Inflamed hair follicles — usually not an infection needing antibiotics, and usually caused by something you can change.
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Folliculitis is inflammation of the hair follicles. It appears as small red spots or pus-topped bumps, each one centred on a hair, most often on the beard area, thighs, buttocks, chest or back.
The word sounds like an infection, and a great deal of it is not. Follicles become inflamed from friction, occlusion, shaving and irritation as readily as from bacteria — which is why so many people are handed an antibiotic that makes no difference.
Most cases settle within a week or two once the cause is removed. The value of a proper look is usually in identifying that cause, not in prescribing.
The distribution tells you a great deal: beard area points to shaving, thighs and buttocks to friction and occlusion, and a rash appearing one to two days after a hot tub to Pseudomonas.
Diabetes, obesity, a weakened immune system, long-term antibiotics for acne, topical steroid use, and hot humid weather.
By appearance, and this photographs well — which makes it one of the more reliable skin problems to assess remotely. Good lighting and a close, focused photograph alongside a wider one showing distribution is usually enough.
A swab is worth taking where the picture is recurrent, severe, or not responding — both to confirm the organism and to check for MRSA.
Blood glucose or HbA1c is worth checking in recurrent boils, because undiagnosed diabetes presents this way more often than people expect.
This assesses well by photograph, and the honest answer is often that no prescription is needed.
What we will not do is issue repeat antibiotic courses for recurring folliculitis without addressing the cause. That drives resistance and does not solve the problem.
What needs seeing in person: a large fluctuant abscess needing drainage, spreading cellulitis in someone unwell, or a suspicion of hidradenitis suppurativa, which warrants dermatology.
Seek same-day advice if you have spreading redness with fever or feeling generally unwell, which suggests cellulitis rather than folliculitis; a rapidly enlarging painful lump; folliculitis on the face near the eye or in the central triangle around the nose and upper lip; or any severe pain out of proportion to how the skin looks.
Call 999 for a spreading rash with fever, confusion, a very fast heart rate or severe pain — the features of serious infection.
Arrange a routine appointment for folliculitis that keeps coming back, is not settling after two weeks of sensible self-care, or is accompanied by recurrent boils — which is worth a diabetes check.
Almost always settles on its own within a week or two without treatment. Tell whoever runs the hot tub, because the chlorination is the problem.
Your NHS GP treats folliculitis free of charge, and a pharmacist can advise on antiseptic washes without any appointment at all. For a first, mild episode, the pharmacy is genuinely the right answer and costs a few pounds.
What paying adds is speed and a proper look. A same-day photo assessment that distinguishes bacterial from fungal from mechanical is worth something, because that distinction is where most treatment failures come from — and a two-week wait with a spreading rash is its own cost.
What paying does not buy is an antibiotic you do not need. If the answer is a change of razor and an antiseptic wash, that is what we will tell you.
Recurrent or severe cases needing dermatology are referred, and NHS dermatology is free — though waits vary considerably.
NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary, Boils, carbuncles and staphylococcal carriage, covers the assessment and management of folliculitis, furuncles and recurrent staphylococcal infection, including when to swab and when decolonisation is appropriate.
NICE NG141, Cellulitis and erysipelas: antimicrobial prescribing, sets out when a skin infection warrants systemic antibiotics — and by extension when it does not.
NICE guidance on antimicrobial stewardship underpins the position on this page: repeated antibiotic courses for recurrent folliculitis without addressing the underlying cause are not appropriate prescribing.
British Association of Dermatologists patient information covers pseudofolliculitis barbae and the shaving modifications that treat it.
Mostly not — but the bacterial form can be passed on through shared razors, towels or close skin contact. Do not share those, and it is not something you need to isolate for.
Usually because it was never bacterial. Mechanical folliculitis from shaving or friction, and fungal folliculitis on the chest and back, both look similar and neither responds to an antibiotic — the fungal type actually gets worse on one.
The other reason is that the cause is still there. Antibiotics clear an episode; they do not stop a razor causing the next one.
Most mild cases settle within seven to ten days once the cause is removed. Deeper lesions and boils take two to three weeks.
A Pseudomonas rash appearing 12 to 48 hours after a hot tub, typically where swimwear held water against the skin. It is itchy, sometimes comes with a mild fever, and it almost always clears by itself — antibiotics are rarely needed.
Better not to during a flare. Once it has settled, change the technique rather than the frequency: with the grain, a fresh single blade, and never dry.
Superficial folliculitis usually does not. Deeper lesions and anything squeezed can leave marks, and in deeper skin tones post-inflammatory darkening is common and takes months to fade — that is pigment, not scarring, and it does resolve.
September 5, 2026
Ongoing
Time to be seen
Appointment length
Your NHS record in the room
Written treatment plan
Told when a test isn’t needed
Cost
Same day, usually
20 minutes
Yes, with your consent
Included
Yes, and told why
£40 for 20 minutes
Varies by practice
Typically 10 minutes
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Not routinely
Usually
Free
Same day
Often 10 to 15 minutes
Usually not
Sometimes charged
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Often a subscription
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Yes. Care is led personally by Dr Mohammad Khan, so you are not passed between clinicians. Continuity is the point of a small practice: someone who knows your history and is listening attentively rather than working through a checklist.
Yes, with your consent. We can access your Summary Care Record during the consultation, so your current medications, allergies and significant history are in the room. That means fewer questions you have already answered elsewhere, and safer prescribing.
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Twenty unhurried minutes and a comprehensive assessment. A written treatment plan is included, along with any prescription, sick note or referral letter arising from the consultation, at no extra charge.
£40 for 20 minutes, self-pay. Membership is optional and never required. Priced for fairness, because we are not here to charge extortionate amounts for access to a doctor.
It means the diagnosis can usually be made from your history and photographs, and that treatment can be arranged safely without examining you. Where a condition is not marked treatable online, it is because examination is the diagnosis — listening to a chest, feeling an abdomen, examining an ear or a joint — or because a procedure or device is needed.
Yes, where there is a genuine bacterial infection — cellulitis, impetigo, bacterial urine infections, confirmed strep throat. We will also frequently tell you that you do not need one. Most sore throats, coughs, colds and earaches are viral, and an antibiotic gives you the side effects with none of the benefit.
If your problem turns out to be genuinely outside what we can do remotely, the doctor will tell you straight away, point you to the right service, and refund your fee in full. We would rather do that than fill twenty minutes to justify the charge.
Call 999 or go to A&E — do not book an online appointment and do not wait for a reply to an email. For urgent problems that are not emergencies, NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, online or by phone, and can direct you to the right service.
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