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It is challenging to manage the painful skin condition, but slick layers of bacteria known as biofilms can make it even more difficult. Here’s what scientists are discovering about the two’s interaction.

It’s not the most common skin ailment (affecting about 1% of the world’s population) or the easiest to say. But if you have hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), you know how brutally painful it may be. “HS is characterised by large, inflamed boils in areas like the armpits, groyne, and breast area,” explains Dr. Adil Moulanchikkal, Lead Ayurveda Specialist at EliteAyurveda Clinics. Consider this if it doesn’t sound like a lot of trouble: These boils frequently rupture, creating a tunnel beneath the skin where biofilms can grow.

Biofilms, sticky coatings of bacteria that attach to moist surfaces, are particularly antibiotic-resistant, which is troubling for HS patients who need on long-term courses of the drugs to control their disease. In fact, a recent study by the Academy of Dermatology and Venereology revealed that biofilms significantly reduced people’s sensitivity to tetracycline and clindamycin, two common antibiotics used to treat HS in allopathy treatment.

While scientists are still learning about the role biofilms play in the development of HS, there are some essential aspects that everyone dealing with this tough disease should be aware of.

#1. HS Remains a Mystery

Those who suffer from HS are all too familiar with the issues surrounding the disease, from what causes it to which medical sector should “own” it. It’s a tiny consolation, but it remains a mystery to scholars. “There’s a logical reason why we don’t know a lot about HS,” Dr Adil adds. “There has been a dearth of studies and funding focused on it for as long as we’ve known it exists.” In compared to other prevalent inflammatory skin conditions, the amount of research on HS published in the previous 20 years has been small. It is an illness that is grossly neglected.”

#2. It’s quite humid.

After puberty, HS is more likely to appear in areas of your body where skin-on-skin contact occurs, such as your armpits, under the breasts, and vaginal region. Skin lesions, according to scientists, form as a result of inflammation around hair follicles, which causes them to become uncomfortable and inflamed. These can then become infected with pus and blood, resulting in agonising pain. Obesity and smoking appear to play a role in the development and severity of HS, despite the fact that the disorder affects many normal-weight patients who have never smoked. Because 30% to 40% of people with HS also have a family relative with the ailment, the disease may have a genetic component.

#3. The Biofilm Factor Is a Divisive Issue

While evidence suggests a relationship between HS and biofilms, the exact sequence of events is unknown. “We now have a handful of studies that have looked at biofilms and HS,” says Dr. Adil, “and I think we can say with pretty good certainty that biofilms exist in sinus tracts (the pus-filled tunnels’ beneath the skin in HS sufferers),” he says, “because these tracts are filled with bacteria, and of course they’ll try to protect themselves by making this material that we commonly call biofilms.”

But, are they the cause or the result of an inflammatory condition? “We need to do more research on what’s the chicken and what’s the egg,” she confesses. “Does the inflammatory response come first, and then the bacteria?” Or do the germs end up in places they shouldn’t be, generating an inflammatory response?” Some research suggests that biofilms do not form in early lesions, but rather form later in the disease’s progression. In any case, once they are in place, they disrupt treatment.

#4. Biofilms meddle with medicines

Biofilms are actual structures made up of proteins, lipids, and other materials. They are gooey things that resemble mucus in your nose; bacteria excrete these materials and form the biofilm to protect themselves, insulating the germs from anything that tries to remove it—specifically, antibiotics. According to Centre of Biomolecular Sciences researchers, in the case of HS, this structural slime successfully seals the bacteria inside the tunnels that have grown under your skin, preventing treatments from reaching them and destroying them.

#5: Biofilms Do Not Only Affect Humans!

Because the variety of biofilms, both bacterial and fungal, is so vast, it can be difficult to understand what they are. Biofilms don’t even have to form on people; they’ve been seen on industrial objects like drain pipes and medical instruments, as well as plants. Slime-encapsulated bacteria colonies cause a variety of chronic illnesses and problems, including urinary tract and middle-ear infections, as well as gingivitis. (You know that sticky gunk that accumulates on your teeth after going a whole day without brushing them? That’s a biopic!). Biofilms are also involved in more serious illnesses like endocarditis.

#6. Technology is getting better at spotting them.

