Ingrown hairs

Hey, so this has been going on for around 8 months. I have been to vet and also spoken to many people who work with dogs including groomers. None of them had any idea about this. My dogs back is covered in ingrowing hairs. From about half way down his back on top (not on his sides) the hair feels rough to stroke and the individual strands are sharp at the ends. Most of the hairs grow up out of the skin as usual and then back down into the skin creating a little loop of hair. However some of them are completely underneath the skin. Some of them cause bumps to form on the skin which scab and bleed and look quite sore. He is on ‘Different Dog’ food. I usually don’t use flea and wormer (I send off poo samples for worm egg counts) . However he has had both as the vet suggested trying these incase parasites causing this but did not improve. No one has any clue what could be causing this and I am at a loss of how to help him. Many thanks for any advice  

Hello.  I'm afraid that I don't know either, although some breeds are appparently more susceptible to ingrowing hairs than others, so there may be a genetic componant.  Ingrowing hair can be associated with infection / folliculitis.  You don't mention a breed but I thought about poodles, with very curly hair, and then I wondered whether your dog might be a rhodesian ridgeback or crossed with one;  rhodies do have a line of reverse-direction hairs on their backs, which can become problematic.  I also wondered whether it would be worth scraping for a certain deep-living mite called Demodex, in case they had any involvement, although I have never seen them cause what you are describing.   Anyway, diagnosis-speculation aside, I wonder whether your vet said 'I don't know what this is' and refused to do any more, or whether they said 'I don't know what this is but I can send you to someone who does,' because there are many canine skin experts and any of these might be helpful to ask.   If you do find out, we would love to know more!

Hey, Thanks so much for the great reply 😊. He is a greyhound mix. We did a Wisdom Panel so can tell you more specifically one of his parents was a deerhound x greyhound and the other a greyhound x whippet x saluki. So his coat is short and smooth but quite coarse. I will have a look into experts and if we get any answers will let you know 😊.