★★★★★
Water and Stress Management Only for Folliculitis Decalvans
Hi everyone. I hope that my story will help someone who also has Folliculitis Decalvans. I am a 35 year old female with a history of severe cystic facial acne which was treated with several courses of antibiotics, Accutane and Spirinolactone.
By the time I was 29, my facial acne had cleared up sufficiently, but then I started getting pustular bumps on my hairline which would come and go without any reason. At first I thought it was diet related, so I did an IgG food intolerance test which showed that I should eliminate certain foods such as almonds, egg whites etc ( my test did not show intolerance to wheat and dairy). Even though I eliminated these foods, I would still get regular 'flair ups' along the frontal lobe area of my hairline which would last for weeks. I also later cut out milk and and wheat, but I still got flair ups.
3 years ago, I had a very bad flair up, and I was diagnosed with Folliculitis Decalvans and my dermatologist prescribed me 20 mg Accutane to be taken daily for 2 months and then tapered off to twice a week, and then once a week if I felt the condition was managed. The dermatologist also told me that once the Accutane treatment was over, I could manage the outbreaks with topical antibiotic gels etc. I immediately researched this condition obsessively, and to my horror I discovered it was a rare disease, with no known cause, and that it was incurable!!!
The Accutane treatment worked super well, and I used it for 9 months. However when I stopped, the folliculitis came back after two months! I am a teacher, and the thought of my students seeing this condition on my hairline was so frightening, that I quickly went back on the Accutane 20mg once a week and to my relief the disease cleared up. I realized however that I could not take Accutane for the rest of my life to manage FD, so I stopped taking it in January 2018 and the disease came back after one month! I cut a fringe to hide the condition, and I decided to use alternative methods to handle it topically such as Manuka honey, vinegar, castor oil, tea tree oil, and turmeric powder. Here's what happened.
1. turmeric and castor oil paste made it worse!
2. Tea tree oil was an irritant and it made it worse.
3. Medicated shampoos made it worse
What helped?
1. Washing my hair with only water, dried up the patches and is clearing up the folliculitis
2. Dealing with my emotions and not suppressing it. Here's a life saving article:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/Recognizing_the_mind-skin_connection
3. Not actively inspecting the folliculitis areas on my scalp. I believe if we pay attention to something in our lives it becomes stronger. Thus 'ignoring' it and not 'feeding' it with my attention has helped it to go away
4. Loving myself because my body actually trying to heal itself. Not thinking negatively about the issue.
Looking back at when flair ups occurred, It usually happened during severe EMOTIONAL stress (fleeing from a war torn country in 2011, a traumatic motor cycle accident, stress at work, relationship stress). Inflammation (in our case a pustular scalp) happens when the body is trying to heal itself (from emotional or other related stress). Its not a bad thing. Healing can not take place without inflammation. Adding things on the part where the body is trying to heal may make the body attack itself to get rid of the foreign ointments or whatever. My FD is gone for now, but when it comes back I will keep on dealing with it the same way as I outlined above. I am not saying that ointments (natural or chemical) will not work for anyone. I would just like to share what worked for me, and I hope it helps someone too.
