Hello My name is Faiq. I first detected my pilonidal sinus in 2021. initially took antibiotics to fix it, but it didn’t. Then ultimately decide on surgery as the only solution.

Unfortunately, I had two failed surgeries: one in July 2022, which was open wound surgery, and the second was laser surgery in November 2023. I felt hopeless as surgery is very mentally exhausting stuff for the whole family, especially keeping in mind the complications post-surgery. All traditional surgeries failed. The only surgery that was left for me was flap surgery. Flap surgery also has many types, such as the zflap, rhomboid flap, etc. The latest flap is the bascom cleft lift. While researching on the internet, I came to know about cleft lift. As cleft lift is a rare skill, many surgeons don’t know about it, which delayed my surgery as i wanted to be sure. After extensive research, I realised it was a rare skill, which is why it isn’t discussed much, but the technique is most successful in pilonidal sinus case.

So finally, my family decided to move out of the city, and with 27 hours of train travel, we reached Mumbai.

3 August: I met Dr. Mehli Nazir at his hospital as we were in touch through WhatsApp for consultation as I was new to the city. He explained the surgery in layman’s language.

6 August: Went to OT. Dr. Mehli relaxed me by talking to me. I slept instantly. The surgery was so smooth that when I woke up, I was confused and asked the nurse, Did the surgery happen? She said yes. It was relaxing for me and, at the same time, funny that I didn’t even realize I had a surgery. In the evening, Dr. Mehli visited me in my room and asked me about my health, gave me some postoperative care tips, and most importantly, made me walk the whole floor hahaha.I could easily sit on my buttocks.

7th August: The discharge day in the morning, Dr. Mehli met me again and explained my postoperative care tips again. And then I went to the hotel with a drain pipe.He called me on Phone regularly for health update which defines his caring nature

11th August: visited Dr. Mehli for drain pipe and upper layer sitches removal. He himself removed the drain and did the dressing of the wound, which is the best part about him. Drain removal is a big relief.

14th August: My final stitches were removed, and after all stitches were removed, Dr. Mehli repeated multiple times that my support is gone, so now I have to be careful while doing body movement. Overall, it was a smooth experience.

16th August: Back to home and had a bath after a long time. Everyone reading this, please prefer a cleft lift and choose an experienced cleft lift surgeon.

Contact : +91 98205 94009 Dr Mehli Nazir 2nd floor Nazir building Kemps corner Adjacent to Shalimar Hotel

Hello everyone! I had my first interaction with Pilonidal Sinus in Mumbai in 2021. It first began with me feeling a lot of pinching pain in my gluteal cleft and a few days past by and I met a doctor who said it looks like a case of Pilonidal Sinus. He referred me to a surgeon who told me to take a MRI and afterwards said that I will 100% need excision of the Pilonidal Sinus surgery. (I’m typing this from my phone so I apologize for any weird formatting or grammatical mistakes, hard to keep track on a phone)

At this point I should mention that this was around October of 2021 where I have now had my first year of IB be completely online and now second year online as well because of a second Covid-19 wave in India. For those who don’t know, IBDP is the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and is easily one of, if not, the hardest high school (ages 16-19) programs a student can do. While already burdened with IB’s work (extended essay, subject IAs, Theory of Knowledge essay, summative/formatives, etc) I also had my undergrad University applications going on which induce their own stress. Partnered all of this with the fact that I’m doing online school even though my final IB exams are 100% going to be in-person (Apr-Jun 2022), can be stressful. Now I also have to have surgery? Naturally this can upset anyone, but I wasn’t because I have had a history with fractured and dislocated wrists, ligament tears, and other injuries that render me in pain and highly inconvenienced.

