Skin Bumps with hard white centers?

[Unregistered]

itscherry

i just wanted to comment that i haven't used my oral med yet. but i have been having amazing results using borax as a scrub...borax is a natural anti fungal...and this may be why it is working so well for my condition. if you have no idea what my condition is, please read the itscherry submissions, or the post directly above this one. i take a cup of borax with me in the shower and a wash cloth. i get the wash cloth wet and dump some borax onto the wash cloth, i quickly wet the wash cloth again(not too wet but just enough to get the borax wet and soften it) then i scrub my body with it. it is very abrasive and you don't need to use much pressure. i leave it on for a less than a minute and rinse. i have to tell you for me, it works fast and well. i have 90% less bumps than before, without medication or creams. i do use the borax scrub on my face, but again it is very abrasive, and where you chose to use it and how, is up to you. borax will alter the ph of your skin, making it more alkaline. so something that has an acidic level for an alternative day wash would pry be best. i just use Hibiclens every other day and borax the next(altering the 2 every other day). everyones skin is different, and who knows what this may do for you. but for me, my condition was bad enough, i was willing to try anything. i know the internet posts that borax may be bad for your health(i think this is just for those who chose to drink it, i haven't become that desperate yet), but so is being depressed about life and how you look. to me, being happy with myself for a short time, is better than a long life of misery. i just thought id share what works for me. just don't over do the scrub, i know its hard not to want it gone, but slow and steady is probably your best approach. it also may dry your skin, us a good uric acid lotion to moisturize, i know these are expensive, but i have less break outs with these than traditional lotions that are all greasy. anyway, if my condition changes, or any thing comes up that may help, i will post again. good luck everyone.

[Unregistered]

I hope you have found the answer... I have been suffering from this for two years now and been searching for a diagnosis and treatment. I will try out your method and let you know the results. Please keep us posted, too.

[Unregistered]

I was surprised how many people were experiencing the same thing I have for the past couple of years. After trying so many different cures and reading as much as I could find I kind of came to the conclusion myself that the hard, stretchy cores were dead hair follicles trying to work themselves loose and out.

I kept seeing a lot of medical comments about anti-bacterial soap, exfoliation and keeping the skin soft. Here is what I have been doing for about three weeks and I am having really good results. I have been washing my face in the morning with a mild anti-bacterial face soap. Then in the evening I have been using one of the vibrating face exfoliators by Neutrogena. Once my face is clean I have been applying a Retinol night cream. My face is looking so much better! The hard sores I had are healing quickly and I haven't had any new ones for the last week. A few small white heads have come up but they clear up quickly and don't turn into the hard sores.

I am feeling much more positive that I am on the right track. I hope this may help some of you too.

[Unregistered]

I was surprised how many people were experiencing the same thing I have for the past couple of years. After trying so many different cures and reading as much as I could find I kind of came to the conclusion myself that the hard, stretchy cores were dead hair follicles trying to work themselves loose and out.

I kept seeing a lot of medical comments about anti-bacterial soap, exfoliation and keeping the skin soft. Here is what I have been doing for about three weeks and I am having really good results. I have been washing my face in the morning with a mild anti-bacterial face soap. Then in the evening I have been using one of the vibrating face exfoliators by Neutrogena. Once my face is clean I have been applying a Retinol night cream. My face is looking so much better! The hard sores I had are healing quickly and I haven't had any new ones for the last week. A few small white heads have come up but they clear up quickly and don't turn into the hard sores.

I am feeling much more positive that I am on the right track. I hope this may help some of you too.

I wanted to follow up and clarify that I was not using a Rx Retinol cream, but a milder OTC night cream, actually the non-label version of a name brand night cream.

[Unregistered]

I have the same thing just for a few months, only on my forearms with maybe a total of 4 to 6 on each one. I have not been to a doctor, just breaking the skin and pulling the center out with tweezers, some come out easy and some do not. Mine are a hard rubbery like piece that range from a small round piece to a large long cylinder type which is deep in the skin and hurst like hell when its pulled out. Once it's out, the spot bleeds alot for just a few seconds and then scabs over the next day.. some will heal quickly and others will not. I DO THINK IT'S CONTAGIOUS.. My fiance' has sat here for hours digging these out and then later popped a bump of her own with the same tweezers and created the same type of bump that I had with the rubbery piece that has to be pulled out before it will heal. Most of mine were small and healed fine with just a small scar left, but I had one spot that had at least 20 of the little rubbery bastards in it, that is now a huge scar that just won't heal... I'ts like the scar tissue even has them in it. I actually used a pick and tweezers and pulled the scar tissue up and removed so many of the rubbery pieces I lost count, but after cleaning the area with alcohol and using a antibiotic cream it looked alot better and then scabbed over again only to reveal a few more were still comin up to the surface. I'm glad to know we were not the only ones but this "Mytery Bump" sucks and I really wish I knew what to do about it. Just for reference.. I'm a 35 year old male that does automotive repair and one day while working on a car and having my arm in a very tight spot that was dirty with grease, dirt, road grime, etc.. When i pulled my arm back out, I could see small bumps appear instantly on my arm that turned into these hellish creatures with the rubber center.

