Looking for opinions.

First picture : Back in August, I developed a large lump that got increasingly painful and hot. Went to urgent care and was told I had a staph infection that needed drainage. Went to hospital and they excised and drained it, and left it open with NO packing. The second picture is right after it was drained, small incision.

They said healing would take a few days, but it ended up taking 2 to 3 weeks until there was no blood or puss in the gauze. Then it was just a purple scar that seemed fine.

Fast forward to picture #3. Last week, it randomly opened and was bleeding. It looked like a straight hole. Went to doctor who put me on antibiotics and referred me to a plastic surgeon because he thinks it’s pilonidal disease. The surgeon said he DID NOT see a pore, so he is unsure whether he just needs to cut out leftover infected tissue or if he needs to do the pilonidal surgery. He said I will be stitched up after surgery, not left open.

In the meantime, he is having me on antibiotic cream and heating pad to see if I develop an infection before he can do the surgery, which he would drain and pack if that happens. I’m not in any pain as it is not infected (we think). I have very minimal blood and some yellowish / clear drainage. It only stings a little when I wash it in the shower.

I’m just confused why he is unsure if it is that, and how I would know. It doesn’t seem to be in the typical spot most people’s are. It’s not on my tailbone and is instead closer to my anus but to the side of it and very small. It has now closed more (see last picture). Can it even be pilonidal if it is below my tailbone?

Do I really need surgery? I am very VERY scared as a woman that my scar will go into buttcrack and look deformed. I am also scared of the recovery given how traumatizing rhe draining procedure was.

Thoughts?

Hey everyone,

I’ve had two flare-ups with minor bleeding/drainage in my tailbone area over the last few months. My proctologist and ultrasound suspected a pilonidal cyst, but my recent MRI came back completely clear with no deep abscesses or fistulas. It doesn't hurt right now unless I lie or sit on my back for too long. 

Since my imaging shows it's purely superficial, I'm hoping to avoid heavy surgery. For anyone with a similar mild case, did you manage it with conservative care, or did you get a minor procedure like pit picking to stop it from coming back

I am one week post up from having my cyst removed I was closed up with stitches. Incision seems to be looking fine. I have been having intense fevers since Monday night. Been to the ER twice with no answers. My fevers get very high. I get the bad shakes. And it’s so hard to get my temp down even with meds. I’m just at a lost bc they can’t find any source. They have done a CT scan. Xray, lots of blood work and cultures.
Has anyone experienced anything like this? I’m terrified of these fevers. It’s so bad when they come. Also have discovered I have swollen lymph nodes under my ear

Seems like the beginning of the cyst?

Hey all!

Just had surgery about 10 hours ago, got rid of the sinus that had been plaguing me for years, everything was closed up and no open wound to heal. They performed a cleft lift, I believe. Just have a quick question though. Is this amount of blood on the gauze they used normal? I did have a dizzy spell, got very nauseous, sweaty, but also cold, and almost passed out while waiting for my meds to be ready. That passed quickly and have been home sleeping since.

I have been suffering with pilonidal disease for 30 years. I was uninsured and ashamed of my condition for the first decade or so. I was on the verge of sepsis when I finally went to the ER in 2006 and had my first open wound surgery. With a lot of help from my grandma, I healed, but within 3 or 4 months afterwards, the cyst began to recur, and I treated with warm compresses until July 28th, when I had my first of 3 surgeries in the past few months. I recently went for a checkup with one of my surgeons, who said that the wounds were extraordinarily well healed. However, I am still unable to sit in a chair comfortably for more than 10 minutes or so. 10 minutes is more than 5, so it's definitely progress, but being out of work for this long is definitely giving me the blues today...

I have a pilonidal abscess and it’s turned white and is oozing yellow pus

Timeline
- started 7 days ago
- went to urgent care on 4th day told me to heat compress and take antibiotics and diagnosed as pilonidal abscess said wasn’t comfortable removing
- after warm compresses on day 6 it started forming a white bump and is oozing yellow pus

I don’t have a PCP but have a dermatologist so unsure what to do now

Anyone have this happen before? She begged me to see it, Hair was like sticking and she grabbed tweezers and pulled out huge thick chunks. Went to the doctor today and they referred me to surgery.

