Avoiding Foliculitis

[Carolyn Marie]

I have two laser treatments and got foliculitis immediately following both. This despite the fact that I iced my face and used the post-treatment skin cream recommended (rather expensive stuff, too, BTW). My face looks like that of a very pimply teenager (no offense to any teens).

Has anyone had this happen to them, and is there any way to prevent it or at least minimize it? It does go away in a few days, but they are an awkward few days. Thanks

Carolyn Marie

[Guest julia_d]

It happens to me as well .. just have to live with it I'm afraid. Seems to be caused by the dead hair and dead follicles in the skin. Only thing I can suggest is an astringent beauty type attack with a rather harsh exfoliant to get the dead hair out and strip that layer of scorched skin as soon as possible. It seems to be a trauma response from the skin which is setting the sebbacious glands into overdrive (they are supposed to oil the hairs) and as there is no hair any more the sebum has nowhere to go so builds up in the now defunct follicle instead. I'm not having another session for another 4 weeks, but I am determined to remember to ask for my own interest as well.. watch this space. I will report back.

One thing I found helped lots was to hide away for a couple of days after the burn and let it "grow out" before cutting it off, but now I have 99% white ones left that isn't an option because I can't pass as a hairy guy no matter how hard I try (forgot how over the last 10 years) without the dark stubble to cue people. So I zip off what is showing while still at the laser place.. and I think that makes matters worse. What I haven't tried is shaving then wiping over with surgical alcohol immediately after to clean out the skin and make it sterile.. must give that a shot next time. The angry spots are caused by the sebum blockages getting invaded by strep/staph bacteria which upset the skin something rotten... same as acne really.. the condition is similar.

[Guest ~Brenda~]

Sounds to me Carolyn...

You just have to endure puberty all over again

HUGS

Brenda

[Guest julia_d]

nope.. sebbaceous folliculitis is a known condition (old name sycosis barbae) and is usually caused by blunt razor blades and shaving in cold water. It's also accentuated by ingrowing hairs..

Some lasers actually carbonize the hair in the follicle.. and maybe your skin doesn't like that very much. It may settle of it's own accord or it may not.. by all means try some of the (rather hopeless) over the counter acne treatments, but medically one of the best drugs (and prescribed for it) is spiro.. hehehehe

[Guest sarah f]

I am sorry Carolyn you are having to go through that after each treatment. I don't know who you go to or what type of laser but I haven't had that problem with the company I am going to. Hopefully you only have a few more treatments and you won't have to worry about it anymore. Like Brenda said, maybe you are just going through puberty again. You are a newly budding woman.

Love,

Sarah F

[Carolyn Marie]

Thanks for the advice, especially yours, Julia.

I may try the exfoliant approach; however my skin is sensitive and that may aggravate things.

The good thing is that, with the skin cream supposedly designed for laser therapy, the acne goes away

after 4-5 days. I'm pretty sure that with each subsequent treatment there wil be fewer active follicles

to mess with, and the problem will be less each time.

Only four more to go, and then just spot treatments as needed. I can live with that. I can't wait for the

day I don't have to shave any more, forever.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest viv]

Best of luck Carolyn. With your sensitive skin yeh, go easy with

exfoliating . I woulda guessed a deep cleanser BUT hate to call

it as its your face hun. Go with the cream your using ,,,6 months

and those spots etc are history , luv.viv

[Guest rachael1]

Sorry to hear this Carolyn,

I don't have this problem however my face is sore and sensitive for a couple of days afterwards, and looks like I have sunburn.

I shave before my session and only use eucalyptus oil and soak my face with a cold flannel afterwards until the heat goes away.

Maybe you should go out and buy yourself some clearasil.

Love

Rachael

[Guest Elizabeth K]

I do electrolysis rather than LASER - but the effects can be the same.

I can tell you what DOESN"T work! Alcohol swabs! It makes your face burn (like something is going on) - but I think it just kills ALL bacteria and opens you up to an invasion of bad bacteria. If I remember my bacteriology classes in college (auggggh- med school aspirations) you face need a folia of protective bacteria and yeasts to take up space so the staph and worse has no room to grow.

So that said - you might look at the mechanics of the laser. What is happening? I don't know for certain but it seems likely the distruction of cells (LASER) is causing a protective reaction and your face is ejecting 'foreign' (dead) material. This opens you up for bacterial infections, and the body is 'unusually ready to defend' - so the response is 'mega.'

You may just have to 'spot treat' (no pun intended) the erruptions with an antibiotic cream.

With electrolysis the mechanism is different - a removal' of tissue - but it opens the holes the folicles were one using. So there is where the infection can start. But the body has to have time to prepare a defense, so the apparent infection takes a day or two. In this case it is possible to chemically and 'cold pack' treat to close the pores.

Shaving? Obviously you are cutting holes in live skin by 'topping off' projections, plus you are cutting hairs which sometimes drop below the top of the skin and cannot easily 'grow out.' Shaving is a monsterous thing to do to your face (and other body areas)!

NOW

What DOES work - when the apparent infection seems likely - use a multi-type antibioltic cream - over the entire face. Kills everything and allows the body defences t time to do the internal work without a reintroduction of new cultures from without. BUT if you get a bad infection that overcomed the antibiotic - watch out! SO use this method only when absolutely necessary.

Like taking antibioltic pills, tooooo much is a bad thing!

Hope this helps

Lizzy

[Guest NadineB]

I am doing electrolysis and what I do for aftercare is wipe the area with alchole and then apply light witch hazel gel 3-4 times a day. It has a cooling effect and also reduces reddness. If it appears to get infected don't scratch or squeeze. Clean with alchol and then swab with peroxide. Alchol can really dry the skin so moisturise. Use icepacks to cool the area too, reduces swelling. Hope this helps.

Luv Nadine

[Carolyn Marie]

Thanks again ladies for all the wonderful ideas and advice.

I'm happy to say that this time around the pimpleitis only lasted about 4 days and was not nearly as bad as the first time.

I made sure to moisturize much more frequently.

Carolyn Marie