Ordinarily not; the hairs are, especially at first, usually firmly seated, but in those cases in which suppuration is active, and has involved the follicles, they may, as a rule, be easily extracted. In some cases destruction of the follicles ensues and slight scarring and permanent hair loss result.
State the character of the subjective symptoms.
Pain and itching and a sense of burning, variable as to degree, may be present.
What is the course of the disease?
Essentially chronic, the inflammatory action being of a subacute or sluggish character, with acute exacerbations.
State the causes of sycosis.
Upon the upper lip it may have its origin in a nasal catarrh. Entrance into the follicles of pyogenic micrococci is now regarded as the essential factor. This view being accepted, carries with it the possibility of contagiousness.
It is seen in the male sex only, usually in those between the ages of twenty-five and fifty; and is met with in those in good and bad health, and among rich and poor. It is comparatively infrequent.
What is the pathology of sycosis?
The disease is primarily a perifolliculitis, the follicle and its sheath subsequently becoming involved in the inflammatory process.