r/Staphacne

Please help these bumps won’t go away and doctors won’t listen. When I put clyndamycin or benzoyl peroxide they don’t go away. I’ve had these on my chest and back for weeks now and they won’t go away. I don’t know what to do. The texture of the ones on the chest feels burnt from the benzo peroxide. They recommended accutane but they don’t go away. The ones on my chest feels burnt scaly and burnt after putting clyndamycin and benzoyl peroxide on them. They don’t oozes any pus like they should ;(.

I have been to the dermatologist and family doctor countless times but no one can seem to figure it out.

Treatments I’ve been prescribed:
2% taro fucidic acid creme
Cephalexin 100mg
Doxycycline 100mg
Pimecromolin
Mupirocin
Fucidin
Bactrim
STAPH TEST (Negative results February 10th)

Symptoms:
Been dealing with this since late 2023- it wasn’t as bad i had assumed it was just acne (i have always struggled with breakouts and hormonal acne since middle school) but as of 2025 it began becoming unbearable and extremely painful

Comes in waves every couple weeks

Strictly in the chin area, sometimes spreads to philtrum

When the (infection?)is not active, my skin barrier is extremely damaged and has high intense red itchy inflammation

Starts with small itchy pustules that soon turn into large filled clusters and they crust over and start leaking all week. The pus comes out almost a clear yellow colour and it comes on its own terms without my control. Once it dries up they scab over a crystallized yellow color. As of November 26 2025 I’ve been treating it with doxycycline and Pimecrolimus which seems to heal it within a week or, but it still reoccurs every month or so right after healing it. The constant flare ups have resulted in broken blood vessels all over my chin and nostrils. I thought it was possibly reoccurring impetigo but I’ve used mupirocin and fucidin probably 3 times each now and neither have worked, I even had a staph infection swab done yet it came back negative… the clinic said it may be perioral dermatitis but I’ve also received treatment for that which also did not work, I have no clue what’s going on

Non medical Ways I’ve tried to help:
Not wearing face makeup as often as possible
Cleaning makeup brushes, replacing makeup items that may have had bacteria on it
Cut out gluten at a point but didn’t have any relief
Lots of water
Cold compress
Icing my face
Warm compress
Cutting out fatty foods which also didn’t do anything

Skin care I use:
Non comedogenic cereve lotion
Pimecrolimus
Hylauronic acid
Hypoclourous acid
(I wash my face in the morning with warm water to clear off the crusties and a new cloth *I never use the same cloth twice*, and night with just water and a gentle cleanser)

At this point it feels helpless and I’ve lost all self esteem having to go out in public looking like this, I feel disgusting and discouraged that not even medical professionals have been able to help, I mean seriously how long will I be dealing with this? I can’t even cover it up with makeup because it leaks pus and I’d rather not add to the possible infection, I’ve lost so much confidence having to daily tasks even as small as going to work because I can see people staring at my bright red chin and crusty pustules… someone please help I’ve tried every antibiotic (topical and oral) I can think of and yet it still reoccurs monthly.

UPDATE: I’m just now putting the pieces together that it only appears the week before my menstrual cycle… the week leading up to my period I start noticing the pustules form and over the course of the week it becomes full fletched. When I’m not on my period I experience little to no pustules so now I’m wondering if it has something to do with hormones/menstruation. After the pustules clear I work on repairing my skin but by the time my skin is clear it’s time for my next period and the cycle repeats, anybody know what it could mean?

Please look through pictures.. I know its gross. Im miserable. The last picture is how it started (approx 3 weeks ago). I thought it was a cold sore and treated it with abreva. I thought it was going away Saturday but then all the sudden the area around my mouth started tingling. I woke up Sunday to my whole mouth red / crusting / inflamed. I went to urgent care and they said maybe MRSA/Bacterial. I was prescribed Mupirocin, Amoxicillin-clavulanate with Potassium, & Cold sore pills just in case. It initially was honey crusting but now that has mostly gone away but I feel like redness has spread. Its from tip of nose to around mouth. Its only day two on meds but Idk what to do. Please help. Anything

I had recurring staph two years in a row in 2024 and 2025 usually it'll happen around April. Took some antibiotics and was using clindamycin face cream, had some left over cream for this year so I started using it around the same time I usually get the flare up.

Usually my staph symptoms would show up as multiple cysts on my face, so I'm not sure if this one is a staph infection or just an infection from shaving or something

I know regular pimples usually have a white spot at the tip, but with staph the white stuff inusually covers the entire pimple. And staph usually has the shape of like flower petals on my face, maybe that's just cuz it's usually bigger and more visible than regular pimples

Ive been suffering for a long time now... they seem to accur at the same place all the time. In the morning this place was clean like glass, and now looks like this😔, any help would be appreciated

This is progression over the last 3 days, with the last 2 pics having used mupirocin twice. Compared to the first 2 pics it seems to spread my spot much wider??? Help what do i do i have 2 events to go to this weekend and a trip next week. I don’t put anything else on my face besides the ointment and hours later, aquafor around the spot so it doesn’t dry out.

My first spot went away on its own and i just put aquafor on after it crusts but this one never crusts fully

Made an appointment with a dermatologist in the coming weeks but in the mean time I want to know if there’s anything can do to reduce the redness and swelling :(

Impetigo Progression in order

I have no idea what to do anymore…..

I used to have some back pimples here or there (nothing like this) but I started on Spironolactone last summer and that cleared everything up. I stopped Spironolactone in January and in March I traveled to a humid climate and my bacne got really bad. I came back and it has not gone away.

I finally saw my derm who put me on ketoconazole shampoo and Clindamycin pads. I felt that the pads were not getting better so I started doxycycline. After a few days of doxycycline my back looked worse (the full back pic) and found a post that made me think it could be fungal folliculitis. I took Diflucan and switched to ketocanzole shampoo and cream. It’s been a few days of this and that’s what my back looks like now (the half pic) there are still big pimples popping up. It could be a bit itchy which made me think it was fungal but I’m not sure now. I reached out to my derm again and she said to take doxycycline twice a day now. She won’t test it I’m not sure why but I’m at my wits end trying to figure this out. Has anyone encountered this?

I saw a post recommending hibiclens mixed with lotion as well.

Do I need to go to the ER or urgent care at the very least?

I get staph infections a lot, this is my first one on center of my lip though, so I'm really trying to keep it from spreading. It's been about 3 days and it does not look like it's getting closer to popping, in fact it looks smaller, maybe?? Could keeping it this covered prevent it from completing it's full cycle. I'm taking antibiotics on day 3 of 10 and am scared of it popping closer to end and restarting or spreading 😭 I got faked out by an infection before it spreading once but can't remember why it did just that I had to do a different antibiotic right after.

its finally gone 🥹