So I had the surgery and the main problem was that my surgeon (he told me this before the surgery) had done an open wound excision, which is an outdated approach for Pilonidal. I don’t want to delve into this much, but I kept having reoccurring problems with Pilonidal Sinus. Skin healed, couple of days/weeks/months it reoccurred with puss, blood, etc. I got into a really good university abroad, but the flights were 15+ hours and honestly became highly annoying (pedantic, enraging, painful) to take. I got done with 1 semester -> took a flight back home to Mumbai -> skin healed -> took flight to the other country -> reoccurred -> repeat This was my cycle for two years and the problem was that with me leaving the country for so long and my own University studies, exams, etc never made me question that something had to be wrong. There was no way that I was not healed after all this time. I kept going to that doctor for dressing and he said it takes time etc etc.

So finally after my Fall semester was over in 2023 I came back to Mumbai for my winter break and met a new doctor, Dr. Mehli Nazir. He pointed out that the surgery I had was outdated and that it was not fully exercised. Skipping a lot of details, but main thing to point out is to please find the right doctor to do this. Pilonidal is stressful and traumatizing not only for the patient but for your family/friends. Dr. Mehli Nazir had done my surgery (Diseased tissue was removed, I had a cleft lift, 3 layers of stitches). Since I had a lot of scar tissue from the first surgery, surgery and healing gets a little more problematic.

Anyway, surgery was successful and I am currently in healing process (first and second layer of stitches have been taken out, third layer is dissolvable). I will be missing 2 weeks of my winter semester but that doesn’t bother me. A laser is more than likely in the near future and I can return to any sort of physically intense stuff in 4 months (4 months because again, scar tissue -> more inconveniences).

The most important thing to learn is to please reach out to the correct doctors, I only found out about this site through Dr. Mehli. I’m adding this story to inform anyone who is going through this, I know it sucks, I know that other people don’t really understand what you are going through, but I promise you that it will get better when you get the correct care. Dr. Mehli is a gem of a person, he makes you feel as if you are completely back to normal (literally hours after my surgery while I’m on the bed with a drain attached to me).

For anyone in Mumbai, without a doubt reach out to him. Fun fact: when I mentioned fractured and dislocated wrist, after my surgery for that injury (during healing phase) I found out that I was ambidextrous. This was in sixth grade and I picked up a pen and literally picked up writing with my other hand with relative ease. I did different things with both my hands but never actually realized till I started writing with both hands (I used to eat with my left hand, brush with right, use right leg for football, left for writing, etc). I guess since I learned something new about myself every time after my injuries, I got a positive attitude for dealing with them I guess lol. If you read this entire scribbled list, Thanks, Anadya

This is my third go around with a cyst with two surgery performed, I. At a loss no obese active enough, this time it’s very small with no drainage or severe discomfort, I don’t want surgery anymore but want a solution I really wish everyone many blessings this Christmas.

Is there any hope for me please reach out if you can any encouragement via email would be o so appreciated, God bless!

I don’t think I’m the only one when I say, that was a pain in the ass!

I’m still dealing with dressings everyday and I’m over it. It takes a massive toll on you. I feel embarrassed every time I have to pull down my pants. I feel like I have no hope left, everyone’s telling me be prepared for it to come back? it’s now my worst fear. I’m usually really good with pain, never complained much. I thought it was a bulging disc until I was admitted to hospital and got told I had this. I work in a shearing shed and being told by my surgeon that I can’t go back into that industry for a while, killed me. I do tafe and work with kids, oh nope scratch that, you’re a liability now.

I live in Australia and it’s currently one of our hottest summers yet, oh no can’t swim and can’t drink. I never want to go through this pain ever again. I’m so thankful for this page. I’m not the only one. I don’t feel so belittled.

I fiirst got one at 25 and the pain of them pacing it omg I had to have that done 3 times and it did nothing it just got worse and worse and oh the amount of pain i have been through so i finally have a huge surgery because it had grown so much and traveled throughout my whole butt.

I remember waking from the surgery and the doctor says to me that he could say whether it was fixed or not or if he got it all and that it could come bacik again one day.

It tooik forever to heal I had tubes and bubbles of stuff sown into my butt so embarrissing and it was good for one year and now its here again but now its my talbone and traveled down right down my testicles on both sides and when i have a flair up its the most painfull thing ever that I would rather die. Im so sicik of this honestly wish God would just taike my life cuz i dont see any hope at all.

