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@freedomBeyond preventing acne, I've also gotten rid of my congestion and allergies. When I was a kid, I was a mouth-breather at night because of chronic congestion and I was diagnosed with mild asthma. When the levels of Staph in my nose are low or gone, I have absolutely no nasal congestion. Day and night of easy breathing out of my nose.
When I contracted Staph the second time last spring, chronic congestion and nasal ticklishness started to develop. In the early summer, I wasn't able to go on longer bike rides because of sneezing fits I would get.My bike rides definitely dried out my nostrils, and I think the dryness plus having heavy Staph concentrations in my nose gave me symptoms similar to allergies. I figuredI didn't sudden develop an allergy; killing my nasal Staph got rid of those problems.
I also haven't developed cold symptoms since daily application of TAO to my nose. I've wondered if some of my bad colds weren't actually caused by the cold virus but actually caused by my nasal Staph. But I certainly don't want to say TAO prevents the cold. The antibiotics in triple antibiotic ointment would do nothing against viruses.
The publications about glycerol laurate and lauric acid killing Staph is interesting. It's not something I'm familiar with. The topical effectiveness of those antimicrobial agents is important. It needs to be at the right concentration and safe for topical application.
I didn't have an initial break out when I started using TAO. Neomycin itself shouldn't cause acne. It's possible that the method is making you more likely to touch your ears and nose, and you are more likely to transfer Staph to other parts of your body. Yes, Staph can cause cystic acne. I am 100% confident of that for myself.
Yes, killing my nasal Staph got rid of my blackheads. My blackheads were mostly on my nose. It used to be so bad that I could squeeze out fresh pus almost every other day. Not to say I never get a blackhead, but I nowhere near have the same problem with the nasal Staph gone. Also, plenty of microorganisms call your nose and ears home.
I have been using TAO in my nose religiously for about 2-3 months now, and initially it did seem to help with my cysts, but I will still occassionally get a few near my nose (like right now I have a huge inflamed cyst there). Are there any other habits you would recommened? I'm going to cut out drinking alcohol because that can't possibly help. I do pick my nose, so that can't help either - should cut back or wash my hands first.
@PickleShmickle What I've found to be really beneficial in reducing the Staph concentration in my nose is trimming my nose hairs. I think my nose hairs acted as a site for Staph to attach to. You may see benefit from trying that. Here's my current routine. I also apply benzoyl peroxide cream to my face once a day, though I do skip days. The overall routine prevents everything but the smallest of pimples for me.
I've made it a habit to not touch the inside of my nose. When my nose started drying up after the second time I contracted Staph, I started to pick my nose. I believe that dried my nose even further and facilitated cystic acne breakouts because I had Staph on my fingers. You can certainly still pick your nose, but like you mentioned, it may be best for you to wash your hands before and after when you do.
I'm glad you've seen initial benefit from nasal TAO. Hopefully you'll soon get rid of your cysts completely 
Great post. I also have what seems to be folliculitis around my mouth, itchy and burns. I have had sebhorric dermatitis in the past as well, which they state is caused my a fungus but it has subsided recently although still lingers. The inside of my ear is crusty, feels like sebhorric dermatitis in the ears. I have noticed if I wash my face with anything, or simply wash it with water I begin to break out with folliculitis as well all around my mouth. I also have mild dandruff and folliculitis on the scalp. I have a horrible tendency to evade brushing my teeth due to being really busy (horrible excuse) do you think there is a possibility of staph in the mouth also causing my folliculitis? I will try the triple anti bacterial ointment and hope it works. I think I once had a bump inside my nasal cavity near the exit of the passage hole. It is gone now but folliculitis still remains. I don't see much activity in my nose though, only thing I have are a million tiny black heads all around the sides of my nose flaps and the tip of my nose (only noticable from close range). The only thing that seems to aid in the healing of the facial folliculitis is not washing my face although I'm scared my sebhorric dermatitis will return as a result.
By the way whether or not this works, it is very thoughtful of you to have provided this information and responded to everyone's questions individually. Thank you!
@DK120 Thank you for the kind words
While it's possible for Staph to be in saliva, I don't believe that is the primary reservoir of Staph. If Staph is the cause of your skin problems, I am optimistic that you will see benefit from exclusively treating your nose and ears.
Best wishes and I hope to soon read about your success in managing your symptoms.
Thank you for your response Healtyalmonds!
Since I last wrote I have gotten even more cysts on/outside of only one ear. The first ones are clearing quickly unlike my usual cysts which lasts for weeks to months. I assume this is a die off since its unusual.
Oddly the back of my neck and base of my hairline also broke out with many pimples after I started applying the cream. I would recommend applying the cream to the back of ear as well, Im not sure you mentioned the back of the ears but I think my staph is also hiding in the crevices behind my ears.
