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Hidradenitis-flare guide

Hidradenitis suppurativa flare treatment online in Virginia and West Virginia

Photo-based care for a mild-to-moderate hidradenitis flare (Hurley I-II) after abscess, spreading-infection, and advanced-disease red flags are screened out.

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Start a $59 online review for Hidradenitis flare.

Hidradenitis suppurativa causes recurrent painful bumps, boils, and abscesses in skin folds such as the armpits, groin, buttocks, and under the breasts. This visit treats a mild-to-moderate flare only. Clear photos matter because a boil that needs draining, a spreading infection, or more advanced tunneling disease needs in-person care instead.

If treatment is appropriate, your physician can send a non-controlled prescription to your pharmacy and provide portal instructions for the next step.

Start this visitSee response windows

Quick facts

  • You must be physically in Virginia and West Virginia at the time of request
  • Starts at $59
  • No insurance needed
  • No app download
  • Physician review around the clock
  • Non-controlled prescriptions can be sent to your pharmacy when appropriate
  • A work or school note can be included when medically appropriate
  • Response windows: 24/7, every day

Common symptoms

  • Recurrent tender red bumps or boils in the armpits, groin, or buttocks
  • Painful lumps that come and go in the same skin folds
  • Small amounts of drainage or odor from older spots
  • Flares that worsen with heat, friction, or sweating

May fit online care

  • Adults 18 and older
  • A mild-to-moderate flare with a few inflamed bumps or nodules (Hurley I-II)
  • Clear close-up and wider photos of every affected area
  • No large soft lump that is pointing or needs draining
  • No fever, spreading redness, severe pain, or darkening skin

Look for another care setting

  • A large, soft, fluctuant lump that needs incision and drainage
  • Fever, spreading redness, severe pain, blistering, or darkening skin
  • Draining tunnels, rope-like scars, or interconnected sinus tracts (Hurley III)
  • Pregnancy, breastfeeding, a weakened immune system, or poorly controlled diabetes with an infected flare

What to have ready

  • Clear close-up and wider photos of each affected area
  • How long this flare has lasted and where it is
  • Prior treatments and any oral-antibiotic courses in the last year
  • Current medicines, allergies (especially tetracyclines), and other conditions

What happens next

Standard

$59

Within 6 hours

Priority

$99

Within 3 hours

Rush

$149

Within 1 hour

Start the request on the website, answer the fit questions, and choose the response window you want. If the concern still fits this service, a physician reviews it and sends a secure update after sign-in. When appropriate, non-controlled prescriptions can be sent to your pharmacy, and a basic work or school note can be included at physician discretion.

What can be prescribed?

For a mild-to-moderate flare, options include topical clindamycin 1%, a short single course of an oral tetracycline antibiotic (doxycycline or minocycline) used for its anti-inflammatory effect, a compounded resorcinol cream, and over-the-counter antiseptic washes plus short-term naproxen for pain. The oral and compounded options require the physician's drug-safety review before they are offered.

Why won't you drain a boil or treat a spreading infection online?

A soft, fluctuant abscess needs in-person incision and drainage, and a spreading or necrotizing infection can become dangerous within hours. Photos of skin folds cannot reliably tell these apart, so any of these findings is routed to same-day in-person or emergency care rather than an online antibiotic.

Is this ongoing treatment for long-term hidradenitis?

No. This visit treats a single flare and never converts into ongoing chronic therapy. Because hidradenitis is a lifelong relapsing disease, a repeat oral-antibiotic flare request within 12 months, or a flare that has already failed antibiotics, is routed to in-person dermatology for longer-term options such as a biologic.

What if I am pregnant or trying to conceive?

The tetracycline antibiotics and the compounded resorcinol cream are avoided in pregnancy, possible pregnancy, breastfeeding, and while trying to conceive, so this lane routes those visits to in-person dermatology or OB/GYN for pregnancy-safe options.

How is this different from acne keloidalis nuchae or bumps at the back of the neck?

Hidradenitis suppurativa causes recurrent boils and nodules in skin folds — the armpits, groin, buttocks, and under the breasts. Firm, recurring bumps limited to the back of the neck or the occipital hairline are more likely acne keloidalis nuchae, which is treated differently. If your bumps are at the nape rather than in the skin folds, use that guide instead.

Read the acne keloidalis nuchae guide