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Is the cyst actually still swollen, or is it just the "material" left in there? I never had much luck with ice, but that's not to say it won't work. That's just my personal experience. When I've had a shot and remnants remain, I've either waited it out and it would finally dissolve. Sometimes if it wouldn't dissolve and I had an annoying "ball" left in there I would go back to derm. He would either shoot it again, or actually extract the leftover gunk in there. I always like extraction better because most of the time the gunk left in mine was hardish and the cortisone wouldn't dissolve it. If it's bothering you a lot I would go back to your derm and ask him what he think is best. My derm doesn't have a problem shooting a cyst twice, but he does let me know there can be chance of atrophy, he always uses a weaker strength of cortisone. I know when I have a big cyst growing on my face I'm like I don't care if it sinks in. But believe me when it does happen it SUCKS. I've had atrophy happen and its not fun at all.
Today I can tell that the bump is no longer continuing to dissolve (maybe even slowly getting bigger). So I think I'll be visiting my derm tomorrow if I can. (it's been about 10 days since I got it injected) I told her many times when I got the injection that I didn't want any atrophy, and she told me the dilution would be "one". Not sure what that means.. At the end of my visit she said "if it doesn't go away come back", so I bet she'll inject it again. Hopefully gives me some antibiotics too. Ya?
If it seems its not dissolving, I would go back to derm too. One is a very weak dilution. I think it can go as high as 5, and the average being 3. It's very good she goes weak. Even though its a disappointment and inconvenience to go back, it really is better to be safe than sorry.
As far as antibiotics go, its a personal choice. People either love or hate them. Many pros and cons. As you probably know they aren't a cure and it's not really healthy to be on them long term. I've gone on them a few times just so I could find relief for awhile. Sometimes you just need a break from this crap! My favorite was Bactrim. Lots of people have an allergic reaction to Bactrim so its very important to make sure you're not allergic to it. I think the favorite to prescribe are the cylcline antibiotics (doxy,mono,tetra) . If you want to go that route I would talk to your derm and decide which one is best for you.
I called the derm's office in the morning and talked to my derm's assistant who told me that I should wait longer for another injection and that the schedule is full anyways. She put me down for the week after next..
Honestly the spot doesn't feel inflamed, it's not painful or irritated. And when I feel it there's no obvious bump, just a harder base (if that makes sense). Which is weird because when looking in the mirror there is a small bump visible especially when I open my mouth wide which 'stretches' my skin.
This really bites. I dont have any patience for these things.
I guess I'll keep updating this so anyone who reads this post knows what happened. I think acne.org would be a much better resource if the OP always updated their post and eventually explained how and when their cyst/pimple/etc. went away.
It's been two weeks since the injection and there is still a visible bump underneath the skin (redness is improving slowly, bump doesn't hurt at all. I honestly can hardly feel a bump when I run my finger over it, but since the skin is so thin on my upper cheek I can see a raised slightly raised bump. Weird. I don't know if its scar tissue or the remnants of a cyst. Is this part of the healing process of a deep cyst?
Hi.
I got a cortisone shot for a cyst. I have some atrophy and darkening of the skin. My derm "washed" out the cortisone with saline. Besides a very bad bruise, nothing has changed, and while I know it takes time, I was wondering if it would be ok if I put some filler in. Would that compromise it's natural healing process?
Haven't been using any products on the spot specifically, just my usual low-maintenance routine. The spot has continued to reduce in size and the "bump" is pretty much gone. Slight redness (PIH) remains in the area, which will take time. Might introduce an AHA or turnover-inducing treatment to speed this process along. All that's really left to do is wait, meaning this post should conclude this thread.
I know this is a very old post but just as an update for people struggling with cortisone atrophy, mine has finally healed! It took 3 months total, but between month 2-3 I noticed very rapid healing. I got about 6-7 saline injections to help it along and then it was gone! So just be patient, do the saline injections, and it WILL get better!
Hi,
I just had steroid/cortisone injections in three small inflamed spots on my face yesterday, performed by my dermatologist. I believe he used 1cc (amount).
Looking around the internet today, I've seen a number of people having dents show up after these injections - I am now very worried...
I called up my dermatologist who said that yes, dents can happen (I wish he would have told me that before the injection!) but that he injected a small amount and that if there is a dent it will show up within two weeks and should go away within a few months.
I realise that people may not post about experiences when all went well, and that is why it looks as if there are so many horror stories out there.
However, I would really appreciate some input on this - have you had these injections and what was the outcome? If you had dents: did they go away, how long did it take for them to go away, did you use saline or fillers?
