Abstract
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, debilitating disease that manifests as painful nodules, abscesses, sinus tracts, and scars with a predilection for intertriginous sites. HS disproportionately affects women of childbearing age and often leads to impairments in patients’ health-related quality of life. Women with HS face unique challenges related to menstruation, pregnancy, and lactation that require additional strategies for optimization of management. Practical interventions include lifestyle modifications, treatment of premenstrual HS flares, enhancing HS management during pregnancy, and creating optimal delivery plans in collaboration with obstetricians. This discussion is based on expert recommendations and aims to highlight the special challenges for women with HS, as well as provide a practical discourse on optimizing care of female patients with HS.
Highlights
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, debilitating dermatosis that manifests as painful nodules, abscesses, sinus tracts, and scars in intertriginous sites (Alikhan et al, 2019)
We propose strategies based on our expert recommendations to optimize care in female patients with HS and improve their quality of life (QoL; Table 1)
From the authors’ experiences and discussions with obstetrics–gynecology colleagues, we find that a cesarean section may be more appropriate for women with severe vulvar disease
Summary
Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, debilitating dermatosis that manifests as painful nodules, abscesses, sinus tracts, and scars in intertriginous sites (Alikhan et al, 2019).
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