I had a bump that every few months would start bleeding, then scab over and gradually subside. Doc looked at it and said, “I don’t think it’s likely to be cancerous ( :eek: ), but we should take it out.”
So I had it taken out, and the the doc says, “No, definitely not cancerous.” [we need a “yay” smilie for this type of situation ] “It was just a sub-cutaneous cyst.”
I was so taken with those words, “definitely not cancerous” that I was out of his office before I thought, “So, what is a sub-cutaneous cyst?”
So I come to the assembled Dopers to ask, “What is a sub-cutaneous cyst, anyway?”
Had three taken off my scalp. Went to a plastic surgeon. My understanding is that its a sack or capsule that develops and fills with fluid. If drained it will refill. They go in and remove the sack and that solves the problem.
***TMI ALERT (mild)
My dog has one that I’ve drained and it’s filled with clear oderless fluid (water?) The one on my scalp that I drained once was filled with something that resembled vanilla pudding.
A subcutaneous cyst would be a cyst (bag of liquid stuff) below (sub) the skin (cutaneous). It would also be a strange term for a dermatologist to use.
I suspect he said it’s a “sebaceous” cyst, which is a cyst which forms in a sebaceous glad. Sebaceous glands normally produce sebum, a substance which keeps our skin moisturized and supple. If the gland gets clogged and the sebum can’t get out, it can form a pimple (if the clog is near the surface) or a cyst (if the clog is deeper in.) Sebum, or keratin, or other body substances build up and forms an enclosed sac of goo. You’ve seen what’s inside a pimple, I’m sure. The stuff inside a sebaceous cyst tends to be thicker and smellier. Some cysts persist for years (my fiance has a huge one on his scalp which he’s had for over 20 years) without causing trouble. Sometimes they burst on their own and the contents are reabsorbed by the body. But sometimes they get infected with more bacteria than the body can easily fight, and then they can swell and cause pain. If that happens, the doctor can either lance and drain them or cut a small hole in your skin to pop it out (kind of like a grape. It’s delightfully disgusting.)
Draining a sebaceous cyst yourself is not recommended, especially if it’s infected. If you squeeze it wrong, the infected contents can get forced deeper into your body and cause the infection to spread. Antibiotics may be required at that point.
Videos of sebaceous cyst draining and/or removal abound on YouTube. Just, uh, finish your dinner first, okay? They’re pretty gross.
IANA doctor, but I’ve had several, and a couple removed. They usually act like a pimple, form a head, and discharge fluid, in my case something thicker than pudding. Sometimes they dry up and disappear. I’ve had the best luck in preventing recurences by cleaning out the open cyst with peroxide after it drains. My very first cyst, about the size of a pea, on my shoulder, calcified, and stayed there for around 30 years. It seperated from the skin one day, leaving a little patch of raw skin. After a couