Found a relief solution - thank goodness!

Hi all,

New here, but today I just figured out a treatment that surpassed everything I've tried for the past 20 years.

Benzoyl Peroxide

Yes...zit cream.

Rub it on the surface of the boil/abscess. keep doing that, and it will reach the surface. Just like it does for acne. after all, what is a boil but a giant pimple, right?

I've been living with HS forever, it seems. It started with a stupid idea to Wax instead of Shave back in 2001, and has made my life miserable ever since. Granted I do have other genetic skin conditions - eczema, ichthyosis, curly hairs that don't like to leave the skin - but once HS kicked in it was like a bad skin party.

I've tried warm compresses, ichthammol ointment, lancing, I've gotten so adept with tweezers in my left hand (I'm a righty) that I should consider myself ambidextrous. Nothing really worked when the "bump" left boil territory and became abscess.

Until today.

First I want to thank the person who suggested putting a maxi pad in the shirt sleeve as a bandage instead of taping on gauze. My skin thanks you too.

Amateur scientists and doctors that we have to be with this, I keep trying to analyze the situation and come at it from its own terms. A pressure-sensitive bubble, in a place that is constantly under pressure (either inner thighs or armpits). If your skin is like mine, it gets tough with irritation, not soft, so the surface works against bringing anything to a head.

Path of least resistance will push it inward, not out. Unless you make the surface the least resistant. In comes Benzoyl Peroxide, which dries the surface skin layer by layer.

I started the experiment on a ping-pong sized boil last night. Darned thing hurt like the dickins, and holding my arm awkwardly to avoid pain was starting to bother my back and shoulders. Today I taped a pad inside the sleeve of my shirt, put Boil Ease numbing ointment around the perimeter of the boil and Clean N Clear Persa-gel 10 right on the surface where I wanted it to burst. Then off to work I went hoping no one noticed the Stayfree accessory.

I applied it 2 times this morning, and by 2:15 this afternoon it popped - not where I wanted it to, but out of a sinus tract hole from the HS. Even better! Open those puppies right up!

A month ago I had one lanced that reached golf ball size after 2 weeks of trying everything else. This one burst in 3 days. YES!!!!!!

So I share with you. The complete regimen for the past 3 days was bandage with Ichthammol ointment and warm compresses for the first 48 hours of trying, and then 8 hours of zit cream and a maxi pad, and poof! I don't think the compresses or ointment did a thing. I really think the zit cream provided a path of least resistance that allowed the pressure to push out instead of in.

If this works for you, you're welcome! 😀 If it doesn't, hey...HS affects us all differently.

But I am glad that I'm not the only one with this problem. I never would have thought of the maxi pad, and never would have been able to share this possible relief solution.

Best of Luck!

-V