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The below is a forum entry made by one of our community members. If you want to know more about your condition, we suggest you read the following article written by a mental health professional on
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!
Yes snipzie. One area just near my chin, right side of my face, below the mouth. When it initially started, there were three areas around my mouth. This final lesion is roughly as big as your baby finger nail. It has only been a few hours since I wrote last, things are still improving. Have a great weekend too snipzie. Check out otnhub.ca This is the site my pictures were sent to. In the minus 30s here. Brrrrrrrrrrrr - Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful .... lol
Cold here too....stay warm. Interesting to find out the results....thanks for the site info.
Good Morning all. Good news - my wound is healing. Remarkably fast. It is drying up and the dead skin is beginning to peel away. There is still a small open area, along a crease, but I would suspect by Wednesday that too will be dried up. I have still had to remove a few plugs over the weekend and this morning, but their numbers have greatly diminished. The pain is greatly reduced. I plan on visiting emergency again on Friday. But this time with some presents and baked goods for the medical staff who treated me. If you have not been prescribed Novo-Lexin, please ask your doctor for it. For me, it is the cure :-)
Good to hear things are improving at a quick rate. I understand about the plugs. Probably the continual polysporin was part of the problem.
Where are the plugs....more in the centre or around the edges? Keep us updated!
I'm continuing to improve snipzie. The plugs are generally in the area which have yet to heal. I will go back to the hospital as I mentioned on Friday and see if they think extending the Novo-Lexin might be a good idea. There should be word from the telederm folks as well. I will make it back here soon.
I called my doctor's office. The report is in from the telederm specialist, however I need to meet with the emergency doctor. The nurse said the dermatologist recommends a biopsy. And another medication. I will get back here soon
Happy to hear about the biopsy! Looking forward to your update....
Thanks for the tip on the Ivermectin. It was a God send for me. I have another tip if your "situation" is the same as mine. It seems a lot of the strange "things" that come out of the skin are just under the skin surface sometimes. I can help you get a lot of the "substance" out without doing more picking damage to the area. Get very cheap one ply toilet paper and amass a good amount in your hand. You have to get it dripping soaking wet with warm water, brush VERY lightly against the wound until the scab is softened. Continue to get the tissue soaking wet with each wipe and you will very quickly see them roll out from under the skin. I don't know if it's the water and the tissue that helps to wipe them out from under the skin surface, or they cling to the tissue and get pulled out, but you will be amazed at how many you can get out of your skin. You will also get a huge relief from the pressure feeling from under the wounds. Remember to keep getting the tissue wet, so it is soft and not damaging to the wound. As you get more and more of them out, you will even see the size of the wound opening shrink in diamater. Be ready, this is a disgusting process and difficult to stomach. There is also going to be a substantial clean up.
Saw my family doctor Friday. Prescribed 10 further days of Novo-Lexin and agreed with a biopsy. He removed a portion (biopsy) 19 hours ago. He left one stitch. I will have to change my user name to Al Pacino - lol. Think he removed a good portion because the pain is bearable, almost non-existent today and I have not had anything to remove. Hurt like a bugger when the freezing came out though. Soon the Government will discover I am from off-planet and send men in black suits. Up to 21 days for results. My doctor is also most curious as to what this is. I like him. Not that way though - Ha Ha. Okay. Will update Friday when I have my stitch removed. I'll act big and brave. :-)
Cure: bleach bath, dose up on Lysine daily and get IV vitamin infusions. meyers cocktail with extra antioxidants. i’ve been clear for couple months but left with awful white scars :(
I will get my stitch removed today. Fred. Fred the thread - I will miss him - we are attached. Lol Perhaps there will be a biopsy report. Very little pain and my wound is healing nicely. Yesterday was the first day there were no plugs to be found however I have been leaving it alone due to the stitch. I will be back with some final news.
Guy....LOL... good one! There will be pathology report....hope it reveals something. Good to hear you're on the meds, sans plugs.
Yah man. Okay. I am a little on the weird side - Hee Hee. Had the stitch removed and saw my doctor. The biopsy report came in. He showed it to me but it had big words - lol. My doctor said the report says that the inflammation is caused by a foreign object. That is it. Kind of a let down. The report did not go on to detail what the foreign object(s) is/are. My doctor was also kind of disappointed. He still feels it is folliculitis with which I agree. The foreign object is the infected hair follicle. He prescribed a steroid cream and to continue on the fucidin. My wound is still healing nicely. There is hair growing back in the area of the wound. I can say with confidence that I will be back to normal soon. The oral penicillin was the key for me I believe. I only wrote here in the hopes of helping others. The pain for me became debilitating. There is nothing more important than your health, and a few good friends. :-)
Hi ...I suggest you get a copy of the pathology report anyway. Was no bacteria present in the biopsy?
It's good you're healing well.....thank you for he update!
Demodex.... please find images in g...let
Take treatment
Check partner
Clean/throw pillow
jusritz
I do believe you are correct... I been reading and researching it as well...lol... my dog a Yorkie has as well... if she is outbreak free I am as well, it seems... I've had for 17yrs... I've done all the things the others have, as well as being diagnosed with all the conditions as the others... Most of the stuff works to rid or heal them for a while... Then dang if they aren't back... I started to notice the dog would break out as well... I have two big oak's in front of my home... In the summer, I break out worse it seemed... Mow yard worse, picking worse...lol... Then I had a bad motorcycles wreck... In hospital 3 months... All cleared up... Yay... I come home and I broke again... My dog was broke out as well... Hummmm I said.... So I did the washing, cleaning bed lines, Hibiclens, duck tape...lol... Yes to pull out white deep cores, leave on a while, pushing duct tape securely on sore, not edges, so you rip off... Then orgel cold sore med... Gone in a day and skin is not tore up and keep you from picking.... Then take an allergy pill and keep all linens and animals clean and medicated for flea and tick meds, oral ones.... Not advertising for free for no one lol... It's just a mite..lol.. Not a disease, No mental illness its just a mite outside that we are allergic to and like us like some people get by flea's and mosquito's a lot and other's do not and some when bitten just itch a little and a little sore. While others get a boil, heat, and itch from them... Try these method's that I and jritz on here have done and see if works... If it does BAM there ya go...lol... It's just a common mite outside that we SPECIAL people are allergic to >>>>> I REALLY hope this works for ALL of us and we ALL can heal mentally and physically from this illness....... Miss Tee
Hello Everyone. Been a bit. An update. My follicles are producing hair once more. I have no more white plugs. The only difficulty I am experiencing is the new hairs are growing and becoming trapped under my scar tissue. As my skin heals and returns to normal, this discomfort will cease. Mostly dry, dead skin around the old wound now. The oral antibiotics I believe are the cure. I agree with my family doctor that this is folliculitis except a more extreme case. Should something go wrong, I will be back. Your life doesn't get better by chance. It gets better by change. :-)
Hi Guy! Good to hear of the vast improvement....seems a relief this isn't a continual issue.
Looks like my comment didn't post..I am back! I thought my problem was a mold allergy and while that could still be a contributing factor, it isn't the whole picture. I was just diagnosed with LYME DISEASE. Between it and its' many co-infections, you could literally all be right. I had a biopsy and it said the same as I have seen others post about, an inflammatory reaction to a foreign body and they tell you it's because you picked. Whatever. I was told these plugs are made of keratin and sebum and are a reaction in the skin from the spirochetes bacteria of Lyme disease. I have tried so many medications and creams and have had so many misdiagnosis it's insane. If anyone wants the whole story or has questions I made an email kterrylyme at gmail.
Good luck to everyone.