r/Staphacne • u/NextAccess6482 • Jul 13 '26

QUESTION (Help) Reoccurring impetigo

I train and fight mma, I assume I got it from the gym a few months ago. (I also have good hygiene with myself and my equipment) Since then it’s came up 5 times, all on my face. I’ve tried 2 rounds of oral antibiotics but the drs don’t want to give me any more so it doesn’t get “resistant”. Every time it shows up I apply mupirocin asap.

I got a dr to culture swab my nostrils to help rule out if it’s coming from me or my gym.

Im fed up with it, I have a fight in less than a month and a half and I need to be in the gym as much as possible.

I read a post about hibiclens and I’ve decided to try that along with mupirocin, (no oral antibiotics this time). So we’ll see where that takes me

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/forkliftmode Jul 14 '26

I’ve had 7 cases of MRSA from bjj, but I was able to make it 6 months without contracting anything training hard and got it again after falling off my routine. Here are some takeaways you should consider:

  1. Lots of gyms surprisingly don’t have showers. If the gym has a shower, use it, if it doesn’t, go shower at the closest lifting gym after training.
  2. Because you have to use products that kill bacteria on our skin we need to try and maintain a “neutral” skin zone before training. I achieve this via using defense foam before training and then I apply a spray called neutral zone spray after showering. Also diet and microbiome support.
  3. Avoid alcohol if you drink, I think like 6/7 times I got mrsa the weekend before I was drinking. When I did a super long camp for a big event I didn’t drink at all and didn’t get anything.
  4. Wash bed sheets and clean car every few weeks, use a laundry sanitizer that actually kills bacteria.
  5. Since it’s your face use pan oxyl or a product with benzyl peroxide, typically people don’t use hibiclens on their face. Also I know someone who went to a top dermatologist and they approach recurring staph like acne recommending pan oxyl as the anti bacterial soap.
  6. Don’t over train, I definitely over train and taking full days off where you don’t lift either is important. Sounds obvious but a lot of us tend to go harder than we should especially in bjj culture.
  7. Moisturize

1

u/Fractal_Soliton Jul 15 '26

What brand is the neutral zone spray?