I am a 25 year old Indian male currently living in Germany. I am a student and I live alone which makes life with PS even more frustrating. I’ve always had pain around my tailbone region on and off and it never bothered me. I am quite hairy back there and used to shave once a while to keep things clean.
In october 2010 while shaving I believe it made a little cut on the skin near the tailbone region and I believe this flared up the PS. In 2 weeks I had a walnut sized lump which made virtually doing anything impossible. When I applied some heat over there to reduce the pain, it burst open and started draining.
Unfortunately this was a wednesday and doctors in Germany dont work full day on wednesdays. I tried to dress it with some antiseptic and went to a local physician the next day. He immediately diagnosed it as PS and referred me to a hospital with a colon specialist. I was told I would need a surgery to remove the abscess and that the wound would be left open with 6-8 week recovery time. This scared me since I was living alone with no one to help.
But still anything was ok for me if the pain would go away. But after the surgery I was told that they did a small excision and stitched it back since the infected area was small. I was told it would heal in 4 weeks. But after 2 weeks the infection came back and they removed the stitches even before it healed. It did not heal even after 4 months since a small portion at the bottom of the wound refused to heal. 5 months after the surgery I was told the only way now would be to have another surgery with an open wound. This troubled me even more but there was no other way when you are in another country and depend on the doctors who dont speak the same language.
After the second surgery in which I was told a large excision was made, I relatively felt better mainly due to the pain killers. Life at home was managable since I had asked my mom to come and take care of me. Wound dressing in the first few weeks were terrible. It would pain like someone is cutting you open and prodding a finger inside the wound, which is what they do really. For about 2 months the wound was healing nicely but then stopped once again. Having the wound right in the middle did not help either as even the slightest movement ruptures it. When we were lost about what to do, i visited my surgeon again and he said that it was not healing due to fungal presence on the surface. He suggested treating it with silver nitrate cauterization and apply sugar/glucose on the wound. This was best thing ever in this long struggle against PS. Applying glucose solution to the would worked wonders. Also alternating cauterization and glucose every 3 days is the best and fastest way to heal the wound.
Now it is completely cured but still extreme care is required since the skin is not strong enough and breaks easily. I worked out lightly one day and it opened up. So my best advice for anyone with PS would be BE POSITIVE. Go for open wound healing and 4-6 weeks after surgery, review the wound and if felt necessary start with cauterization and glucose every 3 days. It does work and its the best method known so far to speed up healing.
GOODLUCK.