A pilonidal cyst usually comprises hair, dirt, and debris. It may lead to strong pain and can often become infected. If it gets infected, it may ooze pus and blood, and there is a bad odor.
What Leads to a Pilonidal Sinus Disease?
Activities causing friction, like sitting result in hair growth in the area, burrow back under the skin. The body considers this hair foreign and prepares an immune response against it. This immune response forms the cyst around your hair. This needs the right Pilonidal Sinus Treatment at the right time.
How to Identify a Pilonidal Sinus and Recognize Signs of Infection
You can not notice any symptoms at first other than a small, dimple-like depression on the surface of your skin. However, if the depression catches an infection, it will quickly turn into a cyst (a closed sac filled with fluid) or an abscess (a swollen and inflamed tissue where pus collects).
The Signs of an Infection Include:
- pain as you sit or stand
- swelling of the cyst
- reddened, sore skin around the area
- pus or blood draining from the abscess, causing a foul odor
- hair protruding from the lesion
- Building up of more than one sinus tract, or holes in the skin
How are Pilonidal Sinuses Treated?
Conservative Treatment
If pilonidal is diagnosed early on, your doctor may suggest a Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic and recommend you a follow-up exam, and remove hair or shave the site. You should also pay particular attention to hygiene. The doctor may pack the wound with a sterile dressing.
Lancing
This procedure helps get rid of the symptoms from an abscess or a collection of pus inside the sinus. Before this procedure, you will need a local anesthetic.
Surgery
If it is a recurring PNS or if more than one sinus tract is detected, your doctor will Recommend a Pilonidal Sinus Operation.
After surgery, your doctor will tell you how to change the dressings and will recommend shaving the site to prevent hair from growing into the wound.
Laparoscopic Surgeon 