What Are Some Ways to Soothe HS Pain?

Christopher Sayed, M.D., associate professor of dermatology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, talks about some methods of coping with HS-related pain.

Pain during disease flares is probably one of the hardest things that patients deal with. If you ask patients about different things that affect their quality of life, pain is always number one.

When there are acutely inflamed abscesses present, there is pressure that builds. Doing things like warm compresses that help an area drain more quickly, can relieve that pain. Sometimes there can be help in a physician's office – in opening an abscess to help it drain to get pain relief. Ice packs can temporarily soothe the pain as well. Although, they don't necessarily help things drain faster, it can feel soothing to areas that are that are painful.

Often, I'll recommend things like topical lidocaine creams or ointments that can provide a little bit of a topical numbing effect, and those can be somewhat helpful. Then patients are able to safely take things like Tylenol or ibuprofen over the counter for the pain associated with flares.