Surgical treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa of the axilla.

We review our surgical experience with hidradenitis suppurativa of the axilla at Cook County Hospital during the years 1963 to 1972. The operation for this entity described by Pollock et al has (1) reduced the length of hospitalization, (2) increased the rate of primary healing and reduced the period of secondary healing, (3) allowed a great amount of tissue to be excised, (4) permitted both axillae to be operated on at once (without incapacitating the patient), (5) avoided the need for skin grafting, and (6) has had less morbidity for those patients in whom primary healing is not achieved. We believe the method reported by Pollock et al is now the treatment of choice for this disease.