I am 24 male and had a red lump just above my cleft, I did some research online and came across pilonidal, went and saw my doctor he claimed that it was a WART and he frozed it with some chemicals. I told him that it was pilonial but docors know best (not).
Anyway that was 2 months ago and it later turned out that it was pilonidal, while I had no pain I did release a lot of pus and I sought to remove the problem asap. Now 2 weeks in my post operation with open wound I have to say its all going well (touch wood). I am having an appointment with the my specialist in 2 weeks time to see what I need to do next. While I did not have any pain before and after the open wound drainage i have to say it was difficult for me to insert the absorbent into the wound myself. I live in Australia and no nurses were coming to my home for the dressing change, the community nursing centre gave me the material for whole week and I have seen them twice in 2 weeks. Although I appreciate their help and I prefer to do the work myself as I dont like demanding help from others.
Nevertheless I think the wound care is very important as it is easy for it to be infected. I would struggle for 30-40 minutes every day trying to insert this Aquacel absorbent into my wound using a large mirror, while I dont recommend it if you have someone with you all the time, I think it is important for some people to try it out themselves if they have issues asking someone to help them.
Make sure you have a lot of necessary materials as you might drop many of them in the first week while trying to figure out how to work backwards but by the second week you should have the hang of it.