Treatment
Although there is no permanent cure for Hidradenitis suppurativa, you can engage certain therapies to improve the symptoms. Treatment helps:
- Prevent complications
- Reduce the severity of breakouts
- Promote healing
- Improve pain
In most cases, doctors recommend the following treatment to improve the condition:
- Antibiotics: These topical and oral drugs can treat bacterial infections, prevent new breakouts, and improve inflammation. Your healthcare provider may prescribe tetracyclines [3] or a combination of rifampin (Rifadin) and clindamycin (Cleocin).
- Laser hair removal (LHR): Laser hair removal can completely stop exacerbation of the condition if done at an early stage.
- Hormones: According to studies, hormone therapy can also be used to reduce pain in women who have Hidradenitis suppurativa. Antiandrogen therapy is used to reduce the activities of hormones, like testosterone. Your doctor may also prescribe the diabetes drug metformin (Glucophage) to treat people with metabolic syndrome. Metformin is used off-label.
- Steroids: Injected or oral steroids can relieve your symptoms and reduce inflammation. Your doctor may prescribe low doses of systemic steroids and corticosteroids, like prednisone, which may be taken by people with mild or severe symptoms. These drugs can result in severe side effects if used for a long time.
- Pain medications: Over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers, like lidocaine [4] (ZTildo), and acetaminophen (Tylenol) can help reduce discomfort caused by skin breakouts.
- Biologics: Biologic medications function by suppressing your immune system. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have only approved adalimumab (Humira) as the drug to be used to treat HS. Other medications, like golimumab (Simmons), etanercept (Enbrel), and infliximab (Remicade) may be used as an off-label drug use.
- Topical medications or acne washes: Although these drugs may not be effective in reducing symptoms of HS on their own, they serve as an effective addition to your treatment schedule.
- Retinoids: Retinoids [5] are often used for treating acne. They are produced from vitamin A and can be taken orally or topically. Your doctor may also prescribe acitretin (Soriatane) or isotretinoin (Amnesteem, Claravis). Retinoids are also administered off-label.
- Zinc: Regular consumptions of zinc supplements may improve your symptoms.