Effective Natural Remedies for Hair Follicle Cysts

Water and Stress Management Only for Folliculitis Decalvans

Hi everyone. I hope that my story will help someone who also has Folliculitis Decalvans. I am a 35 year old female with a history of severe cystic facial acne which was treated with several courses of antibiotics, Accutane and Spirinolactone.

By the time I was 29, my facial acne had cleared up sufficiently, but then I started getting pustular bumps on my hairline which would come and go without any reason. At first I thought it was diet related, so I did an IgG food intolerance test which showed that I should eliminate certain foods such as almonds, egg whites etc ( my test did not show intolerance to wheat and dairy). Even though I eliminated these foods, I would still get regular 'flair ups' along the frontal lobe area of my hairline which would last for weeks. I also later cut out milk and and wheat, but I still got flair ups.

3 years ago, I had a very bad flair up, and I was diagnosed with Folliculitis Decalvans and my dermatologist prescribed me 20 mg Accutane to be taken daily for 2 months and then tapered off to twice a week, and then once a week if I felt the condition was managed. The dermatologist also told me that once the Accutane treatment was over, I could manage the outbreaks with topical antibiotic gels etc. I immediately researched this condition obsessively, and to my horror I discovered it was a rare disease, with no known cause, and that it was incurable!!!

The Accutane treatment worked super well, and I used it for 9 months. However when I stopped, the folliculitis came back after two months! I am a teacher, and the thought of my students seeing this condition on my hairline was so frightening, that I quickly went back on the Accutane 20mg once a week and to my relief the disease cleared up. I realized however that I could not take Accutane for the rest of my life to manage FD, so I stopped taking it in January 2018 and the disease came back after one month! I cut a fringe to hide the condition, and I decided to use alternative methods to handle it topically such as Manuka honey, vinegar, castor oil, tea tree oil, and turmeric powder. Here's what happened.

1. turmeric and castor oil paste made it worse!

2. Tea tree oil was an irritant and it made it worse.

3. Medicated shampoos made it worse

What helped?

1. Washing my hair with only water, dried up the patches and is clearing up the folliculitis

2. Dealing with my emotions and not suppressing it. Here's a life saving article:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/Recognizing_the_mind-skin_connection

3. Not actively inspecting the folliculitis areas on my scalp. I believe if we pay attention to something in our lives it becomes stronger. Thus 'ignoring' it and not 'feeding' it with my attention has helped it to go away

4. Loving myself because my body actually trying to heal itself. Not thinking negatively about the issue.

Looking back at when flair ups occurred, It usually happened during severe EMOTIONAL stress (fleeing from a war torn country in 2011, a traumatic motor cycle accident, stress at work, relationship stress). Inflammation (in our case a pustular scalp) happens when the body is trying to heal itself (from emotional or other related stress). Its not a bad thing. Healing can not take place without inflammation. Adding things on the part where the body is trying to heal may make the body attack itself to get rid of the foreign ointments or whatever. My FD is gone for now, but when it comes back I will keep on dealing with it the same way as I outlined above. I am not saying that ointments (natural or chemical) will not work for anyone. I would just like to share what worked for me, and I hope it helps someone too.

Dear all,

Although I'm not convinced that wheat and milk causes FD, I'm convinced that cutting it out of my diet has helped in clearing the disease faster and will continue to cut out wheat for some time.

Further reading on heat/dampness and diet may be of help to some.

I had an infected hair follicle (folliculitis) and it spread to several other follicles creating a carbuncle. I drank turmeric in milk with honey (called "golden milk") to help it suppurate/come to a head and burst. I also made a paste of milk and turmeric to put on top of the carbuncle. Worked overnight.

I had a large cyst on the back of my neck that had become painful when I turned my head. After three days of rubbing a drop or two of Tea Tree oil on it 3 or 4 times a day it became noticeably reduced in size. After two weeks it was completely gone. I have had subsequent sebaceous cysts on my scalp a few times that went away as well after using this oil.

I had a sebaceous cyst on my neck about an inch in diameter that was growing larger. I decided to lance it, but despite energetic squeezing some of the material was too hard to squeeze out. Fortunately, the sebum that came out did not smell badly so I assume it was not infected.

Then I tried the hot, moist washcloth method and added a heating pad to keep it hot (use a plastic bag between the washcloth and the heating pad to protect it from moisture). To my surprise the size of the cyst was reduced.

I kept up a 20 minute, twice daily application of moist heat and after two weeks the cyst has disappeared.

I have been putting a few drops of tea tree oil on a cotton pad on to two cysts on my scalp over the last week before bed. I have had them for many years and was told by a doctor that they were cysts. They have been growing in size bit by bit, one now much bigger than a pea and very hard. After a week of applying tea tree oil once a day and not every day - when I remember basically- they have both decreased in size. Amazing!

Fortunately, I came across this website. I have a sebaceous cyst just below my left armpit. The surgeon says it's a sebaceous cyst and he has also his own at his back himself. Now, I am ordering tea tree oil and will see if it will do for me. Thanks.

Dear Karen: A hair follicle cyst is probably caused by a clogged sebaceous glands or overproduction of it, which resulted in inflammation. Normally surgery would be required, however a possibility exists to clear them by taking some zinc acetate (or gluconate or citrate) supplements for about a week. This will at least reduce such cyst and if inflammation no longer exists, the cyst might just disappear by itself. Also taking some vitamin E should raise the anti-oxidation to clear the clogged glands. Of course the zinc should be taken for at least a week.

Alkalizing will increase capillary circulation thus removing the clogged problems indirectly. The daily use of eye wash can help clean and perhaps might help clean the tiny clogged particle which is causing the condition. Try the simple remedy for about a month. It is necessary to follow he instructions of the eye wash as per instructions on the product you buy.

I once had a similar condition, but more like a inflammation around the similar area and was greatly helped with just the taking of zinc supplements. Sometimes taking aspirin also helped the circulation and thus reduces the inflammation without the need for surgery.

It must be noted that drinking plenty of water also helps, but add 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt per one liter of water. The water you drink, whenever you add some sea salt will increase the antibiotic properties of water as salt, even a weak solution do help.

I have a question: recently I developed a little hair follicle cyst on my lower eyelid close to the tear duct. I would like to avoid surgery and wondered if there was a folk remedy you could recommend. Thank you for getting back to me!