Question: I have a skin condition for the past 6 months or so. Never had it before. A hard mat forms just under the skin. In this mat and especially along its edges are white cylinders that seem to occupy pore space. Hard, white, verticle. Anchored to the mat with 3 or 4 "feet", dark brown or black. No infection, like a zit. Just hard, white. Cannot pop out like a zit. Any ideas?

About two years ago my doctor determined that I have Type 2 diabetes mellitus without complications. There is some swelling around the ankles. I understand how diabetes can complicate certain skin conditions and delay healing.

No tests have been done. I have no problems breathing or swallowing food.

I have been told that my condition is cellulitis. But the two medications that are typically used to treat this condition have not worked. Perhaps more than seven days are needed. Perhaps the dosages were too low. Maybe both. I have looked at all the on-line pictures I can find of skin conditions, especially cellulitis, and I haven't found anything close. I lack the redness, irregular pattern of cellulitis pictures. The bacteria for cellulitis tend to enter through a crack or wound in the skin. I have no such broken skin before I notice my condition. My morphology is different, too; hard mass below the surface and all (dozens) those hard white cylinders in the pores. I have tried to take a picture, but they show nothing. The best way to find them is to rub your hand over my skin and you can feel the bumps and rounds under the skin. They look like a pimple, but are not. They itch and physically hurt (I take Excedrin when it gets too bad). Use your thumb and index finger to pinch your skin: the two fingers fold up the skin and they nearly touch. The hard mats I have cannot be pinched: they are too hard and it hurts too much. And, as I said, you cannot pinch out the hard white cylinders. But I still try. If I do break the skin over a cylinder, the wound is slow to heal. I first noticed this, whatever it is, on my left leg and few inches above the knee. Thought it was a pimple. Squeezed it and found out it was not. Would not heal until I was finally about to extract the white cylinder. The area is still slightly darker than the surrounding area. Then back of left hand (I finally stopped picking at it and it is now healed, but you can still feel and see the while cylinders under the skin. Then on the back of my neck, an area about the size of a fifty cent coin. Latest a couple of small spots on my face and the top of one ear. It is hard to explain to an MD what I have because when they look at my neck, for example, all they see is a big open wound and they think skin cancer. But I caused the open wound, not the condition. I know I am my own worst enemy and I know I need to stop picking. I will try to get photo that shows something, but I don't think I can.