I would really appreciate some input...
ive had them done. some have left dents and others have not, it depends on which derm i went to . the ones that left dents always went away. it can take months sometimes though. however, IT WILL GO AWAY. don't look into fillers, you could end up making the area worse. usually the bigger the atrophy, the longer it will take to recover. it will recover though. i don't recommend getting cortisone shots , the last one i got made a dent that only filled out recently (it took about 6-7 months.) i'll never get a cortisone shot again
Thank you for the responses!
I am glad the dents eventually fill in. Am very worried about this.
Anyone with good experience that didn't get dents? Am trying to understand how common it is to get dents...
i think when i've gotten the dents it was noticable right away , so if you don't see any dent yet then i think you're probably fine 
for some reason i've noticed the ones ive had on cheeks seemed to dent but chin doesnt dent but that's just me!
Ok so I have a large dent in my forehead from a cortisone shot I got a few weeks ago.
It wasn't even for a cyst, my derm was kinda going crazy and injecting all my normal pimples as well as the cyst I went in for. This dent was from a normal pimple he injected.
Anyway - I was reading on here about saline injections to help raise the dent? I have an appointment today so how should I ask him? Will he know what I'm talking about? Anyone have any experience to offer?
I am a model so this is very upsetting and can ruin my career 
please help...
i dont have any experience with saline but i know various derms who do that when atrophy from a cortisone shot occurs. i had a few shots indent but never had saline injected and after a few months they all filled in. good luck to you!
Is my picture what yours looked like as well?
Hi. This might be an old post...I'm curious if this ever resolved for you. I have a new dent in the middle of my forehead from a cortisone injection on an acne cyst. I did this to prevent scarring, and now this dent looks worse than any scar I think I would have had if I had not gotten the cortisone. It has only been a week and a half but I am also extremely depressed and can't look in the mirror without feeling sad and wanting to cry. Over the past four years I was feeling better about my face since I had three subcisions on my face full of scars and had not had a bad acne cyst in all of those years either....and now this! All of the money and pain and time of the subcisions and now I have a huge dent in the middle of my forehead. I would advise you to never ever do a laser to get rid of dented/rolling scars. They do absolutely nothing for this type of scarring. I wasted $5k on three rounds of Pearl fractional laser and it did absolutely nothing. Didn't even repair extremely fine wrinkles. The only way to help the appearance of these types of scars is subcision and/or fillers. Although both methods give me large lumps under my skin for up to three months. Once they go down the results are great. Please update on whether your cortisone atrophy went down on its own. Thanks!
So this Monday morning I woke up and had a somewhat large cyst on my chin. The next day I went to a derm (not my actual derm) and had the cyst injected. I usually react very well to the cortisone with the cysts all but disappearing in a day or two, but this was not the case. The cyst is still somewhat large. I have a wedding this weekend and REALLY need it to go away.
Is is it possible to have the same spot injected more than once in 48 hours? Or will that definitely cause atrophy?
Hey guys
I thought I would give an update because I know I used to come on here looking for advice and wanted to see how others were doing and sometimes there was no update :/ lol
Anyways it's been 9 months since I last posted and in those 9 months I stayed on accutane only until April or May - wasn't too long after my last post. It really started messing with me and I just got a little scared that maybe it would do long term damage.
Either way I am glad I did. In that time I must have gotten about 3-4 more injections. I then started noticing indents on both of them after time.
Was as insecure about it for quite some time but the indentations are finally becoming less and less, very slowly. I might get fillers later but my makeup does a good job at hiding most
I still have discolouration ... The scars are a little red but I have patience.
After all all of this I can say that these things on my face definitely did effect me but I'm so glad that they are minimized and they can just never come back AGAIN!! Lol
Thanks again to all that responded during that stressful time. 
Hi Krissy,
I'm so happy you updated, was wondering how you were doing! Your skin looks fantastic, so happy for you. I've had atrophy from cortisone shots and it has always gotten better, just takes time...it should just keep getting better and better...So glad you're doing well!
you look great! thanks for updating!
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/134479869@N05/24998484195/ Hi everyone
i had a pimple, not sure if cystic or not, injected at the derms office as I was worried it was growing too big and might scar. It went flat in 24 hours, but in the following 2 weeks it has got more and more sunken in appearance.
the photo you can see shows the dent left behind, which is far bigger than any scar I have from pimples that didn't get injected.
do these dents really fill in over time in your experience?
(Won't let me upload photo)
