My sister has these weird, huge pimple growths under her armpit that shes pretty worried about. She said that among all of the girls she knew, only she and her sis has these after plucking the hair out of their armpits. Recently, one of those mega-pimples of hers burst releasing tons of pus…eew…freaked her out
The thing we’ve all been wondering is, how did these huge pimples come to grow only on them? And is it a symptom of worst things to come? We’ve heard that having pimples under the armpits means that that person is prone to breast cancer…is it true?
Those particular side effects of plucking and waxing are not mentioned when they sell the products to do these things. Many people have trouble with ingrown hairs after plucking or even a close shave. Black people in particular seem to have a major issue with this and even during boot camp in our armed forces many are granted waivers from shaving becasue of problems with this. Basically I think it tends to be a problem with people who tend to have very curly hair.
Anyway quit plucking or waxing (nair is also a bad idea) and go back to a normal razor shave.
Could be a Skin Tag. I had something similar in my armpit and asked this question a few months ago here in GQ. (Search can’t seem to find it right now, sorry). Turns out in my case that is indeed what it was - I just pulled it out, and it hasn’t been back since.
Are they just skin tags? Armpits are a fairly common place to get these IIRC. Thogh they are usually cylindrical or teardropped shaped and nnot ver pimple-like.
I always get a lot of sebaceous cysts under my arms. One got so infected that I had to have surgery to have it removed (i couldn’t put my arm down, it hurt so bad). Generally I keep them under control by keeping the area clean and as soon as I get one I put some antibacterial cream on it. If one pops, i put the cream and a bandage on it overnight.
Shaving or plucking your underarms and then using roll-on deodorant tends to make these things worse (horribly worse). So does wearing scratchy clothes (it rubs the pores the wrong way). Don’t use deodorant until you’ve given your pores a little bit of time to close up after shaving/plucking (plucking? wow she must be tough…)
Since my surgery I’ve switched to a hypoallergenic deodorant that’s made of green tea and something else (smells nice, kind of ineffective when it comes to sweat). This hasn’t stopped the cysts, and not shaving doesn’t stop them either. A major part of my problem is my weight, followed by my altogether crummy skin.
No one has ever told me they’re an indication of breast cancer, but any cyst bad enough to be infected does need doctor attention. If she can’t get to a dermatologist, at least see a GP who would be able to help out with the really uncontrollable cysts.
I’ve had these, on armpits, and back of my neck. I asked my doctor, what’s this extra skin? He says, it’s just extra skin. - Finally I asked him to get rid of them, because it was ruining my self-confidence. He froze them off. Quick painless. You missed one here, and there’s one more over here. They were gone, and I felt a lot better about myself and more confident with the gams.
A few weeks ago my dermatologist removed something similar from my armpit. He said the problem was a common viral infection (similar to warts, in fact) that takes more than a year to develop and eventually go away. It is an infection that is spread by using the same towel or in your case the same tweezers. Some immune systems can fight it off, others can’t. I f your sister is uncomfortable about people seeing them, have them frozen off by a dermatologist.
I think I can offer a little reassurance. I have occasionaly had blocked pores under the arm - basicly a zit - they are common. The under arm area is very active so that the zit can grow large very quickly and the irritated cells around the pore swell up giving the feeling of a rather sensitive lump. There will be pus, and because the pus may contain bacteria that could then get into another pore, it is important to wash it away ASAP.
The lump should be mobile, in that it should move around with the skin indicating that it is not caused by anything lower down below the skin level.
I suspect that the lumps and cancer connection is to do with the lymph nodes that are near the armpit but well under the skin.
