Your advice is requested

Posted , 3 users are following.

I have been diagnosed with Pilonidal Sinus. The surgeon has told me that only solution is a surgery. I have read through the experiences of people on this forum. I am a bit scared and sort of unsure whether to go for the surgery or no. As I have read that this condition reoccurs. Can any one please advise me as to what to do.

Thank you.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Posted

    The surgery is the best option, wothout it you have no chance of it going away...

    People on this forum are talking about bad experiences, because it is what people remember and it's what people need advice on. There are many stories untold, many, many of which are very successful and the people go on with no reocurrance. I think the chance of reoccurance is 1 in 9. Many, many people are in the 8 out of 9. And that is a much bigger chance. If you dont have the operation, do you want to live with the pilonidal sinus...?

    It is very understandable that you are scared. I was when my boyfriend was having it done. But it wasn't actually as bad as either of us thought.

    I would say talk to your doctor about what is scaring you. Ask any questions that you have. Try to put your mind at rest.

    I hope it all goes ok for you, whichever route you choose.

  • Posted

    Thank you very much for taking your time to reply to me. I am reassured by your reply. I think you are right most of the experiences on this forum are no the postive ones.

    As you said I will discuss the situation with my doctor. However, just by reading your reply gave plenty of strength and courage to go through the surgery. Thanks again for your help.

    If there any other positive experiences please do let us know.

    Regards

  • Posted

    My Pilonidal Sinus experience.

    It is very easy to become really scarred before any operation of the 'war stories' recounted by other people. I have a very different recollection to record.

    Hi. I am a 67 year old who had a Pilonidal Sinus removed by excision and healing by secondary intention, in 1962. I can assure you the surgery, post operative discomfort and a few weeks inconvenience was worth putting up with. When making a decision to have an operation of this nature it is important to remember why you saw your doctor in the first place. It is a very embarrassing condition. There is the discharge, and stained clothing. Sometimes, particularly on very hot days, the smell (the medics don't mentin that aspect of the condition). Since the op I have not had any recurrence. Post operatively, I did occasionally experience some discomfort, and if I sat on a hard surface awkwardly, sitting on the edge of a dining chair for example was definitely a dumb thing to do, it came as one hell of a surprise!!! For a short period of time there is a need to be careful.

    If you were to ask my advice now I would say go ahead and have the op. I wouldn't want to repeat the experience by choice but would do so if it recurred.

  • Posted

    [color=darkblue:53a172ad76][/color:53a172ad76]Hey there, I just had my sinus excised last thursday (5 days ago). I had it done under local as I didn't want to spend the extra time in the hospital required with a general anesthetic. The worst part was the needles to put the freezing in, other than that it wasn't so bad. I was actually joking and chatting with the Nurses and my Surgeon throughout the whole procedure, and she told me step by step what she was doing. After making the excision, she cleaned it out (hair...yuck) and then \"cautered\" the whole thing which is supposed to help with healing and to prevent re-infection. She then stitched me up, I think the two most important things for me now, at five days post-op are 1.) Move very carefully, don't bend over etc as it may pull the stitches out, and 2.) I'm taking 3 or 4 warm baths (no salts or anything) everyday. In the tub I VERY gently swish water around the wound.

    I do have a very small amount of discharge, just spots really, and it's usually after the baths that this happens. Other than that I'm thinking that it's going to heal up okay, and hopefully will never have to go through this again. (I have read in several places to keep your \"cleft\" shaved or use a dilapidation cream to prevent any further occurrences) Not sure if I'll do this, but we'll see when it's healed up, if there's any bit of a dimple or anything like that, it'll be very important to keep it clean and hair free.

    I've had pretty steady \"throbbing\" pain since the surgery, but it's started to get better today. Have been taking a non-opioid pain killer with ibuprofen, will probably just take ibuprofen and aspirin now for a few days.

    Don't be worried about getting it fixed, or scared, or embarrassed ; \"joking through the hole (get it...hole?) thing will do lots for your spirits, and it's known that a positive outlook promotes better and faster healing from any surgery or injury.

    Oh yeah, use a bunch of pillows or folded blankets to make a \"donut\" to sit on, making sure there's no pressure at the back either. This will make sitting much more tolerable

    Sending you peaceful thoughts, and knowing that you'll have a good recovery!

    In Peace.

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