How Long Does Hidradenitis Suppurativa Take To Heal?

Hidradenitis Suppurativa affects people:

For a lifetime.
For 30+ years.
For 10+ years.

And everything in between.

It doesn’t have to be this way, but since so few know how to improve the problem, this is how it turns out.

Plus:

Doctors.
Dermatologists.

And health professionals have NO idea how to fix it except for the obvious option of “surgery”, especially in Western countries.

This is why people believe you can NEVER heal Hidradenitis and get rid of it once and for all. Especially since they’ve had the issue for so many years they start to lose confidence.

That leads to the questions:

How long does it take to heal Hidradenitis?
Can it ever be healed?
Is this something you’re doomed to suffer with for life?

Let’s talk about it.

1. What the science says about how long it takes to heal

The truth is there is no science about how long it takes to heal. Information is too scarce and limited to give a straightforward answer.

When talking about the time it takes to heal H.S., it talks more about after-surgery rather than how long it takes to heal in general.

From a surgery point of view, though info is severely lacking, it can be up to 8 weeks.

If you search forums, people will have their own versions of this which can range from weeks to months, or even years.

2. Personal experience of how long it takes to heal H.S.

I was first diagnosed with Hidradenitis Suppurativa in 2022. It was a woman who was a health professional in Thornton-Cleveleys.

After I tried getting laser hair treatment thinking it would “help” my skin problems, I got a breakdown of why I couldn’t get it done and what my skin condition was.

I had H.S. from 2019 in hindsight, and only started to heal it in 2022/2023. It’s now 2024 and the majority of it has vanished.

Only a few remain (relatively speaking), with what seems like the most on my back that are disappearing.

Assuming you actively try to fix H.S. with the right solutions, or you just get started with the intention, it could take 1-2 years or 3-4 years.

For some, depending on how severe it is, it could heal within less than a year.

This is speculation but is a reasonable estimate.

3. How to speed up the process of healing Hidradenitis

How to is always what matters most when solving a problem like Hidradenitis Suppurativa. A skin issue with so little evidence, data, stats, or solutions.

And with so few people sharing their experiences.

Your DIET needs to look like this:

Seafood like Prawns or Crab.
Fish like Mackerel or Salmon.
Dairy like Grana Padano, Comte, Feta, Edam Cheese, etc.
Milk like Kefir (fermented).
Fermented foods like Sauerkraut or Kimchi.
Organic meats like Beef, Lamb, Chicken, etc.
Organ meats like Liver, Gizzard, etc.
Clean vegetables like Brussels sprouts.
Clean fruits like Kiwi, Advocado, maybe Oranges, etc.

In other words, your foods need to be whole foods without any:

Excess sugar.
Excess carbohydrates.
Additives and preservatives.
Antibiotics.

And any shitty ingredients that border on the line of being unethical.

That might sound hard or outright insane, but it’s necessary to heal Hidradenitis.

I won’t say you absolutely have to follow a ketogenic diet, but lowering your carbs below 50g will help a lot since those carbs for skin conditions like Hidradenitis are also triggers.

Pasta for example drives up insulin too fast after eating it, as do flour products or “white” foods in general. This spike in blood sugar has negative consequences for skin conditions like H.S.

In fact, it contributes to whiteheads, blackheads, acne, spots, and everything in between, not just H.S.

Avoiding excess carbs is the main goal regardless of whether you go keto or not. Same for sugar content.

These two culprits (and the reduction of them) will make a world of difference to your Hidradenitis Suppurativa scars, spots, boils, and everything else.

Additives and things we shouldn’t be eating also play a role as you’ll notice when eating food from the UK (or the USA) vs food from other countries that are a lot cleaner and fresher.

This is also why I mentioned fruits in the “foods to eat” list for H.S. because if taken from nature, the issue or trigger doesn’t exist for H.S.

It’s only when it’s eaten from countries like the West that do questionable things to the fruits, veg, or even meats.

4. What you MUST give up to heal Hidradenitis

I mentioned it already but it needs repeating.

Give up these things to heal H.S.:

Sugar in excess.
Carbs in excess (especially Pasta, bread, etc).
Gluten products.
Certain nuts and seeds may trigger you (test this).
Cakes.
Cookies.
Pastries.
Flour products.
Desserts besides regular fruit (avoid sugary fruits like cherries, grapes, or raisins).

Giving up these foods helped my Hidradenitis noticeably improve day by day, week by week. The results were too loud to not hear.

It’s a fact that sugar causes skin flare-ups in all skin conditions like acne, eczema, H.S., or anything that has similarities (autoimmune, etc).

High blood sugar is the culprit. Avoiding foods that will spike your blood sugar too high, too fast, will help your Hidradenitis to relax, chill, and take more than a holiday break.

This is why gluten must be avoided along with pastries, cookies, flour products, and certain nuts or seeds since they can have too many carbs, sugar, or both, and can also be incompatible with those who lack discipline.

5. The worst diets for Hidradenitis that will slow the healing process

Some diets work better for some people because we all have different problems in this messed up society we find ourselves in. At least as far as profit is more important than getting people healthy.

If Hidradenitis is a concern and you want to heal:

Keto is a perfect diet for its lower carb content and sugar by design.
- Plus you eat foods as pure as possible.
A vegetarian diet could work as long as you’re carbs aren’t in excess.
Same story for vegans if you wanna go there.
The Paleo diet is also a sensible choice, as long as you’re eating pure foods.
The carnivore diet, a subset of keto, has been shown to help Hidradenitis if you’re willing.

The Mediterranean diet is also one to consider, or mix to create your own version of a diet that works specifically for you.

Again, you just have to be mindful of the carb content and the sugars as well. These two things are the biggest culprits of Hidradenitis Suppurativa.

Followed by the B.S. they put in foods that shouldn’t be there.

The ketogenic diet, or the healthy ketogenic diet is my #1 choice, but you can always mix, match, and tailor food groups to fit your situation or tastes. while healing H.S.

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In the end, how long it takes to heal Hidradenitis is dependant on:

Your severity.
How bad your H.S. is.
Your individual issues.

And your health overall at the moment.

But with the lack of data for how long it can take, expect a year or a few depending on how committed you are to the cause, and how open-minded you are to change, or even trying the canrivore diet which has been shown to make a difference.