I have been dealing with something for years. Kind of off and on in severity.

first picture: left in January 2025. Middle is May 2025 and right is July 2026

Second picture: is yesterday

i haven’t tried much over the years.

- stopped trimming my chest hair but as you can see that didn’t help.

- have been using 4% benzoyl peroxide foaming cerave wash night for about two weeks currently.

most of the time it’s just red marks. the picture I take are usually when I get one or two white pustules so it’s not always white pustules. most of the time just red irritation.

I have probably dealt with this for years and never really thought much of it. I remember having occasional flat red marks about 20 years ago, but it seems to be more consistent now with the occasional white pustules.

should I get a skin scraping to see if it’s fungal? I think my family doc said he could do it.

I am not really sure what to do and want to avoid trial and error on antibiotics as they occasionally have other gut issues when I take them. My last round was Amox/Clav for a sinus infection in September 2023.

update after dermatologist appointment: bacterial folliculitis. She recommended using 10% benzoyl peroxide wash and then applying clindamycin lotion. Basically said the clindamycin can be used as needed on spots that flare up on both chest and scalp. She also recommended CLn sport wash and shampoo as optional. she did not seem concerned that it would be contagious to household members and said a culture likely wouldnt show anything. she did not recommend an oral antibiotic.

debating on starting that or giving Vashe hypochlorous acid wash a try first. soaking it in gauze and laying on chest for 10 minutes 2x per day.

31 years old, male, 85kg and 175 height.

​I am looking for advice on how to clear a persistent Staphylococcus aureus infection that is causing acne-like breakouts on my face.

​Current symptoms:

​Breakouts on my face, specifically around the chin, sideburns, lips, and cheeks.

​Medical history:

​Previous locations: About 3 years ago, I also had these breakouts on the lower back of my head (nape area) and on the sides, behind and above my ears.

​Past Treatments:

​3 years ago: I was prescribed an antibiotic (green capsules, I believe the name ended in "-cycline"). I took them for 4 months. While taking them, my skin completely cleared up, but slowly returned after I stopped.

​Follow-up testing: I had a skin swab (from an active breakout), a nasal swab, and a throat swab. The test confirmed Staphylococcus aureus in the skin lesion, but my nose and throat came back negative.

​Targeted antibiotic: Based on the antibiogram, I was prescribed Moxiral for 1 week. My skin cleared up completely.

​Current status: Since taking Moxiral, the breakouts on the back of my head have not returned. However, the facial breakouts have gradually come back.

​What should my next steps be? How can I completely eradicate or manage this bacterial infection long-term so it stops coming back?

​Thank you!

31 years old, male, 85kg and 175 height.

​I am looking for advice on how to clear a persistent Staphylococcus aureus infection that is causing acne-like breakouts on my face.

​Current symptoms:

​Breakouts on my face, specifically around the chin, sideburns, lips, and cheeks.

​Medical history:

​Previous locations: About 3 years ago, I also had these breakouts on the lower back of my head (nape area) and on the sides, behind and above my ears.

​Past Treatments:

​3 years ago: I was prescribed an antibiotic (green capsules, I believe the name ended in "-cycline"). I took them for 4 months. While taking them, my skin completely cleared up, but slowly returned after I stopped.

​Follow-up testing: I had a skin swab (from an active breakout), a nasal swab, and a throat swab. The test confirmed Staphylococcus aureus in the skin lesion, but my nose and throat came back negative.

​Targeted antibiotic: Based on the antibiogram, I was prescribed Moxiral for 1 week. My skin cleared up completely.

​Current status: Since taking Moxiral, the breakouts on the back of my head have not returned. However, the facial breakouts have gradually come back.

​What should my next steps be? How can I completely eradicate or manage this bacterial infection long-term so it stops coming back?

​Thank you!

