inflamed sebaceous cyst

[AngieW in Texas]

Apparently the correct technical term is epidermoid cyst, but the doctor called it a sebaceous cyst when I had her look at it after it first appeared about two years ago. She said that the best thing to do was leave it alone as long as it didn't grow larger and didn't get irritated.

 

Yesterday it was inflamed when I woke up. Now it's tender to the touch. The seat belt rubs it when I'm driving, so I've had to throw a towel over that shoulder so the seatbelt won't rub my neck. It has never been a problem before.

 

I read that heat can sometimes help, so I've been putting a heat pad on it for 15-20 minutes every couple of hours. It hasn't seemed to have made much of a difference.

 

I left a message at the doctor's office asking if it was something that she could take care of or something that she'd refer me to someone else for. I'd rather just have my doctor take care of it (she's just one mile from my house), but if she can't do it, I don't want to have to go to her first just for her to tell me to go to someone else. I just don't have the time to run around like that and I'd rather not pay two co-pays either. That was around 3pm this afternoon and I haven't heard back from the doctor yet.

 

I'm not sure what the best course of action would be.

 

Any suggestions?

[Jean in Newcastle]

My standard recommendation for infections involving the skin - tea tree oil. If it stings, you can dilute it with olive oil.

[asta]

We are the cystic acne cesspool over here: my mom, my dad, me, and my kid. Until you can get to a doc to deal with it (I highly recommend the "inject and scoop method, personally), a great stop gap is this:

 

Crush a couple of aspirin in a bowl, add a tiny amount of water until it is just a sticky paste. Glop it over the cyst and cover it with a band-aid overnight. That should take the inflammation out of it. During the day, you can put on a dab of tea tree like the above poster mentioned, or some neosporin (if you're not allergic) or bacitracin (if you are) to keep the bacteria in check.

 

I think these docs forget that cysts aren't like pimples...

 

 

a

 

ps: you don't want a GP dealing with this. A cyst needs to be drained or excised by someone who actually knows what they are doing, and that is a dermatologist. There are too many nerves that can be permanently damaged on the face and neck to leave this to someone w/o specialized training.

Edited September 3, 2010 by asta

[AngieW in Texas]

Since it's a holiday weekend and the dermatologist couldn't get me in until Tuesday, I went to my doctor around 11:30am. She drained it for me. I had used the aspirin paste thing on it all morning and that did help to make it less tender.