# Medical Question (≠ Need Answer Fast) — recurrent inflammations @ cheekbones **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 14, 2024, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066 "2024-01-14T03:27:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/1 "2024-01-14T03:27:15Z")
I’m generically prone to sebaceous cysts: subcutaneous nodules under my skin that periodically get infected and swell up and get red and sore, then either just go away quietly or burst and drain and then fade. Well, I have a mirror-image matched pair of sites where they’ve started cropping up and reoccurring within the last two years. On either side of my nose, just outside the cheek creases and just below the eye orbits. Is there anything going on in that part of the anatomy that would cause recurrent inflammations, or anything in that zone that recurrent inflammations would be a trouble-sign for? I know my upper cuspid teeth roots are pretty close to that area, but my teeth don’t hurt, I’m not prone to teeth infection problems, and it would have to be both of them which would be somewhat weird. Lymph nodes? Some other fluid subdermal highway? I don’t like them reoccurring. I dose them with clindamycin ointment and they eventually go away (and might have anyhow) but they keep returning. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/2 "2024-01-14T04:31:57Z")
My dentist once told me, while treating me for an abscess that was draining in my gum, that he had seen incidents of abscesses draining on the face via a sinus. Because it was draining it didn’t cause me any pain. Here is what I discovered today checking out what he said 30 or 40 years later: [Dental sinus](https://dermnetnz.org/topics/dental-sinus) Although it doesn’t really sound like what you have. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/3 "2024-01-14T04:53:28Z")
Yeah, doesn’t _quite_ sound like the same phenomenon but might be a clue, so thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/4 "2024-01-14T05:00:36Z")
Do you wear glasses? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/5 "2024-01-14T05:03:13Z")
Yeah… partner _allthegood_ asked if the bottoms of my glasses could be rubbing there. They don’t. I have two pair: computer glasses and everything-else glasses. The everything-else glasses don’t come anywhere close; the computer glasses at the bottom edges are close but don’t touch, and I’d notice if they occasionally did, and they don’t. They do come down that _far_ down my face but they’re too far out in front to ever touch the skin. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/6 "2024-01-14T05:53:07Z")
This may not be suitable for FQ, but I was informed that the oiliest part of your face is exactly that, running to the side of the nostrils. I, of course, have no cite. I was told that instead of using lip-ice to “moisturise” your lips (I never do \*) you should wipe that area with your fingers and apply that oil to your lips. \* naturally, I have no cite for this either, but I have a belief that lip-ice and similar products are addictive, in that once you start using them you need to continue, else your lips become dry and flaky. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/7 "2024-01-14T06:02:01Z")
But do you put your hands there because of the space? Get you some Sea breeze or witch hazel and cotton balls. Clean the area a couple times a day. Don’t rub too hard it may irritate. If it does, stop using. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/8 "2024-01-14T07:39:50Z")
Since this involves a real world medical issue, let’s move this to IMHO (from FQ). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-need-answer-fast-recurrent-inflammations-cheekbones/996066/9 "2024-01-14T13:16:38Z")
A friend has severe rosacea. He often looks like what the OP described.