If early treatments don't clear up your infection, your health care provider may run some tests. These tests might include: Scraping of the skin to look for yeast under the microscope. Obtaining a swab for culture to determine the cause of infection.
Eosinophilic pustular folliculitis (Ofuji disease) does not respond to systemic antibiotics. First line treatment is indomethacin (50 mg/day). Other therapies include UVB phototherapy, minocycline, or dapsone.
The infection can spread and turn into crusty sores. Mild folliculitis will likely heal without scarring in a few days with basic self-care. More-serious or repeat infections may need prescription medicine. Left untreated, severe infections can cause permanent hair loss and scarring.
If your folliculitis does not improve on its own, see your doctor. For persistent cases, a doctor might prescribe medications that are applied to the skin or taken by mouth. For folliculitis caused bacterial infection, a doctor might prescribe a topical antibiotic or antibiotic pills.
Bacterial folliculitis treatment
Severe cases may require topical antibiotic treatment, for example, with mupirocin or clindamycin. Deep folliculitis (furuncles or carbuncles) may require treatment with oral antibiotics like dicloxacillin or cephalexin.
Superficial folliculitis usually presents with multiple small spots and pustules, on an inflamed base, pierced by a central hair, although this might not always be visible. Deeper lesions present as painful, often pustular, inflamed lumps. Persistent or recurrent lesions may result in scarring and permanent hair loss.
Pemphigus vulgaris is an autoimmune blistering disease that commonly involves the scalp. Lesions of pemphigus vulgaris that persist on the scalp for a long period may be accompanied by tufted hair folliculitis.
But sometimes, folliculitis can be more stubborn. It could take longer to clear up if you're not sure what's causing it. It might not respond right away to a certain type of medicine, or it might go away and come back. In some cases, it may take a few months before your skin is back to normal.
Initial treatment of folliculitis includes warm compresses 2-3 times per day. Certain antibacterial soaps including Dial®, Hibiclens® wash or a benzoyl peroxide wash can be helpful, though can irritate the skin. For more severe cases, topical or even oral antibiotics can be used.
Without treatment, bacterial folliculitis may resolve in seven to 10 days or may progress to boils; for some cases of folliculitis, especially those caused by Staphylococcus aureus, a course of oral antibiotics may be administered over seven to 10 days (Laureano 2014).
In less severe types of folliculitis, like Pseudomonas folliculitis (hot tub rash), your symptoms will typically fade within a few days without treatment. If they don't, reach out to your healthcare provider. When you have a more severe case of folliculitis, oral antibiotics may be needed to treat the condition.
A healthcare provider cuts into the sore and drains the fluid (pus) inside. This is called incision and drainage. You may also need to take antibiotic medicine by mouth (oral) or by IV in a vein. You may also need to put antibiotic ointment or cream on the area.
For localised areas of folliculitis, an antibiotic cream may be useful. Fusidic acid is a suitable antibiotic cream that can be applied 3-4 times per day to affected areas. If the folliculitis is thought to be fungal, a different treatment may be used.
Folliculitis can either be mild and short-lived, or a severe, chronic (long-term) issue. Due to the variation in severity, it can sometimes lead to the misconception that folliculitis is nothing more than a passing inconvenience, which can be frustrating to those who have a more severe form.
Alopecia areata is a disease that happens when the immune system attacks hair follicles and causes hair loss. Hair follicles are the structures in skin that form hair. While hair can be lost from any part of the body, alopecia areata usually affects the head and face.
Severe vitamin A and C deficiency may cause folliculitis. [1] In vitamin A deficiency the skin shows follicular hyperkeratosis, dryness and generalised wrinkling. [11] It requires about 2 months of vitamin C deprivation to produce mucocutaneous signs, including perifollicular petechiae and follicular hyperkeratosis.
Herpetic folliculitis (HF) is a rare disease involving hair follicles and sebaceous epithelium, which is caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV) or herpes simplex virus (HSV). These viruses can cause skin or mucosal infections, and thus produce primary and recurrent infections.
Some research suggests that avoiding foods made with wheat can ease your symptoms. Give up the grease. Unhealthy fats, low-fiber foods, and processed products can all lead to flare-ups.
The most common bacteria that cause folliculitis are: staphylococcus aureus (bacterial folliculitis) —commonly found on your skin.
In most cases of folliculitis, the damaged follicles are then infected with the bacterium Staphylococcus. Iron deficiency anemia is sometimes associated with chronic cases.
Clindamycin, topical (Cleocin, Cleocin T, ClindaMax, Clindagel, Evocin) Clindamycin topical solution is a lincosamide for the treatment of serious skin and soft tissue staphylococcal infections.