Hidradenitis Suppurativa Treatment: What You Need to Know

These HS treatments can help you get relief.

While there is no cure for Hidradenitis Suppurativa, there are several treatment options that can relieve its symptoms. A common form of HS Treatment is antibiotics which are used to kill off the flora on a person’s skin that their immune system is overreacting to. There are other forms of treatment for Hidradenitis Suppurativa including biologics and cortisone shots.

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This video features Bobby Buka, MD. Dr. Buka is a section chief at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Buka is also a diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology and the Society for Pediatric Dermatology.

Duration: 2:12. Last Updated On: Nov. 8, 2017, 6:14 p.m.

00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 I'm Dr. Bobby Buka.
00:05 I'm the clinic chief at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Department of
00:08 Dermatology.
00:09 HS is a really tough condition to live with.
00:12 It's can be very debilitating.
00:13 It can be very mood-altering.
00:16 A lot of my patients with HS have been depressed.
00:18 So the support of a loving partner is critically important,
00:22 and really part of the regimen we put together to heal patients with HS.
00:27 So for patients who are trying to expedite their cysts to rupture,
00:32 they can use a hot compress.
00:34 Other patients like to use cold just to soothe that area,
00:37 cuz it is so angry and inflamed.
00:40 Often times, we'll inject cyst with Cortisone to try and
00:42 suppress an inflammation.
00:44 Often times, we'll encourage that drainage by putting a small blade into
00:48 that cyst and draining it to make it less painful,
00:51 to make it under less compression which is uncomfortable for patients.
00:55 Draining your own cyst at home is ill advised because you can
00:59 Inoculate those areas with additional bacteria.
01:02 We don't wanna push bacteria in that cyst deeper into the body and
01:06 generate more inflammation.
01:08 We use antibiotics in HS for two reasons.
01:10 One, for their anti-inflammatory component and two,
01:13 we're trying to kill off some of our normal flora on the surface of the skin.
01:16 Because we think that some of this so-called normal flora
01:19 may actually be responsible for our immune system's overreaction.
01:23 But they are by no means a curative agent for us.
01:27 Recently, biologics have been used for HS, quite successfully.
01:30 That's exciting for us because we don't have very many options in HS.
01:35 And this is one that seems to be very,
01:37 very effective in 60 weeks, in a very short period of time.
01:41 Biologics are not without side effects.
01:44 Biologics have an excellent side-effect profile, but certainly not zero.
01:49 Usually patients will fail some oral antibiotics and
01:52 some topical therapies first before we move to the biologic class.
01:56 This is a call to patients who have Hidradenitis suppurativa and
01:59 who are suffering out there because they're embarrassed to see a doctor.
02:03 We've seen a lot of these cases.
02:04 Don't be embarrassed.
02:05 Come in, show me, let me help,
02:07 cuz you're gonna be living a very different life afterwards.
02:10 [MUSIC]