u/annie-kin

I'm coming to this subreddit because I feel like my Physician and gynec are sidelining my condition.

Would really help to know if I'm overthinking this or it's really HS.

It's a long post so sorry about that but had to get into it.

It started in December 2025, I was suffering from a cold and then suddenly this huge red painful pump started growing under my right armpit. I dismissed it first as a boil but it grew large and turned red and had a mouth. My physician told me to get emergency surgery which I got at the hospital. They said it was an abscess and drained/lanced it. They put in a plug which was changed every morning for 3 days. The report said it was filled with pus and I had to take antibiotics to curb any future infection.

It was all fine until in March 2026 out of nowhere the lump resurfaced and became painful and swollen again. I was genuinely surprised because I had been taking care of how i remove hair there and keeping it clean as well. Once again my physical said to go consult a surgeon. This time I went to a different one and he scheduled me for an abscess surgery again. This time we did 2 surgeries in a month where he said he was cutting out portions of skin and letting the area heal.

Between the 2 surgeries we went on holidays where I experienced yet another flare up, this time there were 2 small bumps instead of one large one. I was devastated that I would need surgery again but it faded away after 3 days and saved the hassle during our holiday. Upon coming back we did the second surgery which was super painful as he stitched me up and when he removed the stitches later said it should not appear again hopefully. I keep getting some pain and stinging feeling from time to time but I'm staying positive.

BUT at the same time I have had these annoyingly large and painful bumps on my groin, more actually between the inner labia lip and the vulva as my gynec said. So it's external but it keeps appearing at the same spot and sometimes in groups of 3. It gets super swollen and painful for a few days, doesn't have a mouth so I can't pop it and then fades away on its own. But doesn't fully go away??? Like I feel there is always a rough patch of skin where one had reduced and then it fills up again. I went to my gynec twice and he has told me this is acne and to take chamomile tea baths and use ichthamol. Other than that he can't help me that this happens to women sometimes.

It's been 3 months now with this on and off and it's bothering me that it's on the groin because I can't go running or to the gym as often or be intimate with my partner. I'm finally considering going to a dermatologist as well.

My only concern is that the groin and armpit are happening in parallel and that is why when I read about HS I perked up. Could this rather be a skin issue than just momentary flare ups?

Please help a girl out, it's really been frustrating.

Thank you!