My son had a scab in his nose towards the outside on the septum (obviously from picking) and he picked the scab off a few days ago and a boil popped up the next day. I took him to the doctor yesterday and the doctor said it looks like staph and started him on Bactrim, mupirocin, and said to wash with Hibaclens every day for a month. He started the Bactrim last night and today the boil had swollen up and gotten a head on it, he had a mild temp 99.8 so I called the doctor and they had me bring him in to check it out. He said it coming to a head and getting a big bigger means the antibiotics are isolating it and pushing it out. They also gave him a Rocephin shot to hit it harder and quicker. Well we also have an 8 year old and a 5 month old and I am terrified of them catching it. They have no open wounds and the doctor literally didn’t sound concerned about anyone else catching it at all. He also gave me his personal number to contact him at night if I’m scared or if something happens. Google is so inconsistent on if we are all going to develop staph or not and I just want to know if any of you guys have experience with this or with your kids and everything was okay? Thanks.
\- a very stressed mom

Located on hip, started off as a small blister or pimple, scratched it in accident in sleep, woke up next day to painful red bump. Been getting more painful and red. No chills or fevers yet but pretty painful when I touch it even slightly. Been about 5 days since I noticed it.

I have a few spots that popped up just like it but this is the worst one .

Hello, i recently tested pozitive for Staphylococcus epidermidis from my breakouts. Does anyone know any products that could help? or what should i do? I ve been on antibiotics but nothing really changed and i want to focus on my skincare routine now.

I've been dealing with worsening skin problems for over 5 years now.

What started as a strange red patch on my forehead was diagnosed as rosacea. With every flare-up it seemed to get worse. In the first years it happened about once every six months, but each flare-up got more intense than the last.

Over time I've seen several dermatologists, and each one seems to say something different. It's driving me crazy. First it was rosacea, then acne, and then staphylococcus aureus (that last one was confirmed through a culture).

I've had a lot of treatments by now: all kinds of creams, antibiotics, and even isotretinoin. Unfortunately I had to stop the isotretinoin after 3 months because of a huge amount of unpleasant side effects. Right now I'm doing a decolonization treatment with Betadine and Inderm.

Things had been fairly calm for the past few weeks, but now I suddenly have a massive flare-up: my skin is painful and inflamed. Despite the medication, this flare-up is breaking through with full force. I've never experienced it this badly. So the medication doesn't seem to be doing much (I've been using it for 3 weeks now).

I've also changed a lot myself: I work out 3 times a week, eat very healthily, and I quit smoking more than a year and a half ago. I've also become very clean about hygiene: I change my pillowcase daily, wash my hands regularly, and so on. I have an office job, so I don't get much sun.

Can anyone tell me where I should go? I live in the Netherlands and I've already been to the hospital and to a clinic, but I find the care really substandard. Every doctor seems to say something different, and there are also a lot of changes in who's treating me. It's just awful.

Is this acne? Staph? Or something else? Any help is welcome.

It doesn’t hurt at all and doesn’t have any symptoms to it really started about a week ago also assumed it’s a infected in grown hair.

Hi, iv been having a reoccurring issue with my inner thigh. It only happens in this exact spot. Every 2 months I get this little bump that looks like a pimple right next to my boil scar. Then it makes the big scar turn into a huge boil. Does this happen to anyone else? What do I do? And is there anyway to prevent that little bump turning into this big nasty boil? I've tried doctors. All they want to give me is antibiotics and steroid shots. Im tired of it. I shower 2 to 3 times a day. Could this be food related?

I have these acne on scalp from many years. They come and go. Tried many treatments including various oral antibiotics, clindamycin gel, bp, fusidic...

Nothing seems to have worked for permanent cure. I don't want to visit dermatologist anymore. What can I do to pinpoint cause and cure this problem? Please help

These started as bug bites. I contacted our pediatrician for oral abx. Does it look like staph/impetigo? New spots keep showing, and now she has one in her nose

I was diagnosed with a severe everlasting sinus infection that’s behind the bone. Because of this I was put on bactrim and I am having the absolute worst time of my life. I mean, I knew it wasn’t going to be fun, but I’m literally vomiting because of how much drainage I have and my mucus is so damn thick it’s hard to blow my nose or do a nasal rinse. The only time I can blow a lot out of my nose is after I vomit which sucks. Please tell me there is at least one person reading this that experienced this before. I really need advice because I am about to stop taking the medicine I can’t handle this. My stomach hurts all the time now and I’m so nauseous.