17M, 12 days after open-wound pilonidal sinus surgery. My surgeon found a small pocket at the bottom of the wound and said there might be a little pus because it wasn't being cleaned deep enough. He advised probing it gently with forceps and placing gauze inside so it heals from the bottom up. He said the rest of the wound looks healthy.

Has anyone experienced this? Is a small pocket common during healing, or could it mean a residual sinus tract?

For those who have used Wadie or NJTCP, how did you pay if you were out of state? My insurance doesn’t offer out of network benefits and I really don’t want to pay fully out of pocket but not really sure what other options there are. I’d appreciate any insight on how you went about it. Thanks

Did a doctor visit today . She made a cut but said only blood was coming out no puss . She gave me these meds 800mg ibuprofen
100mg Doxycycline
And ointment Mupirocin .
What are the next steps to get rid of this pain

The doctor said that I must remove the hair, but he didn't give me any details.

What should I use? And if I don't remove the hair until the tissue is fully healed and start doing laser will it be bad?

Hey team. had a pilonidal cyst about 10 years ago. Had surgery with open excision - so the wound was left to heal up from the inside out with packing that was taken out and changed every few days. Worst experience of my life, but fully healed after a few months. Continued to have flare ups but managed them alongside general life activity. Went to the gym, ran a half marathon, regular spin classes, swimming, pilates that didn't involve putting pressure on the area.

In January 2026 I had a pit picking procedure to remove some remaining infection that was found in some of the sinus tracks seen via MRI which explained my flare ups over the last decade. This was a minor procedure with a pin-like keyhole-type surgery. They went in and cleaned out all the remaining infection and then I believe they removed some of the tracks. My fiance was tasked with keeping my wound clean after and he could barely see it - it was just a red dot!

Anyway, I recently got gym membership again and last week after a leg day my coccyx felt SORE. No lump, no redness, no swelling. But when I go to sit down on my office chair (cushioned) or my sofa or bed, it is really quite painful. Once I'm sat, I'm fine. Originally I put it down to DOMS as it felt like a deep muscular pain. I did another leg day this week and the pain was much worse and it all clicked - I must have aggravated something, maybe scar tissue? This has never happened to me before.

It's been 2 days since my last leg workout and i'm still quite sore. Went to the gym to do upper body and a treadmill run today, but i couldn't run because every time my foot hit the floor the impact would cause me pain. I had to stop within 30 seconds of starting. I'm almost in as much pain as I was when i came out of my pit pricking procedure.

Has anyone experienced this before? I'm not sure going to my GP will do much as they can't see or feel anything. But I have no gauge of what this is and how long I should rest for? I've been doing a hot water bottle compress which helps when i've had flare ups in the past, but I don't think this is a flare up.

For context, I did leg press 50kg, hamstring curls, RDLs, hip thrust.

Any insight would be really appreciated!

I am officially now in the waitinglist for Bascom!

I’ve been smoking for five years now, one pack a day and I have no idea as for how I’m going lessen it or even hopefully stop haha.

Any advice? For managing it? I hope that I get too scared to do so.

So i had my first consult with a general surgeon. He said that he notices 5 tracks but i have a very low grade disease case than he has seen before. He told me that he knows how to do pit picking and a pilonidal cystectomy. He reccomends a pilondial cystectomy because "in textbooks" it has a 50% rate of successful non-reooccurance and is the best method. He leaves the wound open rather than doing the clef procedure and sewing me up, to prevent infection he says.

Im in portland oregon.

Thoughts?

Hi. I came to this reddit page, I’m sure like most of you to get reassurance about a reoccurring pilonidal cyst and I am traumatized to say the least. I am soooooo beyond terrified of getting surgery, especially in such a terrible spot for healing and I’m even more scared now seeing recent photos (pls don’t think I’m shaming anyone here, I am just rly scared & have a difficult time with blood, wounds, etc.).

