Hi guys, I’ve been dealing with what might be HS for a few years now and I wanted to reach out to get some opinions on whether or not you believe that is what I am dealing with. The medical system is giving me different answers everywhere I go.

Some background about me. I am a 26 year old model, I have a very strict diet and I workout 5-6 times per week. This all began in early 2021, after receiving the covid-19 vaccine (you will see why this is relevant).

So, quite soon after the vaccine, I began dealing with painful lumps in my armpits. They started small, and at first I thought they were swollen lymph nodes due to immune reaction from the vaccine. My general physician treated these by prescribing antibiotics and steroids, which seemed to somewhat work to get the pain and swelling down.

Also worth mentioning; at the same time as this was happening, I began dealing with severe blepharitis (styes). They were so persistent my eye doctor decided to put me on long term low dose doxycycline.

As time progressed, the lumps continued to get larger. One came and unlike the others, it did not go away on its own. I went to a breast care center (under the impression these were lymph nodes), where one ended up being drained, and the doctor believe it was an ingrown hair. It was biopsied and had MRSA, I was told this was probably because my long term use of doxycycline. I was told to follow up with my dermatologist if it happened again.

As time went on, I kept getting them in both armpits. I would go in to the dermatologist, they would inject them with steroids and prescribe oral steroids and antibiotics. We are now in fall 2023 and one kept getting bigger and was not responding to treatment. My dermatologist decided to excise it. She went in and said the infection was really bad and decided to go deeper and remove the entire sac and infection. This left me with a hole in my armpit that they attempted to glue & stitch but it wouldn’t hold. Luckily, it mostly healed and there is just a small scar.

This is when the dermatologist mentioned the idea that this could be a condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa. She said she wondered if my long term doxycycline use is why it wasn’t more severe for me. But she also speculated the doxy was causing antibiotic resistance.

Since then, I did not deal with a flair up until now. In mid February I noticed a new bump in my right armpit. I went in again, it was injected and I was sent home with an oral steroid. A few days later, it got worse and one popped up in the left armpit. I went back, they injected again with a stronger steroid and put me on a different antibiotic. Left armpit got even worse so I went to a different dermatologist for another opinion. My nurse friend was skeptical of the decision to put me on so many antibiotics.

The new dermatologist said we will operate under the assumption this is a mild case of HS. He decided to drain the left armpit in office by lancing it (not a full excision like the previous dermatologist), since he believed this was just inflamed and not infected. He didn’t want to drain the right one because he didn’t feel that there was anything to drain (at least yet). He said if it doesn’t get worse or go away we could do an ultrasound. He said I could go on Humira but he wouldn’t recommend it unless it gets worse. We also decided to stop the doxycycline permanently and see if the styes come back.

That was on Thursday. Now fast forward to today. My right armpit feels so much better, there is still a small lump which I believe is going to go away (for now). The right armpit has gotten larger and is hot and itchy and painful. There is definitely something that could be drained now so I plan on going in on Monday.

I just wanted to share this story and ask this community if you have any opinions on this. I also wanted to know if anyone has had a similar HS experience to me. Or could this be something else?

Thank you guys so much.

EDIT: Changes I have implemented thanks to this sub to hopefully stop new ones:

Hibiclens 2-3 times a week, Threw out my loofa, Dr Bronner’s peppermint, Glycolic acid post showering every/every other day