White Stretchy Plugs

I have had these in the past. Last outbreak I recall was 2015. But it did not last this long and perhaps the location only worsened the pain and duration. Mine is just below my right lip aside from the chin line. Was the size of a dollar coin. Now down to the head of a cotton swab. Will check in again

Hi everyone,

So, i got my blood work results back and i am severely low vitamin D so i got prescribed vit. d supplements. Most of us are "low" but i am dangerously low (27 nmol or 8.4 pg) and skin problems arise from this. He also diagnosed me with psoriasis of the scalp.

Lets go with the theory it is psoriasis (white plugs being clogged pores of excess skin cells). Psoriasis is a build up of skin cells that reproduce too quickly and out of control. If you take the top layer off it sends more and more signals to replicate skin cells and thus making it grow out of control (plugging up the area making ingrown hairs and infecting hair follicles.

"Jock itch"/ingrown hairs are psoriasis too and i think once they reach ulcerative state drs have no clue.

I just think creams and bandaids are well... Bandaid solutions to a bigger problem. Now that im psychologically afraid of picking (due to my derm walking out on me after I insisted there are white plugs--and demanded to know what they are), I have finally stopped picking and they all of a sudden Drs. can tell what it is.

I have never been checked for my vitamin D levels in my entire life and have even had Trousseaus sign (one way to tell if its ur vit d difficent--also meaning its severe). I really had no idea why i felt like from the inside out i was deterriorating. I always assumed they were bugs which made me sound crazy... Now i know....

Jcat,

Chasing the Cure sounds interesting. Ill try to remember to watch. Hopefully i can find it.

Im just wondering if everyone is getting them in their hair? ...i get it on my legs, creating ulcerative ingrown hairs that look like nasty mosquito bites that have been clawed. There is sometimes pus but mostly a purple/red dot with the ingrown and once opened you can see white dots LIKE un removable black heads but very white but covered in blood. The ones i got on my neck were from plucking random annoying hairs (i had like 6 stupid darker ones). Then they seemed to fill with these things... It always seems to be involved with hair. Even if i do nothing they will still come and go and i will find ingrowns. I stopped removing hair for a year to see if i was causing it and stopped picking. They still come.. Just not as often...

Just some Guy,

Is this the same one you are still battling from awhile ago?

...i would like to also ask if the majority of people smoke?
I also live in Canada and i get them in the winter too so i dont think its from a tree and my dog and bunnies are fine.

However, I do know sweat exacberates in the summer.. And if u are vit d difficient your immune system cant fight off allergens and causes slow wound healing. Even if you think you are getting enough sunshine... Some peoples bodies just dont convert vitamin D well. Either way vit d can help fight skin infections and speed healing no matter what it is..

KTerry,

I am interested in hearing more of your story. I did not get a biopsy, but i did get many swabs and all were bacteria free but did find white blood cells (WBC) and blood work showed slight elevated eosinophils (also WBC). I have thought of lime disease and i will be mentioning this to the internist my dr is sending me to. I literally want a thorough check of everything. Have you been having symptoms of body aches, fatigue, and migraines as well?

I also wanted to mention my mental health has gone downhill with this. I have been experiencing panic attacks and sleep issues. I am thankful for a study i am doing (with the Royal Ottawa Hospital) for mood/sleep disorders. They will be giving me an MRI, a sleep assesment, a psychologist, and UV/vit D glasses to wear (for 45 when i wake up--however, they use placebos as well, but alternate). This is what inspired me to check my vit D levels. I would encourage everyone here to find studies in their city which COULD help with answers.

This is my last comment til someone replies i promise!! Lol..sorry..

I just really wanted to share this. Its about a skin condition called "Koebner Phenomenon". I have included a quote and link from the site explaining it below.

"The Koebner phenomenon is when a skin disorder, such as psoriasis, vitiligo, or lichen planus, occurs at the site of an injury on the skin."

...I think this would explaine why i get them on their own (on my scalp and back of neck) and sometimes in places i scratch, pluck, or sweat/heat rash.
...even in pimples..

