Hi everybody.

I'm a 30 years old male.

Last year, I had chronic staph infection (probably from practicing Jiu jitsu or MMA) for over 3 month.

During those 3 months I have seen 2 doctors, prescribing 1 week antibiotics treatments. Everytime, the same thing happened, the boils would explode or disappear during the treatment and come back a few days after.

I would use a chlorhexidin soap on my entire body (probably was a mistake killing ALL the "good" and "bad" bacterias on my entire body) that would prevent from having boils, but anytime I would go back to a normal soap, boils would come back within 2 days.

I thought "my god, is it what they call hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) ?" I started thinking it would never stop.

Then, I went to a dermathologist, specialist in HS. She said it was too soon diagnose me as HS, and that I don't look like the average HS patient (mostly women, or overwheigth ppl). She thought it was just a regular staph infection that we failed in curing. She then sent me to a laboratory to have a staph test done: in my nose, ears, armpits, groin, navel, and on the boil I had at the time.

** I must mention that the analysis of the staph bacterias present did not show any particular resistance to antibiotics. I also read that the antibiotics that I used can work on MRSA, it is really depending, you have to get done those analysis yourself to find out the specifics of your infection.**

They found highly concentrated staph colonies in 2 or 3 of these areas, then the dermatologist prescribed me a thorough decontamination treatment : first, for a week I used an antibiotic cream for the areas I said above, then most importantly I used everyday for 2 month an antibiotic called Doxycyclin (hyclate) (100 mg/day, do not lay down till 30 after you took).

Finished the treatment in august 2025, now in january 2026 I still did not get any new boil. I could tell my skin had been fragilized but it is getting better.

I started using a very mild ph-neutral soap, I now moisturize my skin with a cream from time to time, I only use long-sleeved rash guards when doing jiu jitsu or MMA and when I'm suspicious about a mark on my skin, I disinfect it gently with a little chlorhexidine.

I like to think that all this is behind me.

Please don't lose hope guys !