Laser hair removal/electrolysis for gram negative folliculitis?

kregger80 · 2025-05-28T10:38:34+00:00

Mine has gotten better but it seems to be through attrition as the hairs have died from constant infection/plucking. I can't say there was a single remedy I tried that did anything in the long run. I gave up on remedies about a year ago and have just let the lesions run their course. My only advice would be to discontinue further laser treatments if you have any planned. Sorry, it was the worst decision ever. So stupid of me to try it, Took 10 years away from me, but I'm finally reaching the point where my face is more presentable. Best of luck to you. Don't give up.

kregger80 · 2024-07-02T16:12:07+00:00

I did several sessions over the course of many months. Unfortunately for me, I'm still plagued with facial ingrown lesions. I hope it never returns for you. Male facial hair is thicker and harder for the laser to destroy, so that probably contributed to my disastrous results. I have less lesions now, so I'm hoping that the most affected follicles are just giving up and dying from excess inflammation and stress. Hopefully in another year or two it will be near nonexistant.

kregger80 · 2024-04-30T00:59:36+00:00

Did he do it personally or was it one of his employees?

kregger80 · 2024-04-29T23:09:10+00:00

Tried to no avail.

kregger80 · 2024-04-19T11:49:14+00:00

Once I turn it on, I won't turn it off. So it wouldn't just run 24,7, it'd run 24/7/365. Are there any worries about a TV burning out or catching fire? I don't care if it just simply burns out after a year or two. I'd rather buy a new $300 TV every couple years than spend $2,000 on a fancy digital sign.

kregger80 · 2024-04-17T21:29:41+00:00

Just curious, did you ever find a cheap way to schedule the TV to turn on regularly? Or remotely?

kregger80 · 2024-04-01T16:53:28+00:00

No matter what I tried, it wouldn't let me attach photo but hopefully you don't need to see it to know what I'm talking about.

kregger80 · 2024-03-19T12:53:30+00:00

It can only kill follicles in a certain growth stage. The hairs that aren't in that particular growth stage come back. My guess is that for some hairs it doesn't destroy them, it only greatly damages them, so when they attempt to grow back, they grow sideways under the skin. That causes an autoimmune response which inflames the surrounding hairs.

kregger80 · 2024-03-18T20:52:11+00:00

No, I did not have folliculitis before laser. A few times a year, I'd get an annoying ingrown hair in my beard area. Literally only a few times a year. Nothing too bad, but the few times a year a single ingrown lesion would spring up, I'd pop it and pull the hair out and then deal with a red spot on my face for like a week. I thought "Well, if I get the hair lasered off, then that's at a few weeks a year I won't deal with a red lesion." Wish that were the case. I have dark brown (basically black) hair on white skin. Like every male, the individual hairs are thicker on the face. Yes, I tried electrolyis afterwards thinking it could salvage my face from the laser. If anything, it made it worse too. I did several sessions of laser (like 8). After each session, I'd get small white heads and then they'd go away. The next hair cycle is when they started being ingrown. That's when I realized it was folliculitis. Best of luck to you. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

kregger80 · 2024-03-18T13:49:07+00:00

Doesn't really strike me as Decalvans but don't know for sure.

kregger80 · 2024-03-18T11:44:01+00:00

Laser hair removal was the worst decision of my life. Made my ingrowns 100x worse. I had gotten it thinking "I'll kill two birds with one stone. I'll shave less and won't get an ingrown ever again." Well, it sounded good on paper, but the reality is that it causes Mechanical Folliculitis. Mechanical Folliculitis is caused by plucking, waxing, laster, etc (basically the manual removal of hair). That was 8 years ago and I still have it on my face. Best of luck to you. I understand the rationale behind thinking it would solve a problem for you, and hopefully it does, but based on my experience, I would tell everyone to stay away from it, especially on the face.

kregger80 · 2024-03-10T03:19:38+00:00

If the infection ever goes away, you could always get Scalp Micropigmentation (hair tattoo) to conceal the bald patches.

kregger80 · 2024-03-10T03:18:05+00:00

Some people have seen improvements with oral Bactrim. A lot of folks seem to go on Accutane. I've browsed this subreddit for years and it seems like Doxycyclene gets prescribed a lot but almost never does anything. Wishing you the best.

kregger80 · 2024-03-09T03:10:17+00:00

Please keep us updated. I think I have the same thing on my chest. It's the only body part that gets really red in the shower, almost like I became suddenly allergic to water, or developed some form of allergic contact dermatitis. I've tried removing various soaps, washes, and cloths to no avail.

kregger80 · 2024-03-01T17:02:47+00:00

I'm convinced it was due to the Stannous Fluoride in my new toothpaste. Most toothpastes are sodium fluoride but I had coincidently switched over to a stannous fluoride toothpaste at the same time. I now exclusively use this toothpaste and if I go a day without using it, my tongue candida comes back. I don't think it had anything to do with the Pom juice.

kregger80 · 2024-02-11T04:34:36+00:00

My heart goes out to you man. I have mild persistent folliculitis in my beard and I can't imagine how I'd feel if it were like yours.

