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Those little white plugs and the painful nodules that multiply
Location: Central California
Age: 45
Health in General: Good
Diagnosed Illness: 10+yrs Fibro, Hypersommina/Chronic Fatigue (sleep mean 1.4), Chemical sensitivity, Noise Sensitivity, Allergies to molds, GERD ,Tachycardia, Double jointed through out (means I have shallow joint sockets), Lactose intolerant, IBS
Skin Health:
Youth - tight pores little to no blemishes, very fair completion, no scaring, average sun exposure
Late Teens Early Twenties - mild facial acne, sever back acne.
Late Twenties through Early Thirties - Oily hair that required daily washing, Oily scalp, oily completion, pours slightly visible, light to moderate acne on face with moderate back acne constantly.
Sought Medical Intervention from Dermatologist at age 30 and was prescribed Acutaine
Outcome: EXCELLENT!
Fast Forward 10 years to current:
Strange facial smell. Aprox. 6 open lesions, all on right side of face. Scalp sores, and athletics foot (sever) most of my nails have fallen off.
This began about 3 years ago with an under the skin eruption of what I thought was a pimple. After about 4 to 6 months of attempting to extract all of the congestion, I seen improvement. New nodules began to appear. I developed one on my rt, cheek, 3 on my chin, one on my frontal jaw line, 2 on my forehead and 2on my nose.
These were usually not painful but would become extremely festered to what appeared to be a white head. Not able to resist the temptation to squeeze, I would attempt to pop these things. Never once did any of these things pop, in fact they only multiplied and got larger.
About October of 2013, I started noticing a build up on my scalp. When I scrubbed my hair with shampoo it would hurt in a few spots. The spots felt like gaping holes and they would ooze. These were extremely painful and interrupted my daily living. While attending to my nightly routines of washing my face I discovered I very large lump on the lower right side of my skull. It was projecting up from my scalp and was about the size of my thumb. The next morning I called my FD and made a appt. to have her exam. She looked at my scalp and concluded that it was a fungus. And the knot on my scalp was a swollen lymph. Nothing was prescribed and I was told to go purchase Selcin Blue and that should cure me right up. After one week of use my condition had only gotten worse. I went to the pharmacy to see if there was any other product I could buy since it seemed that the blue stuff wasn't.
I was at a loss with all the products so I made my way to the Pharmacist on duty and explained my condition to him. He was very helpful in assisting me to a better product but he also advised me to contact my doctor for a script as the condition I was diagnosed with would not be cured with OTC shampoos. He explained to me that I needed a prescribed shampoo along with an oral anti fungus. I call the office and left this info with my nurse. I must say that I was more then surprised when the return call from my doc. Was to tell me to continue with the shampoo for another 10 day and nothing else was suggested. BUT THIS WASNT WORKING AND MY CONDITION WAS GETTING WORSE.
Frustrated by this and in great pain from these open sores I went to our local urgent care. There I was seen by a doc who examined my scalp and said it was a staff infection. She prescribed a round of antibiotics and I was on my way.
The scalp sores did heal but the growths on my face excelled. One of those that is on my chin took on a different look. I started looking like a wart. i left it alone until the moment I thought I seen a white looking sorta wormish thing poking out of it. It was one of those things that many here have described. It was a plug and there were many more to follow.
I worked that thing down over many weeks until I got every one of those things out but it wasn't until I began to use some Athletes foot cream on it until I noticed to start to die off.
Its been about 3 months and just last week that wart thing is coming back. I also still get scalp sores monthly and as of last week I now have a growth under my right eyebrow that bubbles and oozes with crud. I just want this to go away once and for all!
I will be seeing a derm. This thursday, but I do wish I could find a magic natural remedy to cure what ever this is that has plagued me.
Hi my name is holly and I'm scared to death these things are never going to be gotten under control. I've tired everything. Not sure im doing it right. Don't want to live another day with horrid, crippling affliction. Help me please
Holly...have you seen a doctor, and has he/she done a biopsy?
