2 replies to this topic

[jasonq]

Last week I had an enormous cyst explode on my face. From a slight pinching on Thursday evening it evolved to a huge swelling that badly disfigured my face with the lymph nodes up to my armpit enlarged, although I had started taking immediately doxycycline on Friday morning.
I had my doctor lance and drain it on Monday but the damn thing is healing very slowly. It has been a week already and there is a relatively large bump and it's still leaking a little (the doc told me that there was a cavity the size of a dime). It turned out that there was in ingrown hair that had formed a few coils under the skin and cyst with it. The incision will leave a large icepick scar but that's not what worries me the most. I am afraid that it may get reinfected in the future and when it happens it will be disastrous. I had a lot of problems with cystic acne in my teens and early twenties (now I'm 30 and I haven't shaved my goatee for over ten years) and most of the scars that I have are the results of reinfections at the same spots. The inflammation that I just had is by far the worst ever.
So..., I am thinking about having this monster surgically removed but I am not sure what kind of doctor to turn to and what to expect.
Has any one had experience with such procedures? Will a cortisone injection alone help?
Any advice will be helpful.
Thanks.

[willow569]

I've never had a spot quite like that myself. However, I did have a very small jawline nodule that hung around for months injected and surgically extracted by a derm who specializes in cosmetic surgery. If you really want to prevent scarring as much as possible I would find a derm that does both acne surgery and cosmetic surgery. I think as surgeons they are much more cognizant about scarring concerns and are probably better skilled at removing spots with that in mind. I had good results from the derm I went to - no scarring at all. It might be a bit pricier, but worth it IMO.

[Joe Zit]

I've never had a spot quite like that myself. However, I did have a very small jawline nodule that hung around for months injected and surgically extracted by a derm who specializes in cosmetic surgery. If you really want to prevent scarring as much as possible I would find a derm that does both acne surgery and cosmetic surgery. I think as surgeons they are much more cognizant about scarring concerns and are probably better skilled at removing spots with that in mind. I had good results from the derm I went to - no scarring at all. It might be a bit pricier, but worth it IMO.

I think willow has given you some excellent advice about finding a derm who does both acne surgery and plastic surgery. Another possibility might be to find a good general surgeon (perhaps one your derm recommends) and have the cyst removed, followed by plastic surgery to remove any scarring. The only thing, is that plastic surgery is often times considered elective and not covered by many insurance plans.

Best of luck to you,

Joe Zit