DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Do razor bumps happen only to black men? I never see any white guys with them, but I do see plenty of blacks with them. I’m a black man with a real crop. They hurt. I’d welcome any suggestions you can give me on how to handle them and how to prevent them. Thanks. — L.J.

ANSWER: White men do get razor bumps, but not in the numbers that black men get them. Shaving the hair leaves the hair with a spear-like end. Tightly coiled hair curls downward after it’s cut, and the sharpened end pierces the skin. It’s very much like a splinter sticking into the skin. The hair acts like a foreign body and inflames the skin. Soon a bump — similar to a pimple — appears. The official name of this condition is pseudofolliculitis barbae.

You must give your face a vacation from shaving. Don’t shave for a month, or longer if any bumps remain. You can trim facial hair with scissors. Get a magnifying mirror. Use it to free the buried end of the hair from the skin by prying it loose with a sterile needle. The embedded hair forms a loop through which you pass the needle. If this is too much for you, have someone else do it with a magnifying glass.

Your can resume shaving when all the bumps are gone. You have to make it into a ritual. Saturate a washcloth with hot water and apply it to your face and neck for 10 minutes. Keep it warm to hot. Use a shaving cream that forms a thick lather, and let the lather stay on your face for five minutes. Shave in the direction of hair growth, not against the grain.

If the bumps come back or if they don’t clear, you’ll need to see a doctor. You might need an antibiotic cream or ointment, or possibly even oral antibiotics.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I don’t know any women with my problem. When I talk to friends about it, they look at me as though I am crazy. They say I should count my blessings. I have extremely large breasts. I get pain in my upper back and neck, and I think the pain comes from these breasts. Can doctors make breasts smaller? If they do, is it covered by insurance? — A.H.

ANSWER: Breasts can be made smaller surgically. You’re wrong in thinking you’re the only woman who has this predicament. Plenty have it. Back and neck pain can be a consequence.

The surgery is a reduction mammoplasty. Your doctor can recommend a surgeon to you.

Contact your insurance company to see if you are covered. You should be. This is a medical, not a cosmetic, problem.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Do people shrink?

I know for a fact that I used to be 5 feet, 7 inches tall. Yesterday I was measured, and now I am 5 feet, 5½ inches tall. I am 67.

Where did that inch and a half go? — H.N.

ANSWER: We do shrink, both men and women. It’s quite normal to lose half an inch in height by age 50. Another half-inch is lost every decade after 50.

The shrinkage comes from a drying up and contraction of back disks, those semisolid structures between backbones.

Osteoporosis is another cause of losing height. The backbones themselves are compressed slightly or greatly due to their loss of calcium.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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