How to treat ingrown hairs on my leg that hurts sometimes?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am an 18-year-old girl with hundreds of ingrown hairs everywhere on my legs and nowhere else. I have always had them. Sometimes they hurt too.

Kindly help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

The most common cause of ingrown hairs is shaving, waxing, and tweezing unwanted facial and body hair. By removing hair and leaving the sharp tip of the hair so short and close to the skin surface, it is more prone to grow sideways or curl back into the hair follicle and get stuck under the skin surface, leading to irritation and inflammation of the overlying skin.

Treatment for ingrown hairs can vary, and sometimes the hair will heal spontaneously without any specific treatment. You can use a topical steroid cream like 0.1 % Mometasone (1 mg Mometasone furoate) once daily. Application for one to two weeks will decrease inflammation.

You can also use Retino-A 0.025 % (Tretinoin) for local application during the night for the same duration to dislodge keratin, so that the ingrown hairs will come out. Consult your specialist doctor, discuss with him, and take medicine with consent.

I hope this helps.

Kindly follow up if you have more concerns.

Thank you.