Why Diagnosis Is Hard

With hidradenitis, we now consider it to be a disease of the hair follicles. So just like any other disease process, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. So HS typically appears on body folds. Underarms are probably the number one area. They can also occur on groin folds as well, sometimes the upper inner thighs, between the buttocks area, underneath the breasts in women as well, sometimes in the back of the neck. Severe cases, you can get it on the genital area.

The fact is that there are a few things that can mimic HS. Many times patients do confuse their symptoms for another disease. And it is almost like a bad acne, something called a blackhead or a comedone.

One thing that can mimic early hidradenitis is something called boils. Because hidradenitis affects the younger population, they may not, of course, have the medical awareness to know that hey, this can represent something more than just a cyst or a boil or something that's going to go away.

There is definitely a psychosocial element of hidradenitis as well. They feel embarrassed. Or they just feel that maybe they'll be judged, because they will assume that other people think that this is either a contagious disorder or something that they caused because of poor hygiene. And of course, that's not the case at all.

Most people can't necessarily self-diagnose. But I think people now are becoming a lot more cognizant of their bodies and their skin, and they're able to go to the physician to get that diagnosis. Whenever the skin is telling you, hey, look at me, this is not normal, we do recommend for patients to seek their dermatologist or their primary care physician to kind of get that process started being treated.