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HJH2929 , 02 Jun 2021

Ingrown Hairs, ALL over face.. in my mouth now

So, I’ve been picking my skin aggressively on and off since I was about 18. I shaved my face once at 19 and I think it just started me with a world of problems. I am 26 now. When I was about 23 I had a bad picking incident where I would get like a red little zit, but it would feel like an ingrown hair so I’d like pull at it and ultimately the skin wound would get larger and larger until I like, would pull out a hair. I got three large wounds on my face at that point and was freaking out because I was absolutely finding so many hairs like coming out of my skin, some two inches long. I finally stopped picking and let my skin heal and everything was fine, until recently. I pick at a zit and the same thing happened, although it’s been about 5 months now and it’s only gotten progressively worse. My forehead cheeks chin eyelids every where I find these blond hairs sometimes even dark ones, I’m a brunette. I went to a dermatologist and she told me I was imagining it, I’m definitely not. It’s to the point where like, I’ve started finding them inside my mouth, literally like in the back of my mouth on my cheeks or on my tongue. And that’s the scariest part. On my tongue I am pulling hairs out like, sometimes 5 small white hairs at a time, connected kind of, or I’d say like tangled together, and I can feel them coming out of my tongue. I have this on video. And it’s so bad sometimes I can’t even eat and half the time I’ll be able to get them the other half I spend hours trying to pull one out but it like will slip back into my mouth and all the while it’s also happening on my face and it’s almost enough to make me want to die I feel like it makes my heart palpitate because my body is under so much stress and I truly don’t know what to do. I have so many videos now of me pulling hairs out of my mouth or off my face or out of my nose even and I literally like want to die because it is torture having these things in my mouth. I can deal with them on my face but it’s sickening to feel hairs in my mouth. I have even started pulling some like somehow from between my teeth and I can absolutely feel it and sometimes they are like white balls but I look closely and it’s clearly like a little hair rolled up. I’m absolutely not imagining it and I cried when I went to the dermatologist because she told me I needed to see my psychiatrist because it isn’t possible. It clearly is possible because it’s happening to me and I’ve had others witness it, my mom and my dad only because I’m terrified of showing anyone else and having them make me feel crazy and even more hopeless. It’s only been 6 months of this and I already have contemplated suicide because of how scary and horrible it feels and, I just feel like there’s no end. My skin will look better in some places but how do I know it’s not going to just keep being that way forever? I can’t live this way. Someone please help. Or any advice at all like I need my life saved and it could even be cancer if you ask me but she didn’t even take two minutes to actually look and I’ve been scared to go back to another doctor because I felt so ashamed

3 Answers
indentioner
February 10, 2022

Hi there.  I just finished reading your post. First I hope this finds you doing better than you were when you initially wrote this. Second have you ever looked into morgellens?

BrittVanSoest
February 14, 2022

Hi HJH2929, 

Please let us know that you are ok. It’s very scary that you are so distraught you’ve thought about suicide. I’ve been there and want you to know you are not alone. Please let us know you are alright, ok?

You will get through this ❤️

changing4good33
October 20, 2022

Hey there. I too am sorry you are so distraught over this but I can 100% relate. A lot of your story is almost exactly like mine. I started with one ingrown hair and kept picking and kept finding more until I had a bunch of wounds on my face, a messed up hairline and half an eyebrow. I was also told I was crazy but I was pulling out long hairs (usually white) that were growing under my skin. Thankfully I was able to stop picking at them a few years ago and the wounds healed but I have a lot of scars on my face.   

BUT I found a couple ingrown hairs like 2 months ago and have a big open wound on my chin from picking at it as I type this. I am doing everything I can to not pick at it anymore but when I see the ingrown hairs it is hard to ignore it. And there are a bunch in there. My wife didn’t believe me until I showed her. I tried to pluck one out and it slipped from the tweezer and the whole hair went back in deeper than before. It is extremely bizarre but if I know one thing it’s that picking at them only makes it 100x worse. Not that I can totally stop myself, trust me I know it’s hard, but I have found some things that help.  

I try not to look in mirrors as much as possible especially up close and lately I’ve been putting pimple stickers over any suspected ingrown hair. They visibly suck the puss out and seeing that makes me feel a little better. The pimple-like bumps are still coming though and there is always a hair (usually white) under it. I have sebborheic dermatitis so not sure if it is related but I started using retinol so hopefully that helps. I also gave my wife the tweezers and made a rule that if there is a hair that really needs to come out she will be the one that does it. Maybe you could do that with your parents and if they really see what you are going through they could come to the doctor with you and back you up. I hope this helps a little and if you ever find out that there is something causing this please let me know!

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