AbstractBackground: Chronic folliculitis (CF) is a superficial bacterial infection of hair follicles, is caused by gram positive and gram-negative organisms and consistently shown to be due to
Staphylococcus aureus. Chronic folliculitis of legs (CFL) is a chronic and recurrent clinical problem. Overcrowding, malnutrition, unhygienic conditions and occupation like farming are predisposing factors, thus explaining that they are more prone for minor injuries and abrasions of the skin, paving the way to the entry of the microorganisms.
Material and Methods: This is a prospective and observational study on clinically diagnosed cases of Chronic folliculitis affecting lower limbs was conducted by the outpatient Department of Dermatology at Subbaiah Institute of Medical Sciences, Shimoga between June 2020 to September 2020. Prevalence of chronic bacterial folliculitis, various clinical types and their seasonal variation, identification of the causative organism by culture and sensitivity pattern were study.
Result: In our study, the most of the chronic folliculitis cases were between the age group of 21-40 years and maximum number of patients were male. Majority of the cases were observed during summer season. The main presenting complaints were pustules (47.6%) and pruritis (29.2%), complained of pain (21.5%) and hyperpigmentation were 1.5%. Staphylococcus aureus organism were common and least organism was proteus.
Conclusion: Diagnosis of Chronic Folliculitis of leg can be done easily in most of the cases on clinical examination. Culture and sensitivity of pus samples from such cases helps to treat patients appropriately and also aids in reduction of complications. Making a policy by dermatologists to follow antibiotic therapy according to sensitivity report helps in decreasing the incidence of antibiotic resistance.