I hate this thing and makes me hate myself

So i read some of these and people are saying that they felt it coming on for a while and just ignored it but for me it was in the span of a week where i started feeling the discomfort sitting to not being able to fully straighten my back when getting out of bed i tried to deal with if for like a couple days thinking it was maybe a bruised tailbone but i couldn’t bear it and went to urgent care and they told me it was a pilonidal cyst and this all started maybe a little over two months ago and i scheduled a consultation for surgery but couldn’t even make it to that day before i couldn’t bare it anymore and had to go to the er i couldn’t sit down so i laid down face first in the chairs and we were there from about 12 pm to about eight at night anyways they finally called me in and i got it drained which was so painful but it helped with the pain so it was worth it and as i was healing up from that my grandmothers health significantly declined, she has lung cancer and a eight inch tumor pushing into her heart and since im doing college online im the only person who can take care of her and ive been pretty much staying with her but the thing is its already coming back and there are three holes in that area that look so gross and i hurt so much and i have college and an unstable living situation and im only 19 and all this stuff is piling up and i hate this i hate this so much i just want this to be over i dont want to keep dealing with this i dont have the time to have the surgery and let it heal and then it come back again and im just so tired of this i cant have this come back and ive been doing everything i can to prevent it from doing that but i just saw that third hole show up and the other two are getting bigger it feels like all my effort is for nothing and that i cant do anything to stop it

I first noticed a flare up in 2008, I was in 10th grade at the time. My mom and aunt looked at it and said I had a cyst on my tailbone. My aunt found some pigsweed and chewed it and put it on the spot. It helped temporarily, but it kept flaring back up. So I went to a doctor who said they’d have to lance it because it was infected. She said there’d be no point in numbing it, because by the time it was numb, it could be lanced already.

My mother and I weren’t aware of how much that’d hurt so we agreed to just get it cut rather than numbing it. It was horrible pain that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I wasn’t even sent home with pain medicine. Over the years it would randomly flare up, but I’d just chew some pigsweed, put it on it, and it’d simmer back down.

Up until last year (2022). In March, it was getting so bad that I could barely walk by the end of a work day. I had my parents take me to urgent care because I could hardly sit straight to drive either. I told the doctor when he came in that I had a pilonidal that I believed needed to be lanced again. He said normally they avoid lancing unless it’s urgent because it can cause more harm than good. But when he looked at it, he said it needed to be drained asap. He was a lot nicer than that first doctor. He did his best to numb it up, but if you have a pilonidal, you know there’s no way to fully numb it with how deep they can get. He had to make two incisions. And even though he gave me about 10 shots of the numbing stuff, it was extremely painful. I think I’d rather pass kidney stones than go through that again. He referred me to a surgeon to get it surgically removed.

I had my first surgery in May of 2022. He did a cleft lift procedure. After a few weeks though when the glue came off, it opened up and I had a big open wound on my back. We let it be for a bit to see if it’d close on its own, unfortunately it didn’t. So then he started cauterizing it with silver nitrate. Once a month, then every other week, then every week. Once it showed no more signs of closing anymore, he also discovered another tunnel. So, we scheduled my second surgery. I was hopeful. I had an open wound on my back for nearly 10 months at this point. The constant discomfort and pain was getting to me.

I had that the beginning of February of this year (2023). He double stitched it this time that way it’d stay closed. But unfortunately, once the glue fell off, it started opening back up again. This time it was smaller, but still an open wound. I ended up in the ER with awful abdominal pain and they did a cat scan. My doctor who was taking care of my pilonidal was on call, he looked at my cat scan and found a big open pocket inside near my tailbone, and said it was at risk for infection. So he suggested a wound vac placement. I went back into the OR, this time less hopeful and very nervous. I had an awful headache and stomachache. I was so scared for some reason.

