Howdy. I am a 23 year old male who serves in the Air Force. I first noticed this problem last year around October 2011.
It didn’t bother me to much but I wanted to get it looked at anyways because it was affecting me when doing sittups. At the time I was directed to the Army hospital and the Colonel said it was just an ingrown hair. They pulled out the hair and shaved the area. It did get better but the cyst still never went away. I got laser hair removal also in the area thinking well no hair means no ingrown hairs. I got laser hair removal treatments every 4 weeks and got that done like 7 times. Still no luck.
Soon the hospital on the Air Force base stopped being a clinic and turned into a real hospital and went to the doctor there for another opinion. He then said it was Pilonidal Disease and surgery is needed to correct it. I had the surgery on October 16th 2012. It’s has been almost 4 weeks since the surgery and it is healing nicely. For me the second week of recovery was the most painful. Once 3rd week hit the pain started to go away and now almost starting my 4th week I can do more now without too much pain. my first week we did normal packing everyday but then the second week came and started the V.A.C. treatment. I still have the Vac attached to me but it is making healing much faster.
So far I’ve had no complications and like I said I haven’t been needing to take any pain meds (Besides when the sponge is changed) and I am becoming more maneuverable now. I have about 1 Centimeter left to heal and I’m hoping it all goes well. I am dying to ride my Harley again so hopefully I will be able to soon.
Keep strong and I REALLY recommend getting surgery. there is nothing to be ashamed of. Stay safe and ride on!