[Unregistered]

I started having these small bumps around my ankles. I use my fingernail to scrap across them and end up with a small hard white ball. It isn't rooted or attached, it's just under the skin. But as soon as the skin heals, the bump is there again in the same spot. It seems like I get a few more each year.

I also found one bump on my lower hip and one on my elbow that acts the same way. They don't hurt and they heal rather quickly.

They look and feel like there's a small seed under the skin.

None of the possibilities mentioned on this forum look like what I have...

[Unregistered]

I had these nasty things for 30 years (they started in college). I must have plucked over a thousand of them. I felt naked if I didn't have a pair of tweezers in my pocket. Not only are they ugly and scarring, they itch like crazy until they're pulled out...and then they bleed. The ones I had were in the shape of cones, cylinders, tubes, balls sometimes a cluster of two or more. The same ones kept coming back a few times until they finally went away, but there were always new ones elsewhere to pick at. I used to "harvest" them and keep a collection of them on the arm chair when I watched T.V. at night. I've looked at them under a microscope and discovered that everyone had a small black hair running through the middle (I am blond and all my external arm hair is white). This led me to believe these are either ingrown hairs or clogged grease pores. I am 55 now and my arms are badly scarred. They look like an over-cooked pizza when the unaffected areas get tan in the summer. Ironically, neither my twin sister, her two kids or my three children have them. I am adopted, so I don't know if I got them from my bio parents.

Here's the strange part of my story. I had a massive heart attack 3 years ago. I had a 3-1/2" aneurism on my aorta and my mitral valve was 80% full of staff infection. My white blood cell count was 25,000...4 times the normal level. Just as I was admitted to the hospital, I went into respiratory arrest and my heart stopped for 25 minutes (code blue). During the time it took the medics to "paddle" me back, I lost my kidneys and suffered a stroke, which left me numb on my entire left side. Fortunately, they were able to replace my heart valves with mechanical ones and my kidneys came back after 6 months of dialysis. The total cost for my operation and recovery was more than $1M.

Here's the spooky part...I never had those white arm zits ever again after my operation. I am still scarred, but my dermis became healthy as a newborn's. I have asked many doctor friends what they make of this and the consensus is that I had heart disease all my life and my elevated white blood cell count could have been the trigger to fill hair follicle pores with those sticky little pimples. Strange that they only affected my arms and were more prevalent in the warmer months. I also noticed that tanning oil made them much worse.

I encourage anyone with this condition to get a complete cardio check-up and blood test. Then again, skin disorders are numerous and many are hard to diagnose. I am glad to find this blog because I thought I was the only one with the problem.

[Unregistered]

How many of you on this blog site smoke and/or drink alcohol daily? I do and I wonder if it's one of many causes for these nasty cones and balls.

[chickpeas]

I have the same problem! Thank you, ITSCHERRY! I cannot express how happy I am that you found an answer. As a woman with acne all over and this problem also, I'm all scarred up I hate the way I look. I can't get naked in front of anyone. It has made me depressed. I have stayed in terrible relationships because I didn't think I could get close to anyone else because of the way I look. But now, I have an answer. I cant take steps to change my problem now. I found this when I googled pityrosporum folliculitis: drbaileyskincare.com/blog/pityrosporum-folliculitis-acne-could-this-be-why-your-acne-won’t-go-away/
I hate to say it, but I'm kind of glad I'm noit the only one. I wish you all the best! Good luck!

[Unregistered]

I had one of these hard white bumps appear on my scrotum. Did a little research and most answers actually pointed toward a ingrown hair which is pretty common in the lower regions for furry people. After about 2 months of having this (sometimes painful) thing, a hard white ball just popped out. It's about the size of a very small bead and has no visible hair but it definitely does look like a ingrown hair does when those pop out. Make sure to scrub well and exfoliate plenty when you take a bath / shower so skin doesn't pile up and clog your hair follicles.