Hello. I discovered this website a few weeks before my first surgery which was on January 20th.
It’s been exactly a week since my surgery and I feel like publishing my story since a lot of people out there have been going through the same thing. It all started when I was 15. I noticed a bump on my butt crack but I ignored it because I thought it would go away with time. After a few days, it got worse and it got infected. I went to the doctor to let it him check it out. He performed the standard drainage procedure. He then told me that I had to change the dressings everyday. So I changed the dressings everyday for about a month, which was not too bad. Once I no longer had to change dressings, I was pilonidal cyst free.
Three years later (July 2016), I felt the cyst returning. Without waiting until it gets infected again, I went to the doctor and he told me that it wasn’t infected yet. So he prescribed me some antibiotics to prevent an infection from occurring. The cyst was again gone. Two months later (September), the cyst came back and that was the moment where I just broke. I couldn’t handle any more cysts especially with school starting. So, again, I went to the doctor and he told me it was infected. He drained it and I had to change dressings everyday. In addition, he told me to consult a surgeon in order to get rid of this problem once and for all. So I consulted a surgeon and we set up a date for a surgery.
Like I mentioned before, the surgery was last week. She performed a closed wound surgery. After the surgery, she told me not move much so that the stitches don’t open. I did what I was told. I spent the whole week laying on my side on the couch or on my bed. Everything went well after the surgery. I took off the bandage and the stitches were all properly placed. There was some dry blood on the bandage but it wasn’t something to worry about. I put some gauze between my underwear and my butt in case blood fell off. Two days ago, I felt the back of my pants wet. I went to the bathroom and found that the gauze was filled with blood. It was not red red but light red. I was obviously concerned. I did not know where this blood came from. The stitches on top were perfectly sewn. So I wiped the bottom of the wound and some blood came out. So I knew the blood came from the bottom of the wound. It must be because of an opened stitch. I’m currently bleeding but I have a very thick piece of gauze that I keep between my underwear and the wound to prevent blood from going through my pants.
I contacted my surgeon for advice, but she has not answered yet. I felt like writing my personal story because pilonidal cysts can be one of the most annoying and frightening diseases. You never know if you’re completely done with it even though you recovered a long time ago. These cysts are very recurrent and they can play a massive role in the well being of a person. I’ve been bleeding for two days and I feel very scared because the bleeding has to eventually stop. But so far, it’s not the case for me. I’ve read some more serious and frightening stories than mine. Some people had to go through three or more surgeries which is unbelievable. Which makes this problem even more frustrating is that it takes place in an area where most of human activities occur like sitting, walking, running, climbing up and down the stairs. Pilonidal cysts are preventing us from doing these basic human things. So I feel like this is one of the worst pains a human has to deal with physically and mentally.
I really hope everything goes well. Writing all this down helps me cope with my worries and reading all those stories really helps me go through this whole issue because I know I’m not the only one.