He opened me up 2×2 inches to the pocket of air and placed the wound vac while I was under. It’s now the day after that surgery. I’m uncomfortable, but not in pain yet thankfully. I have my first wound sponge change in a few days. It’s going to be a painful month or so but, I cannot wait for this to be over.

It all started 6 years ago. I remember feeling so much pain! It was a good 10/10 of pain!

My friend had a look at my tailbone and it was a massive bruise! I started crying. I went to my GP and he immediately told me to go to the emergency.. just before going to the emergency I went to the bathroom and blood started pouring out like a fountain! It was my first surgery ever, I was crying so much from the pain and from having anxiety! I woke up from my first surgery, I had no idea what was going on, what it is nothing! The doctor came in explained everything to us, I had a massive wound, it was a really big infection, the wound was healing from inside to out.

A couple months go past, I felt pain again. it was a check up appointment he immediately told me I had about 10 different pits of hair that’s causing a massive infection so I went in for my second surgery! But this time for some odd reason they decided to stitch my wound up, I don’t know why!

6-9 months go by and my symptoms came back 10x more! I decided to go to a second opinion as I didn’t have a good feeling about my previous surgeon.. my new doctor basically told me my infection started to spread around my body, just because it was stitched up and the infection couldn’t oose out of anywhere. I went into my third surgery and woke up with a machine attached to my wound.. I instantly got scared. he said this vacc machine was helping me oose out the infection faster and to help it heal faster, I remember them changing the packaging and me screaming my head off from how much it hurt from them pulling everything off.. 3 months go by and the vacc machine came off, FINALLY! It was still open not even an inch, he wanted the wound to heal healthy without the vacc.. It ended up healing, I thought it was finally over!

Months go by and I didn’t have any symptoms I got so happy! I went in for a check up and bad news, another surgery! They found more pits I started crying. he then explained to me that it’s not going to be easy as I may live with this for the rest of my life! I got so devastated, I already have missed out all ky senior years in high school! I went in for another surgery and woke up with the vacc again! I hated that vacc, it was my worst nightmare ever! I was so scared of just leaving my house, it was so uncomfortable, the farting noises it made was ridiculous! 4 months go by I had my check up it was all good! 6 months go by I went in just for a check as I started bleeding everyday while peeing and doing a number 2.. at this stage everything was normal to me I got so used to it, it has ended up becoming my life.. he then sat us down and explained to me I need a 5 hour surgery to fix this problem.. a flap reconstruction surgery.. Covid hit, I was suffering soreness, bleeding, bruises, everything throughout those 2 years.. I then went in to see when I could have my surgery, he said I have to wait for all the private patients to go first then I could go (mind due I was a public patient all this time) fighting after fighting when I could get this surgery so I could move on with my life, missed out on school, hanging with friends, sitting properly, driving just anything possible!

I then sent a letter to my health minister of my country! He replied back straight away, set out an interview to go on the news about public patients for private patients, I didn’t mention anyones names nothing, it was just a argument about public vs private, not even 5 minutes after the news people left I copped phone call after phone call with all the doctors saying my surgery was booked. For some reason my surgeon was pissed off AT ME??? I put in a good word for him as he was generally a bloody good doctor.

I went in for my surgery, woke up and he didn’t even do the surgery he was supposed to do, I just got a random clean up and that’s it! I was so angry at this point, I didn’t want a clean up I wanted this to be fixed! That surgeon then left the country out of know where and I had to deal with another NEW doctor! This doctor is my doctor till this day! He is so lovely! First doctor to ever tell me to do scans around that area to see what’s happening on the inside and to study on how to fix it! I had another surgery he did a proper full clean, went in as deep as he could to clean it! It all ended up healing,

I felt amazing for nearly a whole year! I finally got my first full time job I love, been with my boyfriend for nearly 3 years my life is amazing.. Until recently. I feel pain again, I am bleeding, my mum just checked to see if my wound opened & ITS OPENED AGAIN!!! I have cried for nearly 3 hours now! I’m so over it! I get it, I honestly get it! My wound is in the middle of my bum crack, it can’t breathe at all! I have showers every day! I clean it properly but unfortunately it’s in the most difficult spots ever and I am one of the rarest cases in Australia! I just want to be normal!!!

