Carolina: I wonder what’s wrong with me, doctor. Yesterday before putting on my deodorant, I mechanically touched my armpit and felt a strange little lump.
Dr. Pierrat: Is this the first time you’ve noticed it?
Carolina: it seems to me, yes. I haven’t noticed anything special while showering these days. You know, we always feel our armpits a little while putting on the shower gel…
Dr Pierrat: How are you feeling right now? Everything is fine? Did you have any particular problem? No fever?
Carolina: No, I do not think so. But I didn’t take my temperature. I feel quite as usual.
Dr Pierrat: Do you have a garden?
Carolina: Yes, not very big, why?
Dr Pierrat: You haven’t been bitten recently, for example while gardening?
Carolina: Oh, scratched, it’s quite possible! When it’s just to arrange two or three roses, I admit that I don’t always wear gloves. And the next day, I sometimes have traces of scratches. But not right now…
Dr Pierrat: And do you have animals?
Carolina: Yes, we have two little cats, but they are very cute, not aggressive at all!
Dr Pierrat: However, by wanting to play, they can scratch you and give you cat-scratch disease. This is a bacterium that often leads to lymph nodes under the arm. But it could also be something else. We’ll take a closer look.
The young woman is invited into the examination room to undress.
Dr Pierrat: Raise up your arm, show me that. Oh but you are all red! Did you scratch?
Carolina: A little, it doesn’t really itch, but it still annoys me from time to time, and I must have touched it unintentionally…
To examine it, the doctor puts on gloves and carefully palpates the hollow of the armpit.
Dr Pierrat: In fact, it’s not a ganglion, I think it’s just a small infection at the level of a hair follicle, in other words folliculitis. Have you waxed recently?
Carolina: Two days ago, quickly, with a small razor.
Yes, but you had to go a little hard. And the heat these days hasn’t helped. It will be necessary to disinfect well morning and evening for a few days, with Septivon®, for example.
Carolina: Won’t you give me an antibiotic?
Dr Pierrat: No it’s not necessary. Folliculitis is superficial. A scab will form and everything should be back to normal within a few days. If this is not the case, do not hesitate to come back to see me. And above all, no new hair removal until the complete disappearance of the little red pimple!
Carolina: But can I still wax with a razor?
Dr Pierrat: Yes, but gently, and after washing the armpit with soap and of course your hands.
Good to know
Any abnormal growth occurring under the arm, red or not, should be shown to a doctor promptly. It is most often a lymph node, therefore a sign of the body’s defense against an attack, of infectious origin or not, in the arm or in the armpit region. But a cyst or a lipoma (ball of fat under the skin) are also possible. Treatment of course depends on the cause.
OTHER CONSULTATIONS WITH THE MEDICAL ADVISOR
- Doctor, I have a lot of pain on one side of my head
- Doctor, I have a big button misplaced
- Doctor, I have a very bad pain in my lower abdomen, on the right
- Doctor, I still have urinary burns
- Doctor, I have unusual discharge
- Doctor, it stings in my throat
- Doctor, my neck hurts
- Doctor, I have palpitations, what to do
- Doctor, my ear hurts
- Doctor, my foot hurts
- Doctor, I have bad breath
- Doctor, my head is spinning
- Doctor, my chest hurts when I walk
- Doctor, I’m running out of breath fast
- Doctor, my fingers are still frozen
- Doctor, I had blood in my urine
- Doctor I have ringing in my ears
- Doctor, I have a lump in my groin
- Doctor, what are these red patches on the neck?
- Doctor, I often feel nauseous
- Doctor, I still have hot flashes
- Doctor, my leg hurts
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