I am a 21 year old female and I had my pilonidal cyst removed 2 years ago, at the end of my freshman year of college when I was 19.
I noticed a little pimple-like thing on my back side, and it was embarrassing and gross, so I told nobody about it for almost 8 months. During that time, I wasn’t careful, I went in tanning beds, worked out all the time, and never took care of the area. Finally, it was causing enough pain that I had to go to the doctor. I had my surgery the next day. In my surgery, an incision was made to drain the cyst, and it was left as an open wound to heal. I attended a wound care clinic and was equipped with a WoundVac for 2 months to speed up the process.
After that point, I had to have a second surgery to remove a piece of dead skin from the original cyst. It took my about 8 months to completely heal up. Ever since then, I have constantly been through phases of the wound splitting back open and hurting again. I am in the process of seeing if another cyst is forming under the scar. It has been a constant struggle for me the past 2 years of my life. I was so glad though when I found this website and realized that there are so many other people (especially girls) out there who are going through the same things I have been going through. It’s a daily battle, but I keep reminding myself that it was a lot worse at one point, and I am very thankful that I had my cyst removed before it became any more serious.