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Medical Author:

Nili N. Alai, MD, FAAD

Nili N. Alai, MD, FAAD

Dr. Alai is an actively practicing medical and surgical dermatologist in south Orange County, California. She has been a professor of dermatology and family medicine at the University of California, Irvine since 2000. She is U.S. board-certified in dermatology, a 10-year-certified fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology, and Fellow of the American Society of Mohs Surgery.

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Medical Editor:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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In this Article

• Ingrown hair facts
• What is an ingrown hair?
• What causes an ingrown hair?
• Who develops ingrown hairs?
• What are symptoms and signs of an ingrown hair?
• Are ingrown hairs the same as razor bumps or pseudofolliculitis?
• Are there any home remedies for an ingrown hair?
• What is the treatment for an ingrown hair?
• Do ingrown hairs affect the entire body?
• How is an ingrown hair diagnosed?
• Does diet have anything to do with ingrown hairs?
• What else could an ingrown hair look like?
• Can ingrown hairs be prevented?
• Patient Comments: Ingrown Hair - Treatments
• Patient Comments: Ingrown Hair - Symptoms
• Patient Comments: Ingrown Hair - Experience
• Find a local Dermatologist in your town
• Ingrown Hair Index

Ingrown hairs most characteristically involve the beard, bikini area, and legs. Other common locations of ingrown hairs include the face, neck, thighs, and buttocks. Although possible, it is rare to have ingrown hairs all over the body. Ingrown hairs do not affect the mouth, palms, vagina, or soles of the feet, as there are no hair follicles in these locations.

The diagnosis of ingrown hair is typically very straightforward and based on the skin appearance. In some cases, a small skin biopsy may be used to help the doctor confirm the diagnosis. Other times, a skin bacterial culture may be taken by a cotton-tip applicator to assist in determining an infectious cause. A few other medical conditions may look just like ingrown hairs and need to be examined more closely by a physician specializing in conditions of the skin called a dermatologist.

Overall, diet does not seem to affect ingrown hairs.

Other medical conditions can mimic ingrown hairs. Some possible look-alike skin conditions include folliculitis, keratosis pilaris, acne, cyst, abscess (furuncle), milia (whiteheads), eczema, impetigo, atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, heat rash (miliaria), or dry skin (xerosis).

Less common mimickers include chickenpox, herpes, pustular psoriasis, molluscum contagiosum, viral warts, Fox-Fordyce disease, Graham-Little-Piccardi-Lasseur syndrome, pruritic papular eruption of HIV disease, and erythema toxicum neonatorum. Folliculitis of ingrown hairs may also resemble uncommon skin conditions like lichen spinulosus, pityriasis rubra pilaris, phrynoderma (vitamin A deficiency), ulerythema ophryogenes, ichthyosis vulgaris, eruptive vellus hair cysts, erythromelanosis follicularis faciei et colli, keratosis follicularis (Darier disease), Kyrle disease, lichen nitidus, lichen spinulosus, perforating folliculitis, and trichostasis spinulosa.