Where do you have these...face or on body?
pthesmith where did you find all the info you're providing? I am going through every single thing you've described and I cannot get my doctors to listen to me. I've been to 7 different specialist, including Infectious Disease, Otolaryngologist and Dermatologist. I've had my sinus and throat culture come back positive for yeast. I was put on fluconazole which did nothing. I had 2 biopsies done on my poor, inflamed, scabbed face which came back as having demodex mites and malassezia yeast amongst spongiotic tissue. Even with the biopsy results staring the dermatologist in the face, he refuses to make a diagnoses. He says those results aren't enough to make a definitive diagnosis and he's referring me to Mayo Clinic, which will take months before I'm going to be seen. I can't take this much more and I want to be able to show these doctors that this IS in fact caused by the demodex and malassezia, and that they can stop trying to ignore it. Sidenote, I told almost all of the doctors that I believed this to be related to a fungal infection because my body has had extreme reactions to fungus in the past. I was told that this IS NOT fungal related prior to and after the testing confirmed yeast/fungus. Please help me to show these doctors that I'm not insane and that there is literature out there that confirms everything you described. PS thank you so much for helping others know they aren't alone:)
Has anyone ever been dismissed by doctors because of using drugs? I've been off and on with meth for about 8 years but the scabbing and white nodes started more than 10 years ago before I ever tried drugs. It's INSANE how time consuming it becomes trying to eradicate what's under the scab! And SO embarrassing how it NEVER HEALS. I've gotten them almost everywhere, even on my butt. They have ruined my confidence and ability to enjoy sex. My picking gets worse when I do dope, but this crazy sh** is real and starting to make me borderline suicidal. The last Dr I saw prescribed Prednezone which did nothing. His advice was "stop using meth" ... Please tell me someone knows what I am going through.
@azzieygirl Jesus Christ, this is essentially me in a nutshell. Started using again because I’m feeling absolutely hopeless. Went into the ER last year because the infestation was getting out of control, but similarly, they treated me with total disdain and refused to take my symptoms seriously because they’d had record that I’d been in treatment and was an addict, even though these fucking beasts took hold of me way before my using.
Once one node goes away, more pop up in their place. And what’s worse is that they’re all over my face and in my scalp. It’s out of fucking control. I can’t wear makeup anymore for fear of contaminating everything and irritating my face even more. I’m all scarred up and my hair won’t stop falling out. I’ve lost all confidence and prefer not to see anybody anymore. I’m worn out beyond reason and barely have the energy nor the resources to keep fighting, man. It’s been almost two years of this shit and I’m losing hope.
I wished we could share photos I just removed two and zoomed in on my iPhone magnifier. They look like some critter. I’m so sick of these things controlling my life.
My sister is 36 and I am 40..we have never experienced skin problems, but in the past year we've noticed white/transparent waxy, fleshy plugs of skin that will sometimes protrude through the pores of our skin all over our body, but will be especially abundant if a dry piece of skin peels off the palms of hands, where clusters of these will fall out and they are soft and anywhere in size from a speck to almost the circumference of an eraser on a pencil...there's nothing in them and mashing them just squishes them up, stretching them and reveals nothing..no oils, nothing...the problem that occurs with this is our eyebrows will become impossible to part, feeling velvety, softer than normal and when rubbed will not only eject these small skin plugs found elsewhere, but also filaments/threadlike fibers that are transparent, web like and usually some eyebrow hair loss as well...then our hair on our heads will also become ultra soft, not having any evident strange stuff in it, but some tiny dandruff flaking all over the scalp (not cradle cap) and then also becomes impossible to separate, get to the scalp and feels velvety and not normal...breakage is high, and the broken shafts when in the sink and wet will usually slide off a sheath or exact hair tube/replica of the hair and what looks like tiny, blueish lint like fuzz here and there...really really weird and we can't find anything that describes this shit online....we aren't sick, red and irritated, itching or weeping/oozing sores anywhere and frankly no body would even know if looking at us that we had a thing wrong, which has made this very frustrating since our parents/relatives whose eyes arent great are usually thinking we are full of bs, can't see it or tell us its dry skin, which its not...any help?
For me it was not demodex or anything discussed here. It was MOLD. I tried literally everything from the prescriptions many here have tried to every home remedy I heard could possibly help. I happened to stumble across an article about mold illness and the photos of skin lesions were exactly like mine (craters that form and have several long whitish plugs that are not squeezable but removable with tweezers. Once removed a small gush of blood and then it's less tender, only to be refilled with new plugs). On the hunch, we attacked our basement and found the problem. Our dryer was not properly vented for 5 years and mold spread behind our insulation and along our pipes. Once we got rid of the mold my skin stopped flaring within 48hrs. No new wounds have appeared, the old ones are empty and slowly closing and fading. My face is so pockmarked because of this journey. I hope someone is helped by this.
I have such a detailed story if anyone is interested in the 2 year sequence of events I'm not saying everyone will be the same as me but from the descriptions here some sound exactly like what I'm dealing with. It definitely wasn't demodex. I've had biopsies and seen so many DRS and lots of treatments helped but nothing made it stop except discovering and removing the mold from my house. The immune system is a key point as this skin reaction will only happen to those of us with a compromised immune system (for me it was severe anemia) and malnutrition. I really hope someone is helped by this.
