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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Treatment For Infected Ingrown Hair In The Armpit

Hello for a few years I have had an ingrown hair under my right armpit. I would squeeze it and thick white puss would come out, and kinda had an odor to it. It happened a few times. Now it s like I have extra skin there kind of a lump, soft but hurts when I apply pressure . Again it s been a few yrs and I should have gotten it looked at. Any advice what this might be? My left armpit is fine, I tried to push on it to see and both underarms hurt but no bump on the left underarm?
Fri, 30 May 2014
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Dermatologist 's  Response
Hello and welcome to healthcaremagic

I would keep a possibility of recurrent furuncle/Boil OR Hidradenitis suppurativa

Furuncle/Boil is bacterial infection of the skin and soft tissue whereas Hidradenitis Suppurative is a disease of the apocrine sweat glands bearing sites like perineaum, axilla, areola etc where the inciting factor is follicular occlusion with secondary bacterial colonization.

The best way to approach is to start on an empirical oral antibiotic for a week OR 10 days (My choice of oral antibiotic would have been Amoxycillin 500mg in combination with clavulanic acid 125 mg, thrice daily, for a week OR Cephalexin 500ng thrice daily OR Cefadroxil 500mg twice daily, for a week). This would take care of the infection.

An OTC antibacterial cream/ointment e.g 2% mupirocin can be applied twice daily.

An OTC pain killer e.g ibuprofen once or twice daily would help you deal with the pain.

I would also suggest a blood sugar test to rule out diabetes.

Avoid shaving in that area.

regards
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Suggest Treatment For Infected Ingrown Hair In The Armpit

Hello and welcome to healthcaremagic I would keep a possibility of recurrent furuncle/Boil OR Hidradenitis suppurativa Furuncle/Boil is bacterial infection of the skin and soft tissue whereas Hidradenitis Suppurative is a disease of the apocrine sweat glands bearing sites like perineaum, axilla, areola etc where the inciting factor is follicular occlusion with secondary bacterial colonization. The best way to approach is to start on an empirical oral antibiotic for a week OR 10 days (My choice of oral antibiotic would have been Amoxycillin 500mg in combination with clavulanic acid 125 mg, thrice daily, for a week OR Cephalexin 500ng thrice daily OR Cefadroxil 500mg twice daily, for a week). This would take care of the infection. An OTC antibacterial cream/ointment e.g 2% mupirocin can be applied twice daily. An OTC pain killer e.g ibuprofen once or twice daily would help you deal with the pain. I would also suggest a blood sugar test to rule out diabetes. Avoid shaving in that area. regards