My nasal congestion has also lessened considerably and this is whilst applying antibiotic cream ONLY to my ears (--applying it nasally was uncomforable for me, really drys out my nose..but since reading about your clearance of blackheads on your nose Im going back to applying the cream in the nose today). Also facial puffiness is decreased.
THANK YOU again!!
So three days so far of applying the polysporin, since in Canada neosporin isn't sold in many places but they are essentially the same 3 in 1 antibiotic cream. The folliculitis around my mouth is clearing up, but I cannot attribute all of the positive results to the anti-bacterial cream. I have avoided putting any water on my face (caveman regimen), but my seb.derm has returned as a result. I am just going to focus on washing the effected areas of the seb.derm and keep the areas around my mouth away from the water. I'm not sure the caveman regimen works for people suffering from acne caused by p.acne, but if you're suffering from staph induced white-heads and pustules avoiding washing the effected areas may actually significantly help. At this point I am hoping the application of the antibiotics after 20 days will allow me to wash face without worrying about the dry skin resulting in immediate infection. Lastly,something I learned from this post isAVOID TOUCHING YOUR FACE AT ALL COSTS EVEN WITH THE BACK OF YOUR HAND OR SHIRT OR ANYTHING, you are only promising toaggravate the condition and make things way worse. I would also recommend using latex disposable gloves when washing your face.
Anyways I'll keep everyone updated with the progress, maybe this will provide some helpful empirical evidence on a small non-representative scale 😛
This has just about completely cleared my acne over the last few months, figured I would post an update
Didn't change anything besides putting neosporin in my nose and ears at night
mr almonds i cant thank you enough for this. SO far this method has only been the one to have made significant reduction in my cystic acne. I used to wake up everyday with 2-3 new painful type of cysts around my cheeks, neck, chin and jawline everyday, but after 3 days of application, I have yet to get a new one- But i still did get some smaller pimples here and there and developed some pimples around my earlobe- but I'd rather have these than the really red swollen, and viciously painful cysts I used to get before the TAO method. THANK YOU! I'll continue this for a month and see what happens.
healthyalmonds, I would just like to say a huge THANK YOU for all of your hard work and time in putting this information together and in various places. Since last August (almost 10 months), I have had various issues with my skin. I have dogs, so I thought that I had fleas. I don't. I travel, so I thought it was bed bugs. It wasn't. After a huge boil on my face at Thanksgiving, I was on oral antibiotics, and everything cleared up. Then in February, I had another bout of it, so had more oral antibiotics. Did get better.But then, more came. I have several sores on my buttocks, some on my waist, an odd one on my arm every now and then. I made an appointment with a dermatologist instead of doing minute clinic like I did the previous 2 times.
I am so glad that evidently, I have a SUPER derm MD! He diagnosed me with folliculitis caused by what he suspects as staph. He is doing a culture to confirm. He prescribed an antibiotic ointment and also a topical solution for the current sores.
The reason I am sharing is to first say THANK YOU, I don't feel like a FREAK anymore. Or that I am "dirty" in some way.
And also sharing to say that my MD prescribed the ointment to be put in my nasal area, around my anus, and the outer parts of my female genitals. I think I will add my ears after reading your posts!!!! I hope that this info can help others!
Interestingly enough, I did not have many acne breakouts as a youngster......however, I have all of my life suffered from pimples in my nose. 🙂 Interesting, isn't it?! And chronic mouth breathing at night too! I am hoping that some of my nasal congestion will alleviate also with the antibiotic ointment. Based on your posts, I plan to continue treating myself with TAO after my prescription runs out, just to make sure I get them gone!
I am a high school teacher, so maybe I picked it up from school.....but judging from my past, I may have always had the ability to carry/colonize.
Also, there have been 2 periods where one of my dogs had issues also. I am currently bathing him in antiobiotic shampoo.
My MD also saidfor me tobathe once a week in a tub with water and 1/2 cup of bleach (since I don't have a swimming pool), and to use Cethaphil antibacterial bar soap. I pray that I can get this under control!!!
Thank you again foryour posts!
@KamoteEaterI am happy to help 🙂
I completely understand the feeling of waking up with new, deep cysts on the cheeks and jawline. It turned out that those were the result of Staph in my ears. I would rub that bacteria on my pillow, then incubated it with my face while I slept. While the ear TAO prevented cystic breakouts, they would recur if I skipped a day. What I found to be ridiculously beneficial in permanently killing my ear Staph was daily cleanings with 70% rubbing alcohol. I now never apply TAO to my ears because of how effective rubbing alcohol is for me. You may see benefit as well.
Best wishes and hopefully soon you too will never get those deep pimples 🙂
@snedkingAwesome that your MD so quickly diagnosed you with Staphylococcal folliculitis! I truly believe that Staph-induced folliculitis is being significantly underreported.
