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Picking Scabs
White Stretchy Plugs
I've always squeezed bumps and blemishes on my skin, but recently I've gone through a period of work-related stress. I was off work for 2 months, during which time my picking and squeezing got worse. I had lots of blemishes on my chest which I squeezed and picked until I had a few nasty little wounds. One of them became quite deep, and I discovered that when I picked the scab off there were a few little white pinhead shapes under it, in the wound. They were screaming out to me to be picked out, but I couldn't do it by hand - I had to use tweezers. Sometimes I found I would need a wool needle to ease the white thing out a bit before the tweezers could get hold of them. When I pulled, a white elasticy thing would stretch and then come out. It was about 2mm long. It was VERY satisfying to pull it out, so I looked for some more in my skin. This made my picking worse, and I now find I am thinking of it quite a lot of the day. I am longing to pull more stretchy white things out of my skin. I put up with quite a bit of discomfort and pain just to get the satisfaction of pulling out these stretchy white plugs. To heal my wounds I use Savlon antiseptic liquid, and they begin to dry up quite quickly. But this is the most tempting time to pick - the scab becomes very crusty and itchy, and I see little white bumps underneath which could be those white plugs I long to pull out. They are itchy and I am dying to pull them out!
How do you believe HPV....did you have biopsy done? What do you experience with these, what do you do, and products? They do suck bigtime!!
@leesamo 100% agree with you. I have dealt with this skin issue for over15 years. I have one of the HPV strains as well. I have been to many dermatologists who pass it off as hormonal acne, but it is not. I guess other people on here have a similar sores, but yet are a little different and could be due to demodex etc.. Mine are very painful sores on my face that appear with the weird white seeds, so to speak, that need to come out and once they do the sore heals up quickly. I also remember my first "partner" in college that gave me the virus, asked me in shear panic "hey you have a few major zits on your face, have you always had those"? I had no idea what he was talking about and said no I haven't had a problem with acne before. I didn't realized until years later that this was to be an everlasting skin disorder and how bad it would be. I do notice that foods seem to make it worse, especially chocolate. I have read that Oregano oil can help rid the body of HPV. I am going to try the protocol for that along with a few other immune boosting therapies. I feel for those that have this. It is very stressful, debilitating at times and painful. I too have tried most of these remedies on this forum. Sometimes they seem to help heal the sores and other times not. I was using a scubby face pad and that made it way worse. It was spreading it and making it worse. Good luck to you guys. Hang in there. We are not nuts. There is something wrong and yet to be diagnosed yet at least in my area.
Yes wenstin!!!
My partner as well gave me hpv almost 20 years ago. It’s taken all these years to figure it out. Ive had facial acne for most of my life. These are different they remind me of a wart seed. Extremely painful until you get the white plug thing out. I’ve been to numerous Dermatoligist’s and they tell me i basically do it to myself. I strongly believe this is a strain of hpv only because of when they started and what my partner gave me. I pray they find a cure. I’m extremely stressed about my face and arms daily. I feel people think I’m on drugs because of the lesions on my arms. My face of course I can hide some with make up. But my arms are awful.
@Leesamo So sorry you are struggling with this as well. I don’t get them on my arms, just my face & neck area. I think my hpv strain is classified as #16. So same here it all started after getting that. Excuse my typos on my first post. My teenager came home and rushed me out the door to run errands! :) You would think a Doctor or a Dermatologist would like to be known for “discovering” something new and investigate more on an unknown health issue. Blessings & healing to you!
@Leesamo So sorry you are struggling with this as well. I don’t get them on my arms, just my face & neck area. I think my hpv strain is classified as #16. So same here it all started after getting that. Excuse my typos on my first post. My teenager came home and rushed me out the door to run errands! :) You would think a Doctor or a Dermatologist would like to be known for “discovering” something new and investigate more on an unknown health issue. Blessings & healing to you!
I’m so glad I found this forum and know we are not struggling alone. I just pray as well someone figures this out one day. How did you find out the strain is #16. I’ve even considered going to an infectionish disease dr.
I’m so glad I found this forum and know we are not struggling alone. I just pray as well someone figures this out one day. How did you find out the strain is #16. I’ve even considered going to an infectionish disease dr.
I believe I have fought demodex for almost a year. I have spent hours and hours extracting them from my face. I believe I have conquered them with Retin A. My skin has been clear for weeks now, with no hint of recurrence. I hope this helps those of you who may be suffering from the same thing.
Retinoids and Acutane fix over 300 types of "skin infections" and it worked for me. 9 months since I finished my Acutane regiment and no more skin problems (Accutane contains Retinoids). I highly doubt what most people including myself had/has is HPV warts. These do not resemble warts at all. Warts don't hurt unless picked at and are more like a callous. Warts do not resemble cystic acne and staff infections (scabby pimples with not just the plugs but puss too -- in other words). That is just my opinion on it for those who are tryibg to connect the dots.
I have been following this thread for nearly 2 years.
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 been following this thread for nearly 2 years.
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.
Hi All,
I have been battling something similar for two years now. Continuously, I keep coming back to this post, as well as others in the hope of finding something to try to help heal me. Finally, I have found a solution and I had to share. While this might not be the solution for everyone, I really hope that someone can benefit from my horrific experience. Here's a quick summary:
I came back from traveling throughout Europe and the Caribbean with a constant flu that lasted weeks. Followed by a skin rash/lesions starting on my legs and spread everywhere. These skin sores were deep with a plug that wouldn't heal unless I removed the plug. My immune system was so comprised that it took forever to heal...if at all. I also lost a ton of weight, had memory problems, cognitive problems and was just generally SO TIRED. I'm sure there's more but those were the major things.
