by Jennifer Kirkman

Created on: October 06, 2009

Pilonidal Cyst Surgery Treatment and Recovery Time

A pilonidal cyst is a type of pocket cyst that is filled with abnormal tissues, hair, and debris from skin secretions. This cyst type is usually found by the buttocks on the tailbone area. They are not an indication of anything serious, and it seems that they are found in men more than women. These cysts an form an infection on the insides however, and it is then that it will be painful to sit with and forms inflammation. Fluids may also come out of this cyst type as well.

Persons that are at a higher risk for pilonidal cysts are those that sit a lot all day, are heavy-set people, and those that seem to have an excessive amount of body hairs.

You may be asymptomatic with your pilonidal cyst and not even notice it. When it becomes symptomatic, the symptoms will be as I mentioned above due to infection. The abcess will be sore and painful, cause fevers sometimes, have hairs in it, and an odor that smells very badly when draining.

The causes of these cysts are not a for sure known thing. But the best theories have been the friction from tight clothes rubbing on skin, and anything which causes hair to get into the skin from the body.

After diagnosing your cyst simply by close examination, a decision will be made to try the drainage method first. That means you are placed under a local anesthesia, and then an incision is made to drain the cyst. After getting this cyst all cleaned and drained out, it will be dressed accordingly and most heal from this procedure.

A more radical procedure is for your surgeon to perform what is known as excision. This is where they do deep and remove all of the entire cyst plus those tissues that surround it as well.This procedure should prevent the cyst from coming back in the future for most people.

The biggest problem with a recurring pilonoidal cyst left untreated is a development of a skin cancer known as squamous cell cancer. So this is why these cysts types need close attention in order to avoid this complication.

After the surgery, wound care is of the utmost importance. Your medical care provider doctor or nurse, will give you explicit instructions on caring for it in the proper ways with the dressings so that it stays clean and free from infections setting in there. You must also shave off hairs from around that site so that the same problem doesn't happen all over again, and infection sets in. This is especially important if you are diabetic or have low immune system functions.

The recovery period where you need to nurse the wound and change the dressings is about 60 days which seems a long time. After that, the wound should be all healed up unless you have diabetes or other medical issues that create slow healing processes.

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