What is the prescribed ointment? Bactroban? I recently found that 3x a day for 5 days of nasal triple antibiotic ointmentcompletely eliminated nasal Staph. That protocol is essentially the same as the prescribed Bactroban one. The ointment should definitely help with your nasal congestion. It is a great feeling to be able to breathe freely out of my nose day in and day out. As for yours ears, like I mentioned to KamoteEater, you should try wiping your ears with rubbing alcohol. The Staph reduction was immediate for me and it reallygivesa clean-ear feeling.
I was prone to nosebleeds and congestion long before acne hit me during 8th grade. That's also when my vision started getting worse. I honestly believethere is a correlation. If you've had nose pimples since you were young, it's possible that a parent or sibling is a carrier and that's how you got it. I'm confident that that's how I first picked it up so long ago. Does your family have a history with acne, congestion, or ear aches?
I've also wondered about pet carriage of Staph. I know dogs and catscan be carriers of Staphylococcus aureus in their nostrils. If only it would be so easy to TAO their nostrils if diagnosed 🙂
Best of wishes with your anti-Staph treatment. I am confident that you will only see beneficial results.
@healthyalmondsThanks for writing! I agree about my Doctor and was so relieved that he is a good one. It is amazing that after 8 months, NOW I can see all the exact similar pictures on the internet of my symptoms. Whereas before then, I could never find anything that looked quite similar. I was looking more at insect bite types of things, so that was obviously wrong. 🙂
The ointment is mupirocin (which I gather is generic bactroban). I plan on continuing with TAO after it runs out, just to make sure! Thank you so much for the tip on the ears! I will begin that tonight. It is very interesting.....my Dr's office just called. The culture came back S. aureus. He wants to start me on oral Bactrim also now, in addition to the other treatments. I am glad about it, as I have several pretty bad sores right now that could use the help in healing.
Interesting....I had nosebleeds as a youngster as well! I never had really bad acne, nor have any family members. But I am pretty sure my sister had nose pimples also. (She has passed, so I can't ask her).
It is incredibly interesting about the pets. I actually know a lot about dogs and am a dog trainer also. I have had several dogs as an adult. Each of them, during the first year of their life, around the months of April - June, got staph infections and were treated by the vet. Minimal infections, easily treated, etc. Except my youngest dog now. He had to be treated twice for it. AND I believe that he either still has a problem or had breakouts that coincided with mine. I have pictures, etc. It is incredible. It is why I thought that it was some sort of parasite/bug on both of us.However, my other 2current dogs did not show symptoms. Weird, right? I could apply TAO to his nostrils but will check with my vet first. I am not sure if it is as safe for dogs as it is for us. Especially since the dog can easily lick their nose. Perhaps alcohol instead.
Anyway, just rambling on here. Thank you again for your time and experiences. So very helpful!!!! And next time you want to experiment, you should try swabbing dog nostrils and see what is there. 🙂
Thanks again!
Hi All
I would like to share my story of how I think this could be the miracle cure for Staphylococcal folliculitis. I had mild acne in my 20s, and was constantly on Minocin 50 antibiotics which basically suppressed it but never eradicated it. In my 30s, I was still get small pimples on my chin, around my nose, top of forehead and scalp. Enough is enough so I decided to visit a dermatologist who diagnosed mewith Staph folliculitis. I was given a course of antibiotics, bactroban and betadine shampoo. This cleared most of the bacteria, but the dermo did state that I will have to live with it for the rest of my life as there was no cure and the only thing to do is to maintain it. The pimples and cystic acne mainly erupted on my chin and around nose and seemed to be worse after shaving. I'm 45 now and just last year it did get quite bad and I kept eliminating foods that I thought could be making it worse. I visited my doctor and asked for a tube of bactroban, of which he took a staph sample from my nose beforehand. After a couple of weeks, my doctor took another sample from nose which came back negative. I was still getting the same outbreaks, until I came across healthyalmonds article last month. I live in the UK so I order a tube of TAO from eBay, and have been using it for the 18 days. I have to say that I have had some mornings where I have not had any pimples and I defintley cannot recall the last time that ever happened. I have been using it in the morning in my nose and both nose and ears overnight. I used to use a cream called Terrasil on a nightly basis because it kept the staph at bay, but have even stopped using that since applying TAO. Unfortunately, I had a terrible cold when I received TAO so there were some days when I kept blowing my nose My question to healthyalmonds, when do I stop using TAO, and is there any resistance to the bacteria reappearing if used for long periods?
