Folliculitis

goodtoknow says: Folliculitis is a common infection of your hair follicles. It?s normally cause by a bacterial infection, staphylococcus aureus. You get crops of small yellow/red pus-filled spots, normally where there?s friction to your skin. Eg, areas where you shave or where hair follicles get blocked such as armpits, arms, buttocks and chin. Sometimes using a steroid cream can trigger an outbreak of folliculitis. It should clear up on its own within a week. If it doesn?t, try an antibacterial cream from your chemist. If you have folliculitis don?t share flannels, towels or razors.

For a full medical explanation of the causes, symptoms and treatment of folliculitis from patient.co.uk, read on

Folliculitis is a crop of infected hair follicles. It is not usually serious, and mild cases will usually clear on their own. Antibiotics are sometimes needed if it is more severe or extensive.

What is folliculitis?

Folliculitis is an inflammation of a number of hair follicles of the skin. (Most of the skin is covered with tiny hairs which grow out of hair follicles.) Most cases are due to an infection with a bacterium (germ) called Staphylococcus aureus. The affected hair follicles swell into small pus-filled pimples.

Each individual pimple looks like a small, rounded, yellow-red spot. They occur in crops, usually at sites where hair follicles are damaged by friction or shaving, or where there is blockage of the follicle. Sometimes using a steroid cream on the face can trigger a bout of folliculitis. The most common site affected is the beard area of men. Other common sites for folliculitis are the arms, legs, armpits and buttocks.
The difference between folliculitis and boils is that: boils tend to be larger and single. Folliculitis is a crop of small infected spots. (See separate leaflet on boils.) Also, acne can look similar to folliculitis. The difference is that acne is not just a straight-forward infection of the hair follicle. (See separate leaflet on acne.)