Would this be mold for me if I havent been at my house now for 3 months. But i still have sane lesions on face & loss of hair.
Do you think this could be mold i am experiencing even if i havent been in my house in 3 months. I don’t have any new lesions. Rather the same lesions i’ve had on face for long time. And my hair has loss still. How do I go about getting rid of the lesions that i already had from previous? Any help is greatly appreciated
Hi guys,
My name is Patricia. I am a journalist looking to speak to someone who is living with dermatillomania. I work with Talk to the Press, a news agency that pays for real life stories. https://www.talktothepress.co.uk/
If you would be interested in sharing your story, email patricia.murphy@swns.com
Hello,
I’ve struggled with adult acne and of course I can’t leave them alone..I’m a skin picking addict especially when they are my face..anywhere I can see!! Anyway I’ve finally discover my magic bullet..I’ve bought and used every cream, drug, and physical treatment including special allergy diets all to no advail. Nothing got rid of the welt like oozing acne that took over my face..TILL METFORMIN. Metformin yes is for diabetes but actually Metformin works at the cellular level to control high blood sugar and therefor hormones that create many skin conditions.
And you're taking it for high blood sugar?
Hi! Just stumbled upon this site today, and I know it's not the main point of your post, but I see your medical history and I can't hold back.... Have you ever been assessed for Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome? I was diagnosed at age 30, after the most epic fight with the medical system EVER!! It is a heritable connective tissue disorder that causes mutated collagen. The laundry-list of symptoms are so very confusing at first and it might seem like every system in your body has problems, and how can this be? Wouldn't it be nice if most of it all came from the same problem/issue? Well - it does! (if you have hEDS...) This rare genetic disorder is very rarely diagnosed properly, and is often mistaken for: being "double jointed"/flexible, fibro/chronic pain syndrome, chronic fatigue, "IBS" (don't get me started!!!), anxiety (which is almost always POTS - Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, and I see that you already know that you have Tachycardia), multiple "allergies" or "intolerances" (which is almost always MCAS - Mast Cell Activation Syndrome), etc. Alllllllll of this might boil right down to Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. My diagnosis changed my life (after 30 years of being brushed off, dismissed, humiliated). Check it out, some of it might ring true for you too!! http://hypermobility.org/professionals-section/hypermobility-disorders-…
The original poster on this, you likely have Ehlers Danlos. All of the medical issues you have can be attributed to a connective tissue disorder. All of them. I was just diagnosed 2 days ago. I'm 42. Anyone reading this and agreeing with symptoms or something similar, talk to a doctor about connective tissue disorder. It generally takes 10-20 years to get diagnosed- If you are on the mild side of the spectrum. They hand out fibromyalgia much easier than EDs, but EDs is the cause of the fibromyalgia. All of you, please check! Good luck!
Finally Trollhunter!! It’s an autoimmune disease. Mixed connective tissue disease/discoid lupus. The #1 treatment is prevention with high SPF sunscreen on your face every day no matter what. Hats, bandannas, etc. it’s triggered by UV light. I promise you it’s not mites/yeast/a hundred other things. It’s an autoimmune disease. For some people Plaquenil works. It did t for me but layering on the sunscreen did it. I’ve been 90% clear for almost 18 months and the occasional breakout is minor and heals up in a week.
Finally Trollhunter!! It’s an autoimmune disease. Mixed connective tissue disease/discoid lupus. The #1 treatment is prevention with high SPF sunscreen on your face every day no matter what. Hats, bandannas, etc. it’s triggered by UV light. I promise you it’s not mites/yeast/a hundred other things. It’s an autoimmune disease. For some people Plaquenil works. It did t for me but layering on the sunscreen did it. I’ve been 90% clear for almost 18 months and the occasional breakout is minor and heals up in a week.
Thank you for the information. I'd been tested for lupus repeatedly since 15. My doctor has ruled out autoimmune. I have a definitive diagnosis of Ehlers danlos hypermobility. I thought it coulld be mctd, which is classified as autoimmune. But, it was the geneticist who gave me the diagnosis. Had you been tested for autoimmune before? Is it for sure not a connective tissue disorder being diagnosed as mctd? I'm glad you've had so much success and recovery! Very happy for you!
Hi,
Thank You, can you tell me what brand sunscreen you used. Also can Plaquenil be purchased online somewhere or only from doctor? If it can be purchased online or in store, do ypu know website or place it can be purchased.