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319653.php

Just some guy, thanks I do think it is working. I think I just got excited the first day because it made such a difference right away. It is healing and there are less plugs every day. This is the 5th time I have dealt with these things. All separate times and locations. The past time I just dug until I was sure they were gone. This time this one is in a spot that I had the same thing in earlier in the year. I think it never really healed properly before. The Prid is working better than digging holes in my face to get the out that’s for sure! I was only applying it twice a day I have upped that now. I am keeping it covered in now ( unless I go out of the house) I use the light therapy pen to calm it down if I am going out in public.

GillCo, I mentioned earlier that I have previously been told by my Dr that my Vitamin D levels are low. Which I thought was insane because I live in South Florida and am in the sun a lot. Anyway, I took Vitamin D for several years and about 6 months ago I guess I just got lazy and stopped. I recently started taking it again. I also just started taking a probiotic Incase it is something that is internal. I am overdue for my annual physical....by about a year and a half so I will make it a point to make that apt and get all of my bloodwork done. I have recently been having an itchy scalp, I am always tired...I just assume that comes with age. I recently started smoking (not sure why) I blame it on stress and people around me smoking. It’s dumb especially since I was an outspoken antismoker for the first 50 years of my life. I don’t really have headaches, but I did have another Skin condition prior to this. I forget what the dermatologist told me it was Nodular something. I am not sure if it is even the right diagnosis. Basically if I get a sore usually a mosquito bite, I scratch it then it turns into a scab that gets very dry and skin get a thicken raised area. These things can take months sometimes even years to go away. I do not have any right now but the most recent ones I had I used a sea salt and coconut oil scrub to make the go away. The dr prescribed a steroid cream but I tried it for a few months a few years ago and it did nothing. So I stopped bothering with it. That is a little of my history since you asked about some of the things I mentioned. I am going to read about Koebner phenomenon. Thanks!

Thanks for the update Jcat! I had a bad day yesterday - removed about five decent sized plugs and one most large one. Today, however, it feels different. It feels more like a bruise. Some irritation if I touch it but not like the usual. Healing good today. I am still on the PRID drawing salve. I still believe it is working to heal. Been given anti-biotic, anti-fungal, anti-viral creams; penicillin for thirty days, two biopsies and a partridge in a pear tree. I began writing here by starting with - "If they could only feel the pain". The next time a doctor tells me to leave it alone, I will put a lighter under his/her finger and tell him/her to get up there. There is no burning pain - it is only in their heads. I am also a smoker Jcat but don't think it has anything to do with this illness. Also Canadian so I can partake in legal herb smoking too ! Ha Ha Isn't this country great! - Except for it's dermatologists. They should be ashamed of themselves. Okay Jcat - keep on the PRID. Been four weeks for me - it will work! Talk soon

I just wanted to say i smoke too and yes pot too.. It helps destress and helps me sleep.. I was thinking maybe there could be a connection as the smoky air can seep into our clothing and hair. Not that this makes quitting any easier. My friend who also smokes gets similar skin issues. I have tried to quit several times and my skin seems to not be as bad.

Oh Pot! How I miss it! I moved to Colorado when it became legal and that is when I started smoking it. I didn’t smoke actual cigarettes until a few years after I moved from there and was going through a nasty divorce. I did not have any issues when I was able to smoke pot just lots of relaxation! Maybe I should move back to Colorado and chill!

Oh Pot! How I miss it! I moved to Colorado when it became legal and that is when I started smoking it. I didn’t smoke actual cigarettes until a few years after I moved from there and was going through a nasty divorce. I did not have any issues when I was able to smoke pot just lots of relaxation! Maybe I should move back to Colorado and chill!

