Primary Closure - My 3rd Operation!

I was glad to read your message as I am a 22 year old girl also suffering from the disease, and I know it's supposed to be more common in hairy men!

I had my first occurence when I was about 14, and they did the operation where they excise the area and then stitch up. I was fine for about 8 years, then last year the sinus reoccured. This time I wasn't really aware of a problem until the abscess became infected, and I had to be rushed to hospital crying all the way. This time they excised the sinus and left it to heal by leaving the wound open. I was told it would take 2-4 months to heal (i thought this was ages at the time), but that leaving the wound open should give it a good chance to heal well. After about 6 months it still hadn't healed properly, and the nurses didn't seem to know why.

Now about 9 months on I have just had a consultation with a surgeon. He said that another operation would be needed as the first evidently hadn't removed the sinus completely, or at any rate it had reoccured. This time he said I should consider plastic surgery to give it a better chance of healing quickly and without recurrence. I have my finals coming up and things lined up for next year, and I am desparate to get rid of the thing, but nobody seems to be able to do it for good!

So my only advice for you is that my initial operation was succesful for a while, and perhaps that's the most you can hope for with the damned disease. But it did recur post stitching, so if there are any other options you should consider it. I know the packing is painful and really annoying, especially as it goes on for so long, but perhaps it is a better way of getting rid of the sinus. At the moment my friends are telling me not to have another operation until i really need to, but i would be happy to have anoter one if it would give me a chance to get rid of this thing. it is embarrassing, emotionally draining and painful, so i'd rather try and get rid of it than live with it.

Good luck with your fight against the horrible thing!

Hi girls,

im a 20 year old guy, in a year and a half I have had five surgerys! My last one was 11th feb and they stiched it up at last... but guess what... a few days ago, the infection and sinus returned. Went to hospital and they want to operate again but leaving it open! It's becoming a joke, im at my wits as well. It's f*cking up my work / studies / social life, it kinda gets you down a fair bit as well! If you got any questions my msn is *** at ****.

I know how u feel i am an eighteen year old girl and have had the same prblem for the last 2 years and have had the sinus three times, the first when i was 16 which i didnt know much about and again i thought i had hurt my lower back, which turned out to be wrong so i went to the doctors to see what they could do. so they gave my some antibiotics as they said that i had got a cyst or an infected hair folicule not realisng that it was past the point where antibiotics could help so two weeks later of waiting for it to go away and life carry on as normal it burts by its self which i thought was the end of it as it healed and i was pain free for about three weeks when i noticed to feel the same pain so this time i didnt go to the doctors as it wasnt as bad as the first time however over time it did become more and more painful until i was in so much pain my mum had to take me to the childrens hospital which when i got there they told me that i would have to have it lanced becuase they didnt think that it was a pilonidal sinus so i was sent home with dressings to change every day. after about a month i had healed and was back at school completing my GCSE's with no pain at all. i thought i was clear and would never get it again until last october when i noticed the pain again however by this time i was finishing my last year at college. so this time i went back to the doctors as i was in so much pain that i couldn walk, sit, lay down or anything without been in serious pain, the doctor examined me and said that antibiotics wouldnt even touch this as the absess was about ten by ten and needed emergancy surgery so i was admitted in to the hospital the next day, they performed and open wound which meant i would have to have it packed every day until it healed by itself whcih at first was going really well until about christmas when i got an infection in it and had to be put on really strong antibiotics to help it clear up so after about three weeks of been on the antibiotics the infection started to go and my wound started to heal really quick so now it was at the middle of febuary and the nurse told me that it didnt eed to be packed any more because the skin inside had healed however i got another infection which just opened it all up again so i was given more antibiotics and referred back to the hosptial.

I went back to the hospital last week and was told that the skin inside of the wound was just degenerating and therefore there was no way it would heal without and operation so i am now waiting for my operation which is in about 5 - 7 weeks which clashes with the beggining of my final exams so now with stress from college and depression because it does affect you social live and every thing you want to do so because this started last year i havent yet celebrated my 18th bithday which is also another resean why i cant wait for the surgery to be over and i hope without any complications so that i can celbrate my 19 birthday which is this year.

i hope that your operation goes well and that you can get back to your noraml life without this obstruction.

hi all,well i had my first attack in 1990 had surgery 2 weeks after it was diagnosed,op went well tho it was very painful.sinus returned in 1996 this one was worse and twice as sore,again had surgery again success or was it?both ops were open wounds with packing every day.sorry to say it was not a success,sinus reoccured in early december2008 and going for op on may 19 2009.it does get you down,it is embarassing and it is uncomfortable,but dont let it take over.we will get over it,some quicker than others,but in the end the medics will win.keep your chin up,and good luck to you all.

Hi, I think the procedure you're referring to is called a rhomboid flap whereby the wound is excised as before but instead of packing the open wound they remove healthy tissue from the buttock and fill the wound with this healthy tissue by means of the flap procedure, everything is then stiched up..you will be left with a large scar in the shape of the letter Z and some disfigurement to the shape of your buttocks..this procedure is also referred to as a Z plasty..I have had two operations by means of excising the wound and neither have worked so the only option left open to me is the rhomboid flap procedure.. it is a final solution to this beast of an affliction but there are no guarantees!!apparently there's a 2% chance of re-occurrence..Having been to hell and back with this problem i'm prepared to take that chance regardless of the risk of relapse and the disfigurement issues..Hope the op goes well for you..

Hey guys. I am a 25 yr old male. Well reading this I realise how many people have this stupid thing. I've had it for the past 6 years now. Had it done once and never wanted to do it again. Mine was the stitched up option which I know is less painful then the open wound option. Since the op it never stopped leaking but only twice after really bothered me as in getting really painful. Now lately... as in the past two months it has gotten really bad. As in, as you all know, can barely sit down, bend down and after sitting, standing is just painful as hell. Really got to try and do it again cos I can't bare it anymore. Its just embarassing sometimes getting up and finding out you have a stain at the back of your pants.

Anyway I wish you all the best of luck. Hopefully someday it will be gone forever.