Ingrown Hair Infection

An ingrown hair infection is also called follicultitis. The infection can happen to anybody as this infection is caused by the fungus and bacteria. It must be noted that this infection can range from mild to severe and requires medical attention in severe cases. You must get in touch with the health care provider if the infection has affected you abnormally.

It must be noted that this infection can also be caused due to hair cut from waxing, shaving or by other hair removal methods. The broken hair starts growing through the surrounding tissues instead of growing through the follicle. In some cases, the hair may roll back and start growing in the same tissue. Now, the hair is unable to come out of the skin and may causeingrown hair infection.This problem is faced by both men and women. The infection can happen on the area where the growth of thick hair is prominent such as armpits, face and legs.

If you have developed ingrown hair infection, you may notice the below mentioned symptoms

• This may cause swelling of the affected area and irritation.
• You will notice soreness in the infected area.
• Pain in the affected area which may become severe depending upon the condition.
• The infection starts to show in the form of red pimple-like bump appearing on the skin.
• If the infection has spread over the surface, this may result in the pus-infected blister.
• There might be scars on the infected area.

You can take some preventive measures in order to avoid this infection. Some of the tips are mentioned below:

Proper hair removal methods

The foremost thing which you can count on is to use the proper methods for removing the hair from the skin. You must be aware of the fact that you must shave in the direction of hair. This will lead to the straight growth of hair. Hence the chances of getting infection will be less. This is because of the reason that this prevents the growth of curly hair and growing back into the skin. It is also suggested that you must not shave on the affected area again and again as this may cause ingrown hair infection on the same skin surface.

Proper care of the skin

In order to avoid ingrown hair infection, you must make sure that the proper measures are taken to care for the skin. Increase in the number of dead cells in the pores of skin may also result in infection. Dead skin results in skin bumps and more infection. So, you need to ex-foliate the skin using a scrub once in a day. You also need to moisturize the skin so that you can get rid of the dry cells. You must clean the infected area properly in order to remove the dust and dirt particles. Three steps; cleaning, ex-foliating and moisturizing will help the skin stay healthy and infection-free.

Alternate Methods of Hair removal

In order to get rid of the unwanted hair from the skin and avoid ingrown hair infection, you may switch to other alternative methods such as laser hair removal treatment for women and depilatory cream for men.

You do not have to get worried about ingrown hair infection. The infection can be cured easily at your home. You can exfoliate your skin twice in a day. This is one of the simplest methods for treating the infection. There are various scrubs available in the market from numerous brands which can be used for the treatment. You can use home made scrub which is mixture of olive oil and sugar.

Another home made remedy for the treatment of ingrown hair infection is gram flour. If there id swelling on the skin, you must use anti-bacterial ointment and anti-acne cream to decrease the swelling in the surrounding area. You will notice that the ingrown hair infection has reduced after the skin has been exfoliated properly and the inflammation has gone down. You must take a clean cloth and hot water to clean the affected area. You can take out the hair from the skin with the help of well sterilized pair of tweezers. Once you have removed the hair, you must wash the affected skin with the help of soap and apply antiseptic on it.

Above mentioned are some of the tips to get rid of ingrown hair infection at your home and you can easily perform them yourself. However, in some cases, the infection gets worse and results in pus and bleeding. In such cases, it is recommended to get the professional help so that he can give you medicine depending upon your conditions.