I was 18 when I noticed pain while sitting for long periods of time. I’m a college student so I’m at a desk or sitting on a laptop or reading for many hours a day.
In December 2012 I noticed a bump in the tailbone area, but as it’s such a sensitive area, I didn’t want to tell anyone, and didn’t really want to know what it was. Over spring semester, the pain worsened and the cyst began to drain a bit. I had flare-ups during my periods to the point where it was quite painful to walk.
Mid-way through the semester I began researching and became fairly convinced it was a pilonidal cyst, thanks in large part to this website. I went to student health, they confirmed it and referred me to a surgeon. I waited to have the surgery until May 2013 so classes would be out and I would have some time (just under a month) to heal before heading to a summer camp to work as a counselor for the summer. I liked my surgeon a lot; she explained that since my cyst wasn’t very big, they would do a more conservative removal. They had said they would leave it open, but ended up stitching it shut. The stitches came out uneventfully and I was given the go-ahead for leaving to work for the summer.
Recovery went well for the first 2-4 weeks apart from some minor bleeding which my surgeon said was fine. During the 4th week I became concerned that it had not healed properly – I had pain, discharge, redness, and it appeared the wound had opened and there was a gap about the size of the end of a pencil eraser at the bottom of my 1 inch wound. The hardest part was not having a way to get a good look at it and having nobody to look at it for me (a week together at a summer camp would prepare no one to look at a coworker’s butt wound). I scheduled an appointment with a local doctor who (unlike my mom who kept threatening me with sepsis) was not all that worried about the infection, put me on Cipro for a week, and sent me back to work.
It did heal eventually, over the course of about 4-6 more weeks the hole slowly closed, but it drained throughout and looked really gnarly. The healing was less than pleasant, but I would do it all over again because I am so glad to not have to worry about the cyst anymore, when it would flare, whether it was getting deeper, or if it would stain all my undies with drainage (gross trying to hide that from a roommate, something I wouldn’t wish on anyone).
I have been healed and healthy since August, with no signs of recurrence! I recently discovered my older sister has a cyst of her own. Poor cyster. She’s holding off on surgery for the time being after having seen how long my recovery took. There is no good time for pilonidal disease.