Bobby your advice worked!
I have been using sulfur soap and image brand ageless facial wash to clean, and it cleared my face except I always had a few lesions of those white plugs. I tried everything I read about, from tea tree to athletes foot cream, acne topicals and pills, even tanning to try and fry the lil buggers. By chance I went on vacation and the rental had a hydrogen peroxide spray bottle in the bathroom. Since my spot got worse from my sunscreen and/or makeup, I decided to try and cleanse it with hydrogen peroxide and when I saw the reaction on the lesion my mind got going in scientific mode again and started researching, I read Bobby’s routine and it worked faster than mine!!! So I washed, as usual the crusty cover came right off, it oozed and bled, I sprayed hydrogen peroxide on it every 10 seconds or so, I would spray again until the bleeding stopped, then wait 5 minutes and repeat for 20 minutes, then 12 hours later I washed my face and the crust came off as usual but I was able to tweeze each of those stretchy fat or long plugs right out, it bled like heck. I did the 20 minute peroxide routine again and covered the spot with 10% sulfur acne treatment tube (Azure brand from Walmart.com) and this morning the lesion that normally has raised edges is a flat scab that feels tender like healing and not like the normal plug filled lesion, it looks completely different than it has for months. FINALLY!!!
So, my routine:
-Wash with Dr Kaufmann bar soap x2 day
-Wash with Image brand Ageless x1 day
-Remove crust/scab & Spray hydrogen peroxide until bleeding stops, continue every 5 minutes for 20 minutes
-12 hours later wash face, remove scab/crust and quickly pull out the buggers and they come out easier then ever. I did it working fast thinking they would sink down in or swelling would inhibit the extraction. I got all of the big ones, but saw what looked like some tiny ones on the raised rim/edge of the crater, I got what I could and prayed the raised edge would disappear, in the morning it was gone!! Feels tender like a wound should when healing.
So I
-wash with sulfur soap
-apply Azur sulfur acne ointment in tube and Avoid any oils they feed off of to clear it all up.
I hope this can help others before they are tortured for years like I was.

JCat, I never had these lesions until I started harvesting medicinal crops.

I always had acne but when a resident doctor told me it was fungal acne we changed my prescription and my skin cleared up, first time in 23 years, I was so freaking happy, and then I started harvesting marijuana plants for a grower after my car accident because I couldn’t handle the prescription pills anymore, and bam, that’s when I started getting these lesions. Dermatologist excised one and said it wasn’t cancer, etc, and labeled me a picker. I cried and said you don’t understand these plugs are not comedones and he started checking me for autoimmune stuff again, results coming back saying not the main ones, but he said there are a few positives that could mean not common ones and we have to narrow it down. I also tested positive for HPV so I did a green tea and vitamin concoction that cleared it quickly. Also, when HPV is cleared the acne clears up.

So I have had these white plugs since about 9 years old. Mostly they go away for years, but at about 36 I go in cycles. People who have never had them, cannot and should not direct anyone to stop pulling them out.

What is it? I believe it is a multitude of issues that arise out of genetics, low or auto- immunity, STRESS, fast turn over of skin and genetic vitamin deficiencies and micro organisms that live on each person.

Number one reason why I will never stop picking these. The wound will not heal until the foreign body is removed. It is a part of the healing process however in my case, my healing process of a wound is interrupted. Stress is probably the trigger. I know I have fast skin turnover and have autoimmune diseases along with genetic vitamin deficiencies that feed skin. Most of these only present on the face scalp neck, arms and chest. All sun exposed areas; therefore I have a feeling UV rays may have an impact.

Like I said the wound won’t heal until that rubbery plug is removed. I have had one scab over for 18 months! I’ve looked at it under the microscope and do not see legs or any movement. If they are left to grow I have seen they take the form of the what looks like a clear to whitish tube that seems to grow in the hair shaft. When they grow deep they tend to hit a nerve and trigger pain. As soon as it’s extracted, the pain subsided and the wound immediately heals within a day. Having a sand papery wound for 18 months or longer presents more of a danger than pulling it out with sterilized tools and allowing the wound to heal within a couple days. Stress disables and progresses autoimmune disorders and even impairs the immune system of a normal person and their normal vitamin stores. Microorganisms that hide in and on the surface of our skin and have the propensity to grow out of control. I noticed that when I was put on metronidazole that my skin cleared up but is not proof that it is biological alone. As that is also considered an antibiotic. However once off the drug, symptoms returned but in a smaller scale.

We turn to taking care of our bodies by picking because medical professionals do not have the capacity to comprehend what is causing this. I have even seen one of the top leading dermatologists in the United States. He removed one and just said it was non cancerous and didn’t really have an answer for what it was. Like most doctors today, they make you feel insane; when in reality it’s their ignorance or inexperience because they’ve never had one of these. So I started looking into research and from what I understand is that a lot of people who have these also have issues with stress, some autoimmunity, etc.

