Pilonidal Cyst (HELP!! DD has this )

Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive December 2005 : Pilonidal Cyst (HELP!! DD has this )

I never heard of this condition before today. Took DD (14) to the ER on the advice of our regular doc. She fell last Thursday, and we thought she had broken her tailbone (again) (she has done this before) But instead of getting better at all, it got progressively worse, until today she came out crying because she couldn't sit long enough to use the bathroom! DD is a competitive gymnast with a VERY HIGH pain tolerance, so I called the doc right away and then brought her to the ER. She was diagnosed with the Polinidal Cyst, which the doc thought she was probably born with, but became infected when she fell on her tailbone, causing bacteria to be forced underneath the skin. They doped her up and lanced and drained the abcess (VERY painful for her) and told us she will probably have to see a surgeon to have the actual underlying cyst removed. I have been doing a lot of internet research tonight, and I don't like what I've been reading. She will be on antibiotics for 10 days now and draining for the next several days. But I was wondering if anyone has had this condition, or knows anyone with firsthand experience? Thanks in advance for any info.!

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 03:44 am:

Wendy, you probably have already visited this site, as it is the first one that comes up on Google, but just in case - http://www.pilonidal.org/

I agree with you in not liking what you see, and it looks like the selection of a surgeon is the most critical decision you will make. Clearly you want a ColoRectal (C/R) surgeon, and as always, the most important question you can ask up front is "How many of these surgeries have you done and how many do you do in an average year?"

Megan has my deepest sympathy - it doesn't look like an easy thing to deal with. I hope you can get it resolved fairly quickly (as quickly as resolving this condition can be - which doesn't appear to be all that quickly). It does look like if you opt for surgery, which seems to be the best route, that it would be best to do it in the summer when she is not in school, as the healing time seems to be lengthy if it is to heal properly. And it also looks like she will not be doing gymnastics while it is healing, which will add to her unhappiness. This is definitely not fun at all.

By Conni on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 05:32 am:

OMgoodness, your poor dd. I have no advice, just wanted to say I hope she heals quickly.

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 07:45 am:

OUCH! My X-SIL had one, as did my oldest DS. X-SIL had surgery for hers, DS had his drained and it has been fine. X-SIL did not rush right into surgery, so you may want to visit a doctor such as Ginny suggested before making that choice. She had suffered repeated infections and surgery was THE best choice for her.

Oldest DS had ONE episode, albeit a very long, painful episode, and this was years ago. It was lanced, drained, he was on antibiotics and pain meds for a few weeks, and his healed and he's had no further problems with it.

Check out all the options before making a decision.

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}} to both of you.

By Cybermommyx4 on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 11:29 am:

DD wants to have it taken out ASAP, as she does not EVER want to deal with this again (I can't really blame her for that...) also, summer would be the worst time for her to have the surgery, with swimming, working,gymnastics, AND training for varsity field hockey. She would rather recover during Jan-April, when gymnastics is the *only* thing she would miss out on. The other seasons, she is busier with work AND 2 sports. I think it's only like a week at most of school to miss - the rest of the time is just limited physical activity. From what I've learned so far, in girls these tend to recur and "flare up" , so waiting it out doesn't sound like a good idea to us...We have an appointment with our regular doc on Tuesday. Hopefully she can shed some light on all the options and get us a good referral. Thanks for the responses here - this is a great place to be able to come for support!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 02:07 pm:

Then it sounds like now is the best time to do it.

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, December 28, 2005 - 03:58 pm:

Well, then I'd get it taken care of, the sooner the better. When my X-SIL had it done, she had to lie on her tummy for the first week. I think she was off work for between 2 and 3 weeks, but then, this WAS 25 years ago!

By Cybermommyx4 on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 02:08 am:

We have an appointment tomorrow at 3pm with a surgeon (a very GOOD one....my mom is on the Hospital Board and is friends with this doctor - she agreed to get us in right away and says she can help DD - she claims she does this type of surgery often and will answer ALL our questions tomorrow....lol! Just WAIT 'till she hears MY list of *questions* 8) Hopefully, we'll be reassured by this and less scared-to-death...

By Karen~moderator on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 07:42 am:

Be sure to write all of your questions down so you don't forget anything!!!!!!

By Karen~moderator on Friday, February 3, 2006 - 12:53 pm:

What have you decided?