Hi, my first time posting here. Just found this website and it seems quite wonderful with a lot of knowledgeable people. So for the most part I've been acne free for the past few years but all of a sudden I had a recent outbreak right below my mouth. I'm currently getting most of it under control but it also left a red bump on the side of mouth. This red bump formed about 3 days ago, I thought maybe it was a blind pimple but they never take that long to come to a head for me. The bump is quite sore and swollen most of the time and i've been applying this 5% ibuprofen gel too it (Just a little bit) which helps to ease the pain and bring down the inflammation. As of now I can't tell if its actually reducing in size, it hasn't gotten any worse at least. Just wondering if this is just a stubborn blind pimple or something else entirely. Yeah the picture might not be that great but I have to head to class, I can attempt to get a better picture later if you guys need one. So any advice would be great, thanks!
Thanks for the answers, I'm pretty sure this is a cyst now. Someone recommended I put vitamin E directly on it so I've been doing that. The majority of the pain is now gone and I'm pretty sure it's reduced in size. After my morning shower I noticed it was flaking and that it appears to be discharging a small amount of fluid, are these good signs? I have considered getting a cortisone shot but would like your guys opinions first.
Vitamin E probably won't help at this stage (and for the most part, topical treatments do zilch for cysts like that). If it is oozing liquid, definitely leave it alone. I would put heat on it rather than ice, if it is painful. Heat will help bring everything to the surface if it is already on it's way to doing that. A cortisone shot is really your best bet if you want it gone fast...
Thanks for all of the advice, like I said it was quite painful at first but now it feels a lot better. I still get some pains in it but nothing severe and it has probably about halved from its original size. It's still very red on the cyst and around the area though(After looking at the before and after pictures the redness has subsided quite a bit as well), I'd imagine the redness will clear up once the cyst is gone. I will probably apply some heat now to attempt to draw out the crud. I've never had a cyst before, do they come to a head like pimples or do they just slowly drain? I attached a more recent picture of it as well, if it appears shiny its probably because of the vitamin E oil on it.
If it ahs a whitehead people say you can drain them. I dont drain my cysts unless the swelling and pain is unbearable.
As bad as it sounds, id leave it. You run the risk of spreading the infection, and if you dont get it all out you will make it come back bigger and maybe infect it. The rest of your skin is fine so you dont want to spread it.
If it is painful, use a hot compress to help.
Ice is another method some people use.
If you want to put something on it, you can use a topical antibiotic cream, not sure what it is called in your country. You could also take a anti-inflammatory, like ibuprofen (assuming you read the instructions please)
....try not to think about it, then you might pick it or get upset.
Its not a huge cyst really, and it will go soon. It is moving along in its cycle.
I hope it goes for you, i have a cyst right between my eyebrows at the moment, with a presentation due tomorrow -__-
I know that feeling of getting a pimple in a bad spot then having to do something that requires getting up in front of everyone. I got a bad pimple between my eyebrows during the beginning of one of my college semesters. The cyst is pretty much painless right now, just been leaving it alone and letting it run its course. Heard stories of these things lasting weeks so I guess i"m lucky mine is already on its way out.