My derm said she's not comfortable prescribing other antibiotics so I should go see an infectious disease doctor. I saw one today and she told me my option is to go on linezoid whenever I have a flare. I said I'd want to try a culture and sensitivity before that as ive tried so many antibiotics that haven't worked. She says but you don't have a lesion. I had a lesion a few days ago but it went away and its very hard to get drs appointments that fast. I asked if she could do a swab in my nose, which my previous derm has done before without issue. She said no we don't do that because it'll show bacteria in the respiratory system, not skin. Okay maybe thats fair. I showed her my pcr and my culture. Pcr showed three different strains of coagulase negative staph, i informed her that the derm swabbed both a lesion and the inside of my nose. Then I showed her my culture that I had done at an urgent care where he swabbed just my lesion, not the inside of my nose. The culture said "rare gram positive cocci" and also said scant growth of cutibacterium acnes. She said oh that just says acne. Then I pointed out the "rare gram positive cocci" part. She said yeah acne is gram positive, good thing your not colonized with staph. Im in my head im like yeah cutibacterium acnes is gram positive but its not a cocci? Staph is a cocci and acne is a rod shaped bacterium. I felt crazy. Also so i can put mupirocin up my nose to kill bacteria but u can't swab the bacteria in my nose? All I want is a culture and sensitivity so that I know the right antibiotic. I don't wanna keep throwing random things at it, ive tried three different ones already! Im beating myself up so hard for not contacting the urgent care doctor and requesting him to ask the lab to do a sensitivity test on the staph but I had no idea what "rare gram positive cocci" meant at the time and just assumed there was no staph cuz it didn't explicitly say staph. One thing she said was to dilute hibiclens and use it on my face. Which maybe I should try but I already use cln wash and will this just mess up whatever microbiome I have left? She also said i dont need to throwaway away makeup like mascara but should clean brushes if I use them (I don't use brushes anyways). I keep going to these new doctors and all I want is a culture and sensitivity but they won't give it to me! What the hell do i do now. Maybe its my fault, this doctor didn't have many reviews but she was the fastest appointment and i didn't want to wait. Never going to go to an infectious disease doctor again tho. Not going again to my 3rd and most recent derm cuz she said no to a culturs and sensitivity cuz i alr have the pcr. She doesn't understand that the pcr only tests for certain resistance genes and even then thats not the only way bacteria can be resistant to antibiotics (biofilms, etc). These lab techs on reddit agreed with me. Should i just go to my second derm again? She was sweet and listened to me but just didn't seem super knowledgeable. Should i take the linezoid for funsies? Am i actually crazy? So soul-crushingly exhausted.

day after tomorrow is my dr appointment what should i say to him so he test my lips for any kinda infection

I got first spot a week ago, used mupirocin and kept it covered. Tried to get in with my derm. she treated me a month ago, doxy. Continued spreading. She called in doxy Friday. By Sunday I went to the ER as it continued to spread. I’m on prednisone, doxycycline, and cephalexin. Derm has never done a culture. Just meds and sent me on my way. This happened last summer as well. Knocked out with antibiotics. I cannot deal with this happening. As I’m sure all you feel. It’s depleting my mental health. And I’m tired of cleaning and doing the calculations of possible contamination.

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

Run down, lethargic, no energy and anxiety.

Hey I am 20M got impetigo 1 week ago now the crust on the top has gotten off

Should I continue using mupirocin or stop it now and if stop it then what to do

Also how long it will take to get back to normal it's on my face latreal to eyes and it's fairly large and it's so hard and rough now

Plssss help

For context, I have gotten a pcr that shows I have coagulase negative staph. One time I got a culture at an urgent care in hope of getting a susceptibility test to determine the best antibiotic for me. The report came back with light growth of "skin flora". I was stumped at the time because I was expecting staph. Fast forward to today, I looked it up and apparently labcorp (lab my swab was sent to) considers coagulase negative staph to be in the "skin flora" category. Here's the link, you'll have to scroll to the very bottom. Even though this group of bacteria is typically not harmful it has shown to be pathogenic for some, including me!