When a hair is stuck and signs and symptoms such as exaggerated inflammation, pain or redness appear on the spot, it may be necessary to apply a cream or ointment with antibiotic and / or anti-inflammatory, which should be prescribed by the dermatologist.
In addition, it is important to invest in prevention, avoiding wearing tight clothing and making gentle exfoliations regularly, especially before epilation, which is the most common cause of ingrown hairs.
Some of the ointments that can be used, under medical indication, are:
- Antibiotics, such as neomycin sulfate + bacitracin (Nebacetin, Cicatrene) or mupirocin (Bactroban); Corticosteroids, such as hydrocortisone (Berlison); Corticosteroid antibiotics, such as betamethasone + gentamicin sulfate (Diprogenta).
It is usually indicated to apply the ointment twice a day, after bathing. If, even with the treatment with ointments, there is an accumulation of pus, with the formation of a lump, you should go to the health clinic, as it may be necessary to make a small cut on the skin to completely remove the pus and keep the wound properly clean and disinfected.
Warning signs to go to the doctor
Usually, the appearance of ingrown hair is not a serious situation, being simple to solve at home, however, in some cases, there may be some signs that may indicate that you need to go to the doctor, such as:
- Ineffectiveness of creams and ointments; Increased pain and swelling in the ingrown hair region, which may indicate accumulation of pus; Fever above 37ºC because it is usually a sign of infection; Having repeated ingrown hairs.
In these cases, you should go to the health center or make an appointment with a dermatologist
How to speed up healing
Some strategies that can help to speed the healing and to unravel the hair, in a homemade and simple way is to exfoliate the skin with a mixture of a little sweet almond oil and sugar, for example. The circular movements can help to break the most superficial layer of the skin, allowing the hair to escape, but it may still be necessary to pass a cotton swab with alcohol to disinfect and try to remove the hair with properly cleaned tweezers.
However, exfoliation is only recommended if the ingrown hair is not very inflamed, as there is a risk of aggravating the swelling.
Other precautions to be taken are:
- Keep the region clean and always dry to avoid infection; Avoid wearing tight clothing or that over-muffle the affected region; Avoid epilation with razor, wax or depilatory cream in the ingrown hair region until the hair grows enough to release or in regions where ingrown hairs are frequent.
When a man has a tendency to get ingrown beard hairs easily, he can consider the possibility of not removing his beard completely, stop using the razor and always use a hair trimmer, which makes them shorter, avoiding this problem of skin. When folliculitis is more common in the groin, it may be useful to exchange the slip underwear for a boxer , which will exercise less friction in the groin, preventing the formation of ingrown hairs.
See other tips to avoid ingrown hairs.