Even my husband used to yell at me to stop picking until I showed him what it looked like how fast it healed after I pulled it out. He hasn’t nagged me since.

Point is, do your own homework because you may never find medical support. I ran my DNA Vitamin profile and found what my deficiencies were. I suspected that I was deficient in B6, B12, D, and A. All of which were confirmed but also found out a couple other deficiencies like choline, folate, Biotin, E and K. So all of the fat soluble and the B’s I need to take a special kind called methylated versions like P5P(B-6), methylcobalamin and methyl folate. 40% of the population should be taking the methylated Trio because their livers cannot break down regular b vitamins. But doctors won’t tell you that because they never learned genetics in med school. So people who shouldn’t take the mainstream un-methylated version, are loading these vitamins into their system and making their own bodies toxic when their body cannot process those vitamins and other processes like homocysteine rise and flip bad DNA switches on.

Eyes...Where did you get your DNA vitamin profile done? As well do you know anything about having high B12. I do have a few autoimmune disorders...UC, asthma, PBC (primary biliary cholangitis) and Sjogren's. Thanks.

I have followed the posts online about the sores with cores, sores with white plugs, etc for years because I have had them. I decided that these sores that last forever and keep producing cores were caused by what I was eating. Over the years I would give up wheat or eggs or dairy or sugar. But nothing worked. And the whole time I was experimenting with every topical solution I came across. Then late in 2018 I decided that it was caused by candida, biofilm and a leaky gut. These sores really took hold in 2012 after a ruptured appendix and enough antibiotics to kill every natural thing in my gut. That plus my eating habits probably caused leaky gut. Then I like sugar, so I had candida and the candida would get inside the biofilm, travel out the leaky gut and the body tries to expel it through the skin. And I did find that putting anti-fungal creams and liquids did help, along with suffocating the sores with tape. But in trying to figure out the food was difficult. I would take Interfase to kill the Biofilm and other pills to kill the Candida. I was down to eating 6 foods. Salmon, salad, vinegar, tea and I forget the other two. I was starving for months, But yet the sores persisted. And then I decided to move from California back to the south where I grew up. From the day I drove out of that greedy state, I never had another new sore. I only have one sore left..it has no cores...just that hard biofilm scab that they get sometimes. Hydrogen peroxide is softening that up. So was it really something in the air? I lived in three different homes...so it wasn't just one house. Back in the early 2000's my little dog had itchy sores that drove him crazy. I paid $1200 for a doggy allergy test and they said it was in the air...all sorts of pollen blowing in from the desert. I have to wonder if that is my case. Oh and on my four day drive across the country, I ate whatever I wanted. And no new sores. Once I got here though, the mosquitoes just ate me alive. And because I had been away for 30 years I had no tolerance for them. So wherever I got bit would turn into a huge welt and the sore would take a while to heal. I dress like a mummy to go outside and don't have any new bites and the old ones have almost healed. Clearly those of us who have these sores are way more sensitive to something than other people. And perhaps it is something in the gut. I just know I am so glad not to have my upper arms full of sores. I will probably go back and visit in California next year...it will be interesting to see if the issue returns. I remember my first night in a hotel in Arizona on my drive across country, I was surprised that the sores had just calmed down and were healing. Make of that what you will.

I've finally figured out I've had demodex infestation myself. And have been battling this issue forever! Right now I have a big lesion on my face because of it...and have been trying to get it to heal for weeks!!! Recently I picked the hell out of it and have been vigorously rubbing it with tea tree oil to exfoliate the scab...and then I see all the demodex poking their nasty lil selves out...so I'll grab a nail clipper to grab hold of an and yani out as many as I can....abd then repeat the process...after a few times of this I'll rub more tea tree oil on it and then cover it with antibacterial ointment....and I'll continue to do the tea tree and ointment process every so often and sometimes use a vitamin e and coconut oil lotion or just plain coconut oil in between...i really hope it'll help it heal faster...since I just started this process