I have been dealing with this reoccurring cyst for 6-7 years. For the first 3 years, it was the cycle of it flaring up under the skin, going down & repeat. Within that time I had an extremely bad flair and it was honestly the worst pain I’ve personally ever felt and had to go the ER, where I believe they performed only an incision and drainage because it never had to be packed, just had to let it do its thing and continue draining when I got home. It’s been around 2 years since that ER visit and I thankfully haven’t had to deal with it getting extremely large but what I am experiencing consistently is it draining every week, every other week, definitely at least every single month. Basically, it’s constantly irritated but not dreadfully painful. I’m worried about long term effects and truly don’t know what to do at this point. It’s like a healthy layer of skin no longer covers that area and it’s just a covered wound, if that’s the best way to put it? I know there’s plenty in here with so many different experiences with this disease and I guess I’m just writing in here for any kind of reassurance or feedback, or if what I currently have looks similar to anyone’s and they have gotten surgery? If anyone has read all the way through, thanks for listening 😭

Hello everyone

I had a consultation with my surgeon yesterday and we scheduled a Gipps procedure on November 6.

This would pretty much take me out of any lifting, exercise, or any athletic activity for at least a month he said. I’m entering my senior season in college for athletics in January.

I’ve only had to drain my cyst twice since I’ve had it in 2022, should I just keep continuing to drain it throughout the course of next semester ? Or should I just get the procedure done?

I’m scared it’s gonna affect my athletic ability after those 4 weeks.

So I've been sitting on my cyst/abcess for 4+ hours now in the emergency room & it's starting to sting here & there I'm scared it broke... If I get up is it likely going to fully break? How much pain should I expect will I be able to hide it from the dozens of people sitting in front of me? Ugh this is so embarssing 😫😭

TRIGGER WARNING: this is what my surgeon pulled out of my sinus before my surgery (surgery scheduled 11/05)

I want to come on here and thank everyone who has commented on my previous post providing me with advice and uplifting words despite how much this is effecting me mentally. As a woman I am trying to grasp the idea that this doesn’t make me less of a woman and this doesn’t take away from who I am as a person. My surgery is scheduled for November 5th and I will be having Pilonidal cyst excision, marsupialization. Now this isn’t the surgery I was hoping for but my surgeon has explained to me that cleft lifts are high risks of infection due to closing the area and not allowing full drainage. I pray that everyone: myself included despite whatever you choose to do whether it’s doing surgery or living life without having surgery may we all be blessed without a painful debilitating disease that takes over our lives. Let’s go get our lives back we deserve it.

About 10-15 years ago I had my first removed. It was closed (they mentioned that there was a decent chance it still opens). It opened probably a week and half in and started packing to the final healing about 6 months later.

I just had an open one done 6 days ago. Doctor wouldn’t do a closed because of tobacco use and I didn’t think it would be that bad cause the one before had opened and wasn’t bad.

Yeah open blows. This is significantly worse pain and what is leaking out. Doctor said I’d probably be good after 3 days to work and start doing stuff again

Just a warning also wanted to ask when others have started progress pass the pain and fluids with open ones

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to hear from anyone who has been through something similar with a pilonidal sinus, particularly if you’ve had multiple surgeries and struggled to get the wound to heal.
I’ve now had 3 surgeries over the past 2 years, and I’m still dealing with an open wound. I’m getting to the point where I’m desperate for some answers about what has worked for other people.

Here’s my surgery history:
1st surgery – Excision and drainage
This was done after I attended A&E. The wound was left open to heal.
2nd surgery – Cleft closure
The original wound appeared to heal over on the surface but formed a tunnel underneath. This meant I needed another operation, which was a cleft closure with the wound stitched shut.
3rd surgery – Laying open
Unfortunately, the bottom of the stitches from the cleft closure burst open, so I needed a third operation. This was a laying-open procedure performed by Miss Senapati in the UK in November last year.

It’s now been almost a year since my third surgery, and the wound still hasn’t healed. I’ve attached a picture of what it looks like today.
At this point, I’ve been dealing with this for around 2 years, with 3 operations and a lot of time spent trying to get it sorted. It’s becoming really frustrating not knowing whether this is something other people have experienced or what the next step might be.
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar situation:
Has anyone had 3 or more surgeries for a pilonidal sinus?
Has anyone had a wound that stayed open for nearly a year after a laying-open procedure?
What eventually worked for you, especially if previous surgeries had failed?
Did you need another operation, or did the wound eventually heal on its own?

Should I pop it right now? Or should i do more hot showers and castor oil at night?