Pilonidal Sinus: Its Symptoms And How to Treat This
A pilonidal cyst usually has hair, dirt, and debris. It can cause strong pain and can often become infected. If it is infected, it may ooze pus and blood, and there is a foul odor.
What are the Causes of Pilonidal Sinus Disease?
Activities causing friction, like sitting, can cause the hair growing in the area to burrow back under the skin. The body thinks this hair is foreign and launches an immune response against it. This immune response builds the cyst around your hair. This requires the right pilonidal sinus treatment at the right time.
Identifying a Pilonidal Sinus and Recognizing Signs of Infection
There may not be any noticeable symptoms at first other than a small, dimple-like depression on the surface of your skin. However, if the depression becomes infected, it will quickly develop into a cyst (a closed sac filled with fluid) or an abscess (a swollen and inflamed tissue where pus collects).
The Signs of an Infection Include:
Pain as you Sit or Stand
swelling of the cyst
reddened, sore skin around the area
pus or blood draining from the abscess, causing a foul odor
hair protruding from the lesion
Building up of more than one sinus tract, or holes in the skin
How are Pilonidal Sinuses Treated?
Conservative Treatment
If pilonidal is diagnosed early on, your doctor may prescribe a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Your doctor will recommend you a follow-up exam, and remove hair or shave the site, and pay particular attention to hygiene. The doctor may pack the wound with a sterile dressing.
Lancing
This procedure reduces symptoms from an abscess or a collection of pus inside the sinus. Before this procedure, you will need a local anesthetic.
Surgery
If it is a recurring PNS or if there is more than one sinus tract, your doctor will recommend a pilonidal sinus operation.
After surgery, your doctor will teach you how to change the dressings and will recommend shaving the site to prevent hair from growing into the wound.








