Adolescent Satisfaction After Deroofing Surgery for HS

Summary Verified By: Venessa Pena-Robichaux, M.D. | University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School

March 1, 2026

This plain-language research summary was generated by AI, courtesy of HS Simplified.

Adolescent Satisfaction After Deroofing Surgery for HS

In a 2025 study, teenagers with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) (a long-term skin condition that causes painful, draining skin bumps that come and go) underwent "deroofing," a surgical procedure removing the top layer of skin lesions. While satisfaction levels were high, participants noted significant recovery challenges. This highlights both the potential benefits and the need to better inform patients about what to expect after this type of surgery.

How Teenagers Feel After Surgery for a Painful Skin Disease

HS is a long-lasting skin condition that causes painful bumps, tunnels, and skin drainage, often in places like the armpits or groin. It can make life difficult and often hurts a teen’s quality of life(which means how happy and comfortable they feel day to day). HS is hard to treat with just medicine, so sometimes doctors try surgery.

One surgery for HS is called deroofing. This means a doctor removes the top part (“roof”) of the bump or tunnel, then lets the area heal on its own. Haller and her team wanted to know how teens felt after having this surgery. They asked teens who had this treatment about their pain, experience with recovery, and satisfaction with this procedure. .

How the Study Was Done

The researchers looked for teens (18 or younger) who had deroofing surgery between 2015 and 2022. Nine teens (seven girls and two boys, average age 16) agreed to answer a survey. The survey asked about anxiety related to the surgery, pain, wound care after the surgery, how recovery affected school/work, and satisfaction with the procedure. The teens answered the survey 6 to 25 months after their surgery (most answered around 9 months later).

What Teens Reported

Before surgery, most teens weren’t very worried about something going wrong. During surgery, pain was low for most, but one person had a lot of pain because the numbing medicine didn’t work well and they did not understand when to ask for additional numbing medicine. After the surgery, pain increased for the first week (average pain was 6 out of 10), but once the wound healed, pain dropped to almost nothing. Most teens said the pain from regular HS flare-ups was worse than the pain from surgery recovery.

Wound care took time (on average, teens spent about 27 minutes every day caring for the area). Three teens said this was pretty hard. Most teens missed a lot of school or activities while healing, needing about 6 weeks to get back to normal.

Were Teens Happy With Surgery?

Seven out of nine teens were happy with the surgery and would tell others to try it. The two teens who were not satisfied still thought other people might have better luck with it, since there are not many other options for treating HS.

What Does This Mean?

Deroofing isn’t the first treatment doctors try for HS, but it can help when other treatments don’t work. This study by Haller and her team shows that most teens can handle deroofing surgery and feel better afterwards. The surgery reduced pain in the long run and helped their quality of life, but it did mean extra wound care and missing school or activities for a while.

Limitations

This study was small, with only nine teens from one hospital, so we can’t be sure everyone would have the same results. Also, the teens answered questions about things that happened months before, so they may not remember everything exactly right. More research with bigger groups is needed to know for sure how well this surgery works for all young people with HS.

In summary: Most teens were satisfied with deroofing surgery for HS. It helped their pain and daily life, but did require a lot of wound care time and time off from normal activities. If you have HS, this surgery might help, but it’s important to talk with your doctor and family about what to expect.

Read the original paper

Author(s)

Courtney N Haller, Cassidy M Nguyen, Maryann E England, Lucia Z Diaz, Venessa Peña-Robichaux