Hello! First of all, I'm gonna apologize for the wall of text you're about to read; I just have a lot to get off my chest. I'm an 18 year old girl and I had my first pilonidal cyst in March. I thought the cyst had healed and I wouldn't ever have to deal with it ever again, but in May, two days before I was supposed to go on a church service to New Orleans, I had another one resurface. So, because of that, I was unable to go on the trip, which really sucked because I've never seen anything bigger than a pond and New Orleans was gonna be the first time I would be on a beach. My first cyst and my second were treated very differently. With the first one, I never did any packing or gauze changes, like I have been doing with the second one, I just did sits baths twice a day for two weeks and was put on some antibiotics. I'm hoping that the one that's being treated now is the first one that wasn't healed properly. I went to doctor today to check how my cyst was healing. She said it was healing well, and I could go swimming in two days. However, I told her that I had been feeling some pressure in my tailbone area and it hurt when some pressure was applied to it. She didn't say anything about seeing another cyst, but she decided to put me on some antibiotics, just to be safe. While the doctor was looking at me, she said she saw at least 4 potential areas that a cyst might reoccur at. I was crushed when I heard this, and the doctor suggested surgery might be option. To do what, I don't know, I was wallowing in self pity when she was explaining what for. I don't want to have to deal with this every 2 months for the rest of my life. I wasn't able to be with friends or be enjoyable for about 3 weeks after the second cyst was lanced. I start college, which is a ways away from home, in August and I don't know if I can deal with classes and another cyst without family support. Because I still live at home, my mom has been changing the packing and gauze. So what happens in college? Do any of you have suggestions of ways to cope? What is your stance on surgery for this situation?
I would definitely recommend getting the surgery if you can! It would be great if you could get it sorted while still being at home with your parents and the last thing you want to do is have it get worse while you're in college and then have to have surgery then/not be able to participate in life at that point!! There is also nothing worse than having the possibility of the cyst flaring up again
I had a cyst which became hard and kinda shrunk and then did nothing for years. Out of no where I'm studying for a stat exam at 2 am and I felt an immense pressure in the area. It had become really swollen and coming out as if there was a lot of force/pressure pushing it making a large bump near the tailbone. It got to the point that I couldn't even stand up to walk! I was like f this exam and went to the doctor at 9 am that day. He made an incision and let it drain, then gave me antibiotics and painkillers. Next day I had an appointment with surgeon and he told me to come back and see him once the 2 week antibiotics were over. I went back and well he wanted me to have the surgery immediately, but I asked him if I could wait a month for the semester to be over and he said that's fine since the swelling was completely gone. Since it's now summer I'd suggest you get the surgery (only if there is a guarantee of recurrence) so you don't have to deal with this mid-semester. I had to take literally one month off from work so I can lay on my side/stomach for a few weeks and avoid being on my back (only 2 weeks is actually necessary..i took an extra 2 off cuz i got lazy :> ) The thing about cysts is...it may come back or it may not and usually surgery helps with it not coming back.
