Dermatologist warns against kissing men with beards
Explains they are full of bacteria that can infect skin
A dermatologist has revealed the importance of ‘thinking twice’ before kissing men with facial hair – especially if you don’t know their grooming routine.
Muneeb Shah, who is known as the Derm Doctor, warned beards ‘contain a tonne of bacteria’ which can be transferred when getting intimate.
‘When you rub up against them they create tiny little cuts in the skin which can lead to infections like impetigo,’ he said.
He then pleaded with men to ‘clean their beards’ to help stop the problem at the source.
Muneeb Shah, who is known as the Derm Doctor, warned beards ‘contain a tonne of bacteria’ which can be transferred when getting intimate
His warning was prompted by a young woman’s painful pash rash video.
The young blonde held her head in her hands and captioned the video: ‘Kisses a guy with facial hair thinking it was a good idea at the time’.
She then showed pictures of her red, scratched-up chin becoming more and more infected over a few days – to the point it was covered in angry welts.
The doctor’s followers were floored by the video.
‘I have a husband with a beard but he cleans it all the time – I never knew this could happen,’ one woman said.
‘Who doesn’t wash their beard?’ demanded another.
He responded to Rylee Kriete’s video after she admitted kissing a bearded man was a mistakeHer skin got worse over a few days – thanks to an impetigo infection
‘I didn’t know I could be less into facial hair than I was before, but here I am,’ said another.
Some admitted they have been on the wrong side of a dirty beard.
‘I got an allergic reaction after kissing a man with a beard once – turns out he had been playing with his cat before our date,’ one woman said.
‘Oh, gross. Now I know the real reason behind my chest husband. My husband!’ another woman said.
‘I had this after a first date. It blistered and peeled for weeks,’ another added.
The woman’s video as seen over nine million times.
What is impetigo?
Impetigo is a bacterial skin infection caused by Streptococcus and Staphylococcus bacteria.
It is commonly known as ‘school sores’ because a majority of cases are in school-aged children. However, it can also affect infants, adults and adolescents.
Impetigo occurs in two forms, blistering and crusted. In blistering impetigo the blisters arise on previously normal skin, and rapidly grow in size and number. The blisters quickly burst and leave slightly moist or glazed areas with a brown crust at the edge. The spots expand even after they break open and can be many centimetres wide. They sometimes clear in the centre to produce ring shaped patterns. They are not usually painful, but can be itchy.
Crusted impetigo has a thick soft yellow crust. Beneath this crust is a moist red area. Crusted impetigo spots grow slowly and are always smaller than the fully developed spots of blistering impetigo. They are not usually painful, but can be itchy.
Impetigo can occur on top of other skin conditions, particularly itchy ones. When the skin is scratched the infection can enter through the broken skin. Some of these conditions are atopic dermatitis (eczema), scabies, insect bites and head lice.
In cases where a larger area of skin is affected, patients may also have a fever, swollen lymph nodes or feel generally unwell.
Depending on how bad the infection is, your doctor may recommend the use of an antibiotic ointment or oral antibiotics in severe cases. Antibiotic ointment should be continued until the sores have completely healed. If oral antibiotics are given it is important to finish the whole course of treatment (usually 5 days) and not stop when the impetigo starts to clear.
Sores should be cleaned every 8 – 12 hours, dried thoroughly and covered with a waterproof dressing. Bathing the blisters with salty water will help to dry them out (use saline solution or dissolve about half a teaspoon of salt in a cup of water).