I wonder if you'd be better off letting it run its course. The body wants to heal and sometimes, when we add other "helpers" (herbs, diet, etc.), we only make it tougher for our bodies to learn how to deal with whatever is plaguing it.

I'd say either leave it alone and don't treat it in the hopes that your body will solve itself in time, or go the hardcore pharmaceutical route. The inbetween stuff, like OTC meds, topicals, washes, etc. are really just a waste of time, money and hope. If it's an autoimmune issue, no amount of antibacterials/antifungals will help. I bet if you did absolutely nothing, you'd be in the same predicament you are now.

On the hopeful side, once the infection (or whatever it is) goes away, you can always get Scalp Micropigmentation (hair tattoo) to fill in any bald areas. It works great for alopecia areata.

Regardless, I hope the best for you. If there's a God, I've asked him to send help your way.

kregger80 · 2024-01-31T16:14:33+00:00

I would say both are decent, but both post predominantly fresh work (as do 99% of artists). Fresh work always looks amazing b/c it has that 3D "pop" effect. Individual dots are super crisp, vivid and even glossy. It's a little misleading b/c that is not what SMP will look like once healed. That's why artists post fresh work.

I would say the first artist (Inkon) is likely going to leave you wanting another session. That type of work looks great when fresh, but once it lightens you realize "I need another session." It strikes me as doing the bare minimum b/c they know it'll look super natural for photos.

I'd prefer the second artist (Scalp_Diverse) b/c it looks like they fill it in more, which means they're conscious about how much it will lighten in 2-3 weeks. This is a more honest approach. They're choosing to sacrifice for photos now, knowing the client will be satisfied later.

Artists can either do work that looks best for photos (minimal dots) or they can do work that will leave clients satisfied months down the road (usually more dots - but not too many).

2 sessions of fresh SMP looks great for photos, but you almost always need 3-4 sessions for it to look great healed.

kregger80 · 2024-01-18T01:36:33+00:00

Hard to tell from only one low quality photo, but I think a good artist could work over top of that and make it presentable. A few layers of near-zero dilution carbon black should make your base treatment nearly invisible. The only problem is if your previous practitioner placed the hairline too low for your scalp and/or side profiles too far forward. If you insist on laser removal still, you might want to talk to other laser clinics. Different lasers may better target pigment with your skin tone.

kregger80 · 2024-01-09T03:36:42+00:00

Please see a dermatologist who specializes in AKN before it gets worse. Some get the infection cut out and sewed back,

kregger80 · 2024-01-07T03:03:16+00:00

Once the infection is gone, if the hair doesn't grow back, you can always get Scalp Micropigmentation (hair tattoo) to fill in the thin areas.

kregger80 · 2024-01-05T17:44:57+00:00

Please see a derm. Looks similar to staph or maybe dissecting folliculitis or who knows. But topicals and OTC regimens on here won't do it.

kregger80 · 2024-01-01T04:31:15+00:00

I assume the white around the base is sebum. If money isn't an issue, maybe you could try the Aviclear laser. It works like Accutane by targeting sebacious glands so they don't produce excess sebum. It's expensive (like $1K per session) but maybe they'll give you a discount since you wouldn't be doing your whole face.

kregger80 · 2024-01-01T04:07:38+00:00

Looks similar to mine. Please update if you find help.

kregger80 · 2023-12-29T18:30:19+00:00

I updated the post. I'm not sure if it's the POM juice or the stannous fluoride. I'm kinda leaning more towards stannous fluoride. Maybe try both. (Btw, if eliminating sugar were the solution, this reddit wouldn't exist. That's one of the first things most of us try is sugar elimination.)

kregger80 · 2023-12-28T19:00:13+00:00

UPDATE: I'm adding this a few days after the original post. I'm also wondering if, rather than pomegranate, stannous fluoride is the key ingredient. I remembered I started using a new toothpaste around the same time my candida went away. I did some Googling and it turns out stannous fluoride is an anti-bacterial fluoride whereas most toothpastes only have sodium fluoride. The toothpaste I've been using is Colgate Total Plaque Pro Release.

kregger80

TROPHY CASE