On 7/25/2016 at 8:33 AM, UberDude said:Hi All
I would like to share my story of how I think this could be the miracle cure for Staphylococcal folliculitis. I had mild acne in my 20s, and was constantly on Minocin 50 antibiotics which basically suppressed it but never eradicated it. In my 30s, I was still get small pimples on my chin, around my nose, top of forehead and scalp. Enough is enough so I decided to visit a dermatologist who diagnosed me with Staph folliculitis. I was given a course of antibiotics, bactroban and betadine shampoo. This cleared most of the bacteria, but the dermo did state that I will have to live with it for the rest of my life as there was no cure and the only thing to do is to maintain it. The pimples and cystic acne mainly erupted on my chin and around nose and seemed to be worse after shaving. I'm 45 now and just last year it did get quite bad and I kept eliminating foods that I thought could be making it worse. I visited my doctor and asked for a tube of bactroban, of which he took a staph sample from my nose beforehand. After a couple of weeks, my doctor took another sample from nose which came back negative. I was still getting the same outbreaks, until I came across healthyalmonds article last month. I live in the UK so I order a tube of TAO from eBay, and have been using it for the 18 days. I have to say that I have had some mornings where I have not had any pimples and I defintley cannot recall the last time that ever happened. I have been using it in the morning in my nose and both nose and ears overnight. I used to use a cream called Terrasil on a nightly basis because it kept the staph at bay, but have even stopped using that since applying TAO. Unfortunately, I had a terrible cold when I received TAO so there were some days when I kept blowing my nose My question to healthyalmonds, when do I stop using TAO, and is there any resistance to the bacteria reappearing if used for long periods?
Awesome that you have seen those improvements so far! Hopefully you've seen further progress since posting.
I believe the persistence of Staph depends on the strain that is colonizing the person. Some are easier to get rid of than others. Possibly stop after a month, and be conscious of touching your fingers to your nostrils and ears and see if the folliculitis has stopped. If the breakouts continue, you may be colonized elsewhere on your body. For example, I recently found out that Staph can colonize genitalia and between the butt cheeks. I tested myself and was colonized in both areas. 70% rubbing alcohol was effective for me to kill most of it. If you do continue to breakout, you may benefit from asking your doctor to test those areas. Both TAO and Bactroban should work well too.
I would say that it would be very unlikely for Staph to develop a resistance to TAO even with continued use. The combined activity of 3 separate antibiotics makes it very difficult for a bacteria to develop resistance. I tested my nasal Staph with Neomycin (in TAO) last summer and tested it again this summer, and both times my Staph were killed by its presence. Even with practically daily use, my nasal Staph had not developed a neomycin resistance.
Best wishes with your treatment and I hope things continue to go well for you 
ok, so its been nearly one month since I stopped the TAO. I went on Bactroban for about 10 days after as I started to get pimples after stopping TAO. My skin is about 90-95% better now. I'm not sure if the bacteria is completely eliminated from my nose as occasionally I still get a few small pimples around my nose, chin and the back of my head. I'm keeping my nose hair trimmed and ensure that my fingers do not enter my nostrils at all. I think I may have to keep the remainder 5-10% at bay by using a combination of colloidal silver on shaving days, hibiclens on my hair twice a week and I think I may start using TAO during the weekend nights.
On 9/26/2016 at 9:13 AM, UberDude said:ok, so its been nearly one month since I stopped the TAO. I went on Bactroban for about 10 days after as I started to get pimples after stopping TAO. My skin is about 90-95% better now. I'm not sure if the bacteria is completely eliminated from my nose as occasionally I still get a few small pimples around my nose, chin and the back of my head. I'm keeping my nose hair trimmed and ensure that my fingers do not enter my nostrils at all. I think I may have to keep the remainder 5-10% at bay by using a combination of colloidal silver on shaving days, hibiclens on my hair twice a week and I think I may start using TAO during the weekend nights.
That is awesome news! I too haven't 100% gotten rid of my Staph, but general maintenance has prevented all but the smallest of pimples.
Thank you for the update and I wish you continued success
On Monday, October 26, 2015 at 0:09 AM, healthyalmonds said:You could buy MSA plates online to test for Staph. All else you would need is sterile swabs. The bacteria grow slowly at room temperatre but eventually they'll grow.
Approximately how long should It take for s. Aureus to Incubate a MSA plate at room temperature?
23 hours ago, TaleTrekker said:Approximately how long should It take for s. Aureus to Incubate a MSA plate at room temperature?
That's a good question; I'm not sure as I've always incubated plates at 37 C. 48 hours is enough in that scenario. I'd say it's possible for the bacteria to show up after about a week at room temperature. The concern would be that the media would dry out, so if you can put the plate in a ziplock bag that may prolong it.
I'm impatient so I improvised an incubator 🙂
Right now I'm using a topical colloidal silver gel, but since s. aures in the anterior nares corresponds to its presence in deeper parts of the nasal cavity, I'm going to try a colloidal silver nasal spray. I've also been using 5% (minimum) tea tree oil and Nexcare acne covers for spot treatment on my chin, and it seems like the infection is starting to heal.