Biofilms do not form in every HS patient. However, as with practically everything related to hidradenitis suppurativa, early discovery of biofilms may improve treatment outcomes by alerting clinicians that antibiotics may not be as effective and that other methods of treating HS may be more effective. Tissue culture plates (which stain cells with crystal violet dye); a bioluminescent technique based on the signals of certain metabolically active cells; scanning electron microscopy (which studies the structure and number of bacteria in a colony); and confocal scanning laser microscopy (which provides a three-dimensional view of the microbial community) are all methods for detecting biofilms in HS. As a result of these cutting-edge diagnostic approaches, the medical community’s awareness and ability to detect the presence of biofilms has significantly improved.

#7: Research is Expanding

There is currently no one treatment available to eradicate biofilms in people with HS. That’s owing in part to the wide range of existing biofilms (there will never be a one-size-fits-all solution), and in part to the fact that biofilms have evolved over aeons with the express purpose of protecting their valuable cargo, so they’re not going down without a fight. Nonetheless, researchers are increasingly discovering new approaches. For example, researchers discovered that “darwinolid,” discovered in an Antarctic sea sponge, appears to be effective in preventing the formation of a biofilm for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—or, as the rest of us know it, a staph infection that can cause pneumonia or even heart failure. Another approach is to use biological agents, electrical impulses, or other methods to disrupt, inhibit, or scramble the chemical signals utilised by cells inside a biofilm to communicate with one another.

#8: Treatment is still changing. So, what is the bottom line? 

Even as researchers investigate novel approaches for disrupting—and even preventing—the formation of biofilms in HS patients, the precise relationship between hidradenitis suppurativa and biofilms remains uncertain. Because directly addressing biofilms is still a work in progress, the majority of current therapy approaches focus on HS itself. 

Another technique involves “unroofing,” or cutting skin tissue in the affected area to expose the tunnels beneath the skin and allow pus to drain, relieving the pressure that many patients experience as a result of the disease. In severe stages, your doctor may advise surgical excision of the affected areas, which may include extensive wound healing and, in some cases, skin grafting.

The level of risk varies according on the surgical procedure. Which is the higher risk? Because HS is a systemic disease, treating one area of skin will not stop the disease from spreading to another. New tunnels will commonly form outside of the treated area. 

A recent study found a 35% recurrence rate among HS patients who had surgery.

There are always risks connected with any medical practise. All skin surgeries, for example, include a risk of bleeding or infection, according to Dr. Adil. “Scarring will also result from these procedures, and the appearance of that scarring will vary greatly,” he explains.

Ayurvedic treatment for hidradenitis suppurativa The goal of treatment is to restore the body’s natural balance by detoxifying it with powerful herbal remedies. 

Elite Ayurveda’s treatment for Hidradenitis Suppurativa includes balancing the Kapha and Pitta doshas as well as restoring metabolism harmony. Body detoxification, internal medications to balance doshas, and exterior applications to repair wounds are all part of the treatment.

The treatment consists of herbal mixtures generated based on individual Prakruti and Vikruti analyses. 

While HS is still a challenging condition to live with, more study into biofilms may one day result in more effective treatment options for HS patients. Until then, talk to your doctor about the best way to keep one step ahead of HS.

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EliteAyurveda Clinics has a panel of doctors in many medical disciplines such as endocrine, autoimmune, gynaecology, and so on under one roof. We are well-known for treating chronic and difficult-to-treat illnesses with a holistic and root-cause approach.

To learn more, please contact us.

Hydradenitis suppurativa is a cause of Kapha and Pitta dosha, according to Ayurveda. When the digestive fire (Agni), or Pitta, is out of equilibrium, the Kapha Dosha becomes vitiated, causing metabolism to slow down. Because of the disturbance of fat molecules, they begin to accumulate in muscles and obstruct physiological passages, resulting in painful, swelling sores in the groyne, buttocks, thighs, and armpits.

The goal of hidradenitis suppurativa Treatment in Ayurveda is to restore the body’s natural balance by detoxifying it using effective herbal remedies. 

Elite Ayurveda’s treatment for Hidradenitis Suppurativa includes balancing the Kapha and Pitta doshas as well as restoring metabolism harmony. Body detoxification, internal medications to balance doshas, and exterior applications to repair wounds are all part of the treatment.

The treatment consists of herbal mixtures generated based on individual Prakruti and Vikruti analyses. To learn more, please visit our website.

Connect with us to obtain patient testimonials and to chat directly with our patients about their experience in having their ailment treated by us and Ayurveda in general.

Dr. Adil Moulanchikkal, Lead Ayurveda Specialist at EliteAyurveda Clinics, reviewed the medical records. With over 15 years of experience in Neurological, Skin, and Autoimmune Disease treatment.

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