JJ Tweet