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Hi everyone,
I have mild/moderate acne, have had it since my teens (I'm now 23). About 3 weeks ago, I noticed an indented pore (looked like a pimple was going to form from it in a few days). And stupidly, i squeezed it really hard and a tiny bit of white stuff came out. The next day I squeezed it really hard again because it looked red and like a pimple was forming. Yeah, BIG mistake. It then proceeded to get super red, HOT, and something large and hard was forming under the skin.
I went to doc and she put me on an antibiotic (3x a day for 10 days) the swelling and hotness went away quickly, but I was left with this large Sebaceous Cyst (according to my doctor). She said she could try to drain it, so right there in the office she stuck a needle in it and sucked out 3cc of reddish stuff into the needle thing. She tried again but got out less.
Despite this effort, the Cyst still remains (though possibly a tiny bit smaller, I can™t really tell though). She said she guesses it will go away over the next several weeks. Also, she gave me Clindamayacin Phosphate Gel (anyone have good or bad experience with this?)to use on my mild/moderate acne. I have been using that every night for about a week and a half, and it looks a little better, but I™m not sure if that will stay
I have heard of these things never going away though.. I am concerned. In the pictures you can see that it is under the skin, and is causing a dark bruise-colored mark on my face. What the pictures don™t show is that it is a slight bump on my face, and is much bigger than it looks. It is more noticeable when I smile, and I can feel it with my tongue on the inside of my cheek. Has anyone had one of these before? How long do they take to go away? It seems incredibly¦ settled, like it is going nowhere. At what point should I go back to my doctor if it hasn™t gone away yet? Any other suggestions are welcome!!!
Thanks!
idk why the text was so small there, but I can't figure out how to edit the post-sorry!!
Well if it's still a hard bump and still very visibly there for the next 3 months..then I'd go back to the doctor. It sounds like you haven't had it very long yet, so it give it time. Poking and prodding it with needles actually doesn't help the case at all. Acne can go away on its own better than if you keep messing with it, but still wash your face but maybe try not to poke it with needles or squeeze it.
Yeah, I caused it by squeezing (and thus, damaging) the skin, so I have learned my lesson there. I haven't squeezed it at all since then. Yeah, idk... the doctor seemed to think that draining it with the syringe might be helpful.
I've had it for about 3 weeks.
That's good that you're not touching it anymore. I wouldn't say that you can't use topical medications for it, I think it'd be beneficial. Drying out acne seems to be the easiest way in making them go away or come to a head, but if you don't apply any topical medications for it, I think as long as you keep it generally clean, it should go away gradually over the next month or few months. Some cysts last a year, and ones that last longer than that or even up to a year, that's probably a bad sign that somethings wrong. Time varies with healing my cysts, sometimes I can see results in a few days, other times it takes weeks to months, but never a year. If it's a normal cyst that heals like they usually should, then it should definitely be gone by 4-6 months, not that it'll take that long, but that's the max that I'd give it until I'd say somethings clearly wrong.
Here are some treatments which you can do at home for your Sebaceous Cysts..
1. Use a heat pad: Apply a warm pad directly on the Cyst for 20 to Half an hour 3 to 4 times a day. Do this for up to 10 days and see if the Cyst gets small.
2. Clean the Cyst daily
3. Never press the cyst: Never press, puncture, drain, or scratch.
4. Bandage an infected cyst: Draining pus from an infected Cyst can cause
infection in around places.
5. Prevent using oily healthy skin care products
6. Prevent too much sun exposure.
Thanks for your advice. Luckily the cyst was no longer infected by the time my doctor drained it (I think she did that on purpose). I hope it isn't too late in the game to start heating it, but I will try that tonight and over the next several days.
If it's a normal cyst that heals like they usually should, then it should definitely be gone by 4-6 months, not that it'll take that long, but that's the max that I'd give it until I'd say somethings clearly wrong.
Thanks for the advice. I hope it doesn't take that long, but it is quite solid and doesn't really look like it will ever come to a head, so it might.
I have a cyst on the inner side of my eye by my cornea, and it's hard to the touch, has no softness to it whatsoever, it is red and big, and it's a nodule for sure. Your body will either push it out eventually or it'll diminish in size and color on its own. And no problem, if you never need to talk just PM me!
Update: The cyst is now about 1/3 of the size it started out as. Yay! I think it might take another couple of weeks to fully go away, but at least it is getting smaller. I noticed that it looked a lot smaller a few days after the doctor did her best attempt at draining it, so maybe that did help a bit after all.
So I'm going on 5 weeks with this thing...
OMG!!! I had the EXACT same cyst, one on each cheek about 1.5 years ago. I know one was caused by me squeezing at something on my face reallyyyyy hard, and it turned purple and brownish like you said urs did, but then i also got one on my other cheek dont know why. They got SO big that when i finally went to the doc she took one look @ me and threw accutane at me lol. Let me tell you it was the worst time of my life, having one of these things on each cheek i looked like a freak and it was very emotionally difficult to get through every day. After about 5 months on accutane they i guess got really close to the surface and i somehow drained them both, which was scary because i was pushing to get all the stuff out (and a LOT came out) i wasnt sure if i was damaging my skin really bad or not but they healed up well (theres like little indents on my cheeks now but the cysts are totally gone) i thought they would have to be surgically removed but nope. I have never found anyone else who has had one the exact same as mine!!
Sometimes these cystic acnes pop up by themselves. If you are prone to these already don't pick at your acne anymore because you may get more. Sometimes if you try to extract a pimple that isn't ready this happens. What happened is that you ruptured the infected pore and the infection spread underneath the skin.
Here is a diagram that shows what is happening underneath your skin 
Epsom salt compresses can help draw the infection out. Bentonite clay masks may help too.