Hidradenitis treatment
A chronic disease that affects the sweat glands is called hidradenitis. There is no exact known cause of this disease. However, it does not occur before puberty and usually appears in individuals who are between the ages of 20 and 40. The most affected areas on the body are the armpits, groin, scalp and buttocks and genital areas as well as under the breasts. The disease begins with black heads that are connected under the skin which become painful abscesses that do not heal completely. The cyst may start off small and become as large as a baseball. Instead, the abscess becomes like a rope-like scar. Hidradenitis is often misdiagnosed as boils. Hiradenitis treatment is best done in the early stages of the disease. The disease is not contagious.
Hidradenitis treatment options for treating this painful condition include the use of oral antibiotics. These are given to control the inflammation that is associated with the abscesses. The same kind is used to treat acne. However, the antibiotics used to treat hirdadenitis are stronger. They symptoms are also treated with rest, applied moist heat to draw out the pus and a wet dressing. Topical antibiotics may be of some use as well.
Steroid injections are also used as to treat this disease. Steroid injections help to alleviate the inflammation and the pain associated with the abscesses. These injections are often given in conjunction with the use of oral antibiotics. Corticosteroids like prednisone are used. Retinoids are also used to treat the abscess.
Surgery is also another option that is used to treat this disease. Surgery is only recommended if the pain and inflammation is severe. The surrounding tissue is also removed since if just the infected skin area is removed there is a higher risk for a recurrence. There are typically two types of surgeries that can be done. One involves the excision of the affected area of the skin and skin grafting. The other involves excising the affected skin area and a local skin flap cover. When split skin grating is done a healthy section of skin elsewhere on the body is removed and then stitched over the area that had the infected skin removed. When a local skin flap is done it will mean removing the healthy deeper tissue and skin from an unaffected area and grafting it to cover the area of infected and tissue was removed. The difference between a skin graft and a skin flap is that the skin flap still has its blood supply because of the deeper tissue still attached to it. New advances in hidradenitis treatment involve the use of carbon dioxide laser surgery. However, this type of surgery is the resorted to last. Carbon dioxide surgery is extremely expensive and only used for those in the most advanced stages of the disease. Unfortunately, surgery is not guaranteed to bring about lasting relief for this condition.
When lesions are persistent it can lead to scaring. Hidradenitis treatment results will vary from person to person. Sometimes the disease will go into remission with the use of antibiotics. Flare-ups may occur and are often triggered by stress, hormonal changes and stress. Humidity may also trigger a flare up. The treatments can cause the disease to go into remission but there are no cures. An individual can be in remission for years at a time and then suddenly need to undergo surgery to remove a lesion. Since the disease can bring about such pain and there is no consistent cure, the individual may also experience depression need to take anti-depressants. An individual who has hidradenitis should also avoid using antiperspirants and other chemicals on the skin.
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