My solution was a couple months of Doxycycline (I believe to break down the biofilm that protected these suckers) then multiple doses of Ivermectin to kill them.
(I was treated with Ivermectin to begin then:)
After 3 months of Doxycycline (100mg 2x daily) , I started to get my energy back and my skin started clearing up. Then I would take Ivermectin and it seemed to work! I had to get the Doxycycline from multiple doctors because almost all of them were a huge pain in the a$$ (recommend finding an Infectious Disease that listens to you and a primary care that aids in your recovery). I am almost done with treatment, as I am going to take one final dose of Ivermectin and stay on the Doxy to prevent anything else from coming back. I hope this helps someone/anyone and please lmk if you have any questions.
Final word....Be your own advocate and keep trying. Please know you aren't alone!
This condition has plagued me for at least 15 years (started as full body cystic acne after going off the birth control pill in my late 20’s to today with strange roundish lesions for the most part only on my face ugh!!) - today I finally have the courage to reach out. It’s been difficult to come to terms with - I sympathize with each and every one of you who has been brave enough to share in this forum - my heart breaks - this is such a demoralizing condition. Sadly, as I’m sure most of you can relate, it has impacted my quality of life and stolen so many precious hours of time away from actually ‘living’ a ‘normal’ life. I know some doctors think I’m crazy... and many think the lesions are drug-induced or related (from meth) - I can see how they calculate or go through in their head that I look and present as coherent and put together... (obviously I’m not a drug addict) but present with utterly bizarre explanations about symptoms and large open round lesions that are not a typical zit or pimple. Like many of you I’ve been through acne meds and tried every kind of antibiotic... the only thing that worked a couple of months ago was the Metronidazole. I should have got another Rx after I finished the initial dose... grrrr I had clear, healthy skin head to toe for 3 glorious weeks!!! I couldn’t believe it actually... it was strange to walk out of my house with no make up or anxiety attack or wasting hours in front of the mirror trying to stop my face from bleeding.... !!! Sadly... my face erupted again in a few of the same locations that were a problem before. I have had actual holes in my skin... perfectly round open deep holes. Crazy. From I’m sure the ‘plugs’ or yes indeed these demo mites. I’m sure of it... nothing else seems to make sense... they burrow away - I’m not crazy... I know what I’m seeing!! You can’t make this stuff up... I wouldn’t want to make this up... or wish this on anyone. It’s so devastating to my confidence and I isolate myself... they may think I do this on purpose?! That’s a big No!!
I’m going to my dr again to get a refill of the Metro and just continue it... maybe in a higher dose to kill off this last bit on my face. I’ve had blood tests and they don’t indicate any kind of inflammation response... but I know this is a real issue and would love to finally get to the bottom of why my body can’t get this under control.
@Kterry Your symptoms and how your skin bleeds after removal of the plug then clears up right away... is exactly what happens to me. I think the next dr visit I will get a biopsy - demand it. This is ruining my life.
@Kterry Your symptoms and how your skin bleeds after removal of the plug then clears up right away... is exactly what happens to me. I think the next dr visit I will get a biopsy - demand it. This is ruining my life.
Hi did you ever find out what they were because I experienced the same
I think if people could feel the pain. I have read all of your posts. It has been Bobby's of October 2017 which has helped me. I am not completely healed yet, but hydrogen peroxide along with benzoyl peroxide is working for me. It has been a week and there is a big difference. My doctor has given me anti-biotic cream and anti-fungal cream. They did not help. I believe it is a bacterial infection. I am still removing the plugs. I can't wait for this to be over. :-)
I will update
I now believe that these white stretchy plugs are swollen sebacious glands. The fact that they are soft and stretchy signifies a gland structure. Each hair follicle and pore has a sebacious gland attached to it. Sometimes they seem bigger because they become clogged and inflamed, therefore causing inflammation in the surrounding area. I also noticed that sometimes the inflammation itself can cause sebacious glands to enlarge. If I pick multiple times at one spot, these white plugs sometimes keep regenerating. And when the plugs are enlarged, they keep perpetuating the inflammatory process and slow down or hinder healing. I understand that these are sebacious glands because when I have an inflamed bump and I impulsively pick at it prior to it reaching the surface and becoming a whitehead,...when I reach the bottom I find these inflamed plugs. It basically composes the root of the problem when it comes to acne. Also, there is such a thing as a sebacious cyst and they originate in the same manner, but the process is more agressive and causes the sebacious gland to eventually harden and form an obvious sack around itself.
I now believe that these white stretchy plugs are swollen sebacious glands. The fact that they are soft and stretchy signifies a gland structure. Each hair follicle and pore has a sebacious gland attached to it. Sometimes they seem bigger because they become clogged and inflamed, therefore causing inflammation in the surrounding area. I also noticed that sometimes the inflammation itself can cause sebacious glands to enlarge. If I pick multiple times at one spot, these white plugs sometimes keep regenerating. And when the plugs are enlarged, they keep perpetuating the inflammatory process and slow down or hinder healing. I understand that these are sebacious glands because when I have an inflamed bump and I impulsively pick at it prior to it reaching the surface and becoming a whitehead,...when I reach the bottom I find these inflamed plugs. It basically composes the root of the problem when it comes to acne. Also, there is such a thing as a sebacious cyst and they originate in the same manner, but the process is more agressive and causes the sebacious gland to eventually harden and form an obvious sack around itself.