What is folliculitis?
Folliculitis is the infection as well as inflammation of one or more hair follicles. The condition may occur anywhere on the skin except the palms of the hand and soles of the feet. The rash may appear as pimples on the face, chest, arms, buttocks, even head. This skin infection happens due to a bacteria named as ‘staphylococcus’.
During pregnancy, a women goes through a lot of mood swings as well as rashes, stretch marks etc. First described in 1981, pruritic folliculitis (PFP) is a relatively rare but begin skin condition in pregnancy, that occurs in about one in three thousand pregnancies, according to review article in the American journal of clinical dermatology.
Signs and symptoms
Your body helps you to deal with your day to day bodily processes. It protects you, nurtures you as well as it helps you healing your wounds.
Now, every time your body may not function properly or the way you want it to. Folliculitis as we got to know previously that it is a skin infection of one or more hair follicles which happens due to a bacteria. If something red bum like structure is appearing while you are shaving that is folliculitis. Its common as well as curable. During pregnancy this happens and continues till the 2nd week of the delivery. It is normal and nothing much to worry about.
Read more: 11 Home Remedies for Itchy Skin During Pregnancy
Symptoms of folliculitis can differ depending on the person who is having that, but the most common symptoms are as following :
- Clusters of tiny red spots around the hair follicle.
- Itching skin
- Pimples or pustules located around a hair follicle; may be confused as chicken pox.
- Spreading from leg to arm to the whole body through wrong treatment.
Read more: Shingles or Chicken Pox During Pregnancy
Types of folliculitis
Folliculitis can be classified into two major types:
- Superficial
- Deep
Superficial folliculitis only affects the upper most layer of the hair follicle, while deep folliculitis involves the whole hair follicle and can affect deeper parts also.
Superficial folliculitis
- Staphylococcal folliculitis
This is caused by the bacteria named ‘staphylococcus’. And this is the ost common type of folliculitis. It is characterized by white, itchy, pus- containing bumps.
- Pseudomonas folliculitis
This is caused by pseudomonas which proliferate in hot tubs with imbalanced chlorine and ph levels. This happens when the hot tubs are not maintained. The rashes usually appears where the water can accumulate.
- Barber’s Itch
The name is quiet funny but the person who goes through this type of infection gets irritated because the infection itself is very irritating, it happens because of the fungus Tinea barbae and looks like a white boils.
Read more: Nipple Itching- Causes, Symptoms and Treatment
- Pseudofolliculitis barbae
It is somehow similar to barber’s itch , but is caused extremely small cuts .This occurs with people who are having curly hairs .
- Malassezia folliculitis
This type of folliculitis is caused by a yeast infection known as malassezia. This occurs as small pink pustules or papules.
- Scalp folliculitis
It is kind of disorder of hair follicles of the scalp. This medical condition is known as ‘acne necroticamiliaris’. It is small , itchy pustules on the scalp.
Deep folliculitis
Those people who face the problem of superficial folliculitis they have maximum chances of having deep folliculities as well. Deep folliculitis are more painful and takes longer time to heal.
Types of deep folliculitis are as follows:
- Sycosis barbae
It is also known as barber’s itch that can cause permanent hair loss.
- Boils
Boils are caused by staph bacteria which deeply affect the follicle. They are filled with pus. They are very painful and they continuously grow until they are drained.
- Gram negative folliculitis
People who are in touch with antibiotic therapy for a long period of time face ths problem or we may say this type of folliculitis. Antibiotic affects the balance of one’s body.
- Eosinophilic folliculitis
People who go through non curable disease like HIV, late stage of AIDS, or cancer are most likely to experience this type of folliculitis.
During pregnancy a women goes through a lot of bodily changes and we may also say hormonal changes which may lead to these folliculitis. But these are not permanent; this happens during pregnancy and heals after delivery.
Read more: 11 Common Infections During Pregnancy
11 Natural Remedies to Treat Folliculitis During Pregnancy
Every person in this world, no matter which type of disease they are facing and for how long , the best way to fight this type of disease is yoga. Yoga is the best therapy one can go in his or her day to day life for calm upbringing. Yoga helps us to deal with all sort of problems and every pregnant women must practice yoga at least once during the whole day. Its very helpful and it will help the women with pregnancy, handle their mood swings.
Let us know some more ways or natural remedies of treating folliculitis during pregnancy.
- Drinking plenty of water
Well, this is the most easy way or most common way to fight or to heal any sort of skin disease. For treating folliculitis one can have 8-9 glasses of water everyday. Other than this one can try to have liquid in form of juice, soup. Lemon juice will help in reducing it.
Read more: How Much Water Should You Drink in a Day During Pregnancy?
- Mixture of essential oil
It is very effective and one of the best to treat folliculitis naturally at home. The essential oil is antiseptic as well as act as an antibiotic that treats folliculitis quickly.
Oatmeal contains anti-itching properties that help reducing skin disease. One can even try making an oatmeal lotion just to cover the infected areas.
- Vinegar
This is another easy and effective way of treating hair follicles. Vinegar contains acetic acid which helps in reducing itching and swelling. Mix some vinegar with warm water and then apply it on the affected areas.
Coconut oil is very common and is available everywhere. It is rich in nutrients and is very helpful as it acts as an antibiotic as well as anticeptic. Directly use coconut oil on the affected areas. It will make the skin more smooth and use it at least thrice a day.
This ingredient is known to all and we also know that it acts as first aid in everyone’s house. Turmeric is a magical ingredient which works in both ways. It is enriches one beauty at the other hand helps preventing all these skin disease. Make a thick paste and use in the affected areas.
- Avoid unhygienic pools or hot tubs
Hot tubs, pool contains chlorine, if the chlorine is not treated properly than it may cause folliculitis. There are bacteria which we discussed previously can transmit through dirty water. So be careful while coming in contact with any of these water bodies.
- Wear loose clothes
In most of the cases the main reason or cause behind folliculitis is because of wearing tight dresses. So its better to try loose clothes and letting your body relax. Avoid tight jeans, leggings, or any other sort of dress which may irritate your skin. Be comfortable and try to wear something which is flexible as well as relaxing,
- Avoid shaving
Shaving makes the area more harsh and somehow if it is not proper than may irritate also. So avoid shaving as much as possible and mostly on those areas which are affected like underarms.
- Avoid irritating substance
Different people have different skin type and everything doesn’t suit them so its very important for them to know what are the substance which irritates them and avoid them. Specially those substance which you are allergic to.
- Avoid touching the affected areas
Our hand contains germs and bacteria which is not visible to our eye but it may harm the affected area more if we touch those area. Wash your hands properly every time before touching the affected areas.
These are some of the natural remedies for treating folliculitis during pregnancy. And as I mentioned yoga is the best remedy to every problem and disease one goes through.
Read more: 7 Must Know Prenatal Yoga Poses
Hope this article was of help for all our parents!! Please share your comments/queries/tips with us and help us create a world full of Happy and Healthy Babies!!