I have always had occasional soreness on my tailbone which I had assumed was attributed to a bruised tailbone from the pressure of sitting down for long periods of time. Looking back on my past experiences, I wish I could have prepared my future self for what I would endure due to what was indeed, not a bruised tailbone, but a recurring pilonidal cyst.

A little over two weeks ago, I started experiencing discomfort and pain in my tailbone area but ignored it and brushed it off. I was traveling a lot due to the Thanksgiving holiday and spent a lot of time sitting down driving in the car. Upon return from the holiday I found myself with a small cold and spent nearly two days straight sitting since I felt sickly. Knowing now that sitting for long periods of time is a large contributor to pilonidal cysts, looking back, I wonder if things would be different if I hadn’t spent so much time sitting. Over the next few days, the pain increased slowly but surely to the point where walking, sitting, and even pulling up my pants was excruciating. I waited another day and decided the pain was too unbearable to avoid treatment so I had my boyfriend take me to urgent care.

The NP told me my cyst was still too firm to lance and drain so I should take epsom baths 3-4 times a day and gave me a prescription for antibiotics until the cyst gets softer. Four days later, one side of my cyst (my cyst(s) occurred as communicating but separate cysts on both sides at the top of my butt crack) began to drain on its own so I returned to urgent care and was informed it was time to have my cyst lanced and drained.

Mind you, I have a massive phobia of needles and this procedure required two injections of local anesthesia at the site of both sides of the cyst before lancing. It’s not an understatement to say that I was terrified. The doctor gave me the injections as I squeezed the nurses hand as hard as I could and fought tears from eyes. Thankfully, this was the worst part of the procedure. The doctor lanced and drained both sides of the abscess, pulled some of the cyst tissue out(which was also pretty painful), then packed and dressed the two holes.

Thankfully, I didn’t feel the incision because of the local anesthesia. The day after the lancing was a little painful but not a fraction as painful as before the lancing was done. Today it has been exactly a week since the operation and was instructed to go back every two/three days to get the packing removed and repacked. The repacking of the ribbon gauze is so painful, but becomes easier to bear I think. Before I started experiencing extreme pilonidal pain, I had never even heard of such a condition. I wish there was more awareness for pilonidal disease, as it seems almost no one knows about these things before they’re in so much pain they need medical attention.

I also want to say that if you’re experiencing a pilonidal cyst and also suffer from needle phobia, you can get through this and the relief from receiving local anesthesia will be worth it. Thankfully, I seem to be recovering well with painkillers and antibiotics.

I wish all of my fellow pilonidal buddies well and a fast recovery for you all.

I’m 45 years old, and I was cured of this approximately 17 years ago. I don’t know what made me think of this today, but I was reliving some awful memories, I suppose, and ended up here. I started with the pain when I was about 23 or 24. It was paralyzing when I hit it just right, I remember the pain being shocking. I had a hard time sitting down, of course. So, I went to the doc, and told him I thought I had a hemorrhoid. After all, I couldn’t sit down, and the people on the hemorrhoid commercials couldn’t either. He got a laugh out of that and said, no, I have some sort of a cyst. He never said anything about “pilonidal.” He sent me to a plastic surgeon, who did a quick procedure to remove it. he never said “pilonidal” either. Within a few weeks, it was back. I suffered with it for a few years, and finally couldn’t take any more. A friend’s father, a doctor, recommended I see a general surgeon. Dr. Nadaraja had zero bedside manner, but was my savior. He explained what I had, which was the first time I heard the word “pilonidal.” He told me what he was going to do, and it would be weeks of recovery, and painful repacking of the incision, which was all true. And he fixed it. I actually ended up with a second cyst, not pilondial but nearby, and in a subsequent surgery, he fixed that. I have never had a problem again. I also got a new GP. Find a surgeon with experience on these, deal with laying on your stomach for a month while it heals, and this is a fixable condition.