Does this look like HS to you?
Hi all, I’ve not been officially diagnosed with HS as I’m finding it very hard to get a dermatologist appointment. I had bad acne on my face which cleared up with isotetrotonin (accutane) but hasn’t made any affect to the boils and spots I get on my breasts, inner thighs, bottom and under my armpits. I’ve done a lot of research and found that these are all the places you usually get HS and they do not usually respond to isotetrotonin. I have been diagnosed with foliculitus in the past but I really do think it’s HS. Can people look at the image and see what they think? This is just one example of a very painful boil I have on my bottom at the moment. Thanks so much 😀 
Hello. Some HS patients have tried Accutane with mixed results. I haven't gone that route, so I can't speak to that, but I'm not sure it can be completely dismissed as a treatment. As far as your picture goes, it's difficult to tell - just like it's difficult for you to take a picture of yourself in that particular area. I completely understand! Maybe you can think of the HS lesions like an iceberg. They have the part that sticks out on top, like the part of the iceberg that is floating above water, but then the part that you can't see below the water, or the part of the lesion we can't see, is all filled up with blood products and infection and it's ready and waiting to come out. When you press around the "top," but you don't actually touch it, on the larger lesions you can feel the bigger circumference below the skin. It might feel a bit like a big blister or it might feel spongy. It will still register as painful. It may be tempting to force this open so it drains, but nearly 100% of the time this causes the lesion to fill up with infection again and form scar tissue, so try to avoid that and see if it will open on its own. Even though I can't say for certain this is HS, I can say that is the best way to handle this as your skin goes through this invasion. Wishing you all the best! ~Chelsea (Team Member)
