Key Takeaways
- Folliculitis is often induced when hair follicles turn into infected.
- Wearing free clothes and taking fast showers may help forestall folliculitis by lowering warmth and sweat.
- For treating folliculitis, dermatologists counsel utilizing cleansers with salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide and contemplating laser hair elimination.
If you have ever seen laborious, raised bumps in your legs, you’ll have assumed that what you had was pimples. Whether or not you expertise breakouts in your face, it is a regular assumption. After all, they’ve quite a lot of similarities, which logically leads individuals to imagine they’ve pimples on their legs. However, more often than not that is not the case.
“It is exceedingly rare for acne to occur on the legs,” says California–primarily based board-certified dermatologist Annie Chiu. Instead, she says the raised bumps may very well be folliculitis, which simply means there’s irritation within the hair follicles. Furthermore, she says they have an inclination to manifest round leg hairs and that even the smallest, thinnest hair can turn into infected. Hence, the looks of leg pimples.
However, distinguishing folliculitis from pimples could be a bit tough. Dr. Chiu says that typically folliculitis bumps might be pus-filled and crusty, making individuals assume it is a breakout. “They can itch or burn and be painful,” she provides. And whereas most circumstances of folliculitis resolve themselves, when you discover that it “happens abruptly or develops yellow crusting, it needs to be cultured by a dermatologist to rule out a bacterial an infection.”
But as with all pores and skin circumstances, though the manifestation might be irritating and complicated, there are a handful of actions you may take. So, we requested Dr. Chiu together with dermatologists, Stacy Chimento and Shari Marchbein to share what causes folliculitis, the right way to deal with it, and the right way to forestall it within the first place. See their solutions, under.
What Causes Folliculitis?
Folliculitis outcomes from a variety of particular situations, lots of which we will deal with on our personal. That’s as a result of as Dr. Chiu explains, “ingrown hairs, or heat, sweat, and occlusion” are the most typical causes. These causes are fairly frequent experiences for most individuals, however happily, there are behavioral adjustments we will make that can typically assist deal with folliculitis.
How to Prevent Folliculitis:
To forestall folliculitis, watch out for tight clothes. Dr. Chimento recommends “opting for looser, cotton clothing whenever possible, and make sure to change out of sweaty clothes and shower right after if you’ve been sweating or at the gym.”
Another key? Pay consideration to your hair elimination strategies. While it is likely to be annoying, it’s in all probability finest to cease shaving within the areas folliculitis is going on altogether—and it’s not advisable to begin once more till your pores and skin is healed. When you do shave, nevertheless, Dr. Chiu says to make use of shaving cream, shave within the path of hair progress, use a pointy razor, exfoliate afterwards, after which moisturize instantly after. She recommends lotions with soothing substances akin to oatmeal, which might be present in Aveeno’s Daily Moisturizing Lotion.
How Is Folliculitis Treated?
Treatment typically combines each prescription and over-the-counter topicals. Dr. Marchbein recommends “cleansers that feature ingredients like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide—like PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash which has 10% benzoyl peroxide—followed by topical antibiotics like Clindamycin lotion twice daily.” In extreme circumstances, she notes, “oral antibiotics are sometimes used.”
Furthermore, in case your chosen methodology of hair elimination appears to be inflicting or worsening your folliculitis, Dr. Chiu recommends contemplating laser hair elimination instead.