An ingrown hair occurs when you shave, wax or tweeze a hair and it re-grows inward beneath your skin, while folliculitis is an infection of your hair follicles. Ingrown hairs and folliculitis can occur anyplace on your body where you have hair, and both can be painful and unsightly. If you have folliculitis or ingrown hairs, there are many different treatment options available that you can discuss with your doctor.
Identification
Ingrown hairs most often occur in people with tightly curled hair, particularly in black or Hispanic men, MayoClinic.com says. An ingrown hair will appear in places where you've shaved, waxed, tweezed or otherwise removed hair, and will look like a small round bump or pus-filled lesion that may resemble a blister. Ingrown hairs are often painful and itchy. Folliculitis can look very similar to ingrown hairs, causing reddish, pus-filled, pimple-like bumps that are itchy or burn, notes the University of Michigan Health System. Unlike ingrown hairs, however, folliculitis bumps typically have a hair growing out from the center instead of growing inward.
Risks
You are at a higher risk of folliculitis if you have an impaired immune system and aren't able to properly fight infections, wear tight clothing, or apply makeup, cocoa butter creams or other substances to your skin that clog your hair follicles, says the University of Michigan Health System. Going into a swimming pool or hot tub that doesn't contain enough chlorine or applying steroid or antibiotic creams to your skin over extended time periods can also cause folliculitis. People who have curved hair follicles are most likely to have ingrown hairs, because the hair is more apt to grow back into the skin when it's tightly curled, MayoClinic.com notes. When you shave these hairs, especially when using a double-edged razor and pulling your skin taut, the hairs tend to recede into your skin.
Complications
Both ingrown hairs and folliculitis can lead to bacterial infections, either by scratching the bumps or the spread of an infection from a nearby scrape or wound. Ingrown hairs can also cause pigmentation darkening of your skin and scars, MayoClinic.com says. Folliculitis often involves a bacterial infection with Staphylococcus or a fungus, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center. Folliculitis can become chronic or recurring and the bacterial or fungal infection can spread to other skin areas or body parts.
Treatments
Both folliculitis and ingrown hairs can resolve on their own without any special treatments, but you may need to take certain measures to completely heal the problem or prevent it from recurring. You can apply a warm, damp compress to the affected skin areas to help treat folliculitis, says the University of Maryland Medical Center. When this doesn't clear up the folliculitis, you might use an oral or topical antibiotic or antifungal medication like dicloxacillin or mupirocin. If you have ingrown hairs, you should stop all hair-removal practices until the problem clears up, MayoClinic.com advises. Your doctor might recommend that you use corticosteroid, retinoid or antibiotic creams or ointments to prevent infections, reduce inflammation and otherwise ease the symptoms.
Prevention/Solution
In both cases of either ingrown hairs or folliculitis, laser hair-removal treatment can prevent the conditions from recurring. Also, avoiding shaving, tweezing, waxing or other hair-removal treatments other than laser hair removal can prevent these problems. Laser treatments remove your hair follicles, which are the source of the ingrown hair or folliculitis problem, MayoClinic.com notes. You can also help prevent folliculitis by keeping your skin areas clean and shaving with only clean, new razor blades, says the University of Maryland Medical Center. Don't shave your hair dry or very closely to prevent ingrown hairs. Also, you can prevent ingrown hairs by using a sharp, single-blade razor, shaving with the hair-growth direction and avoiding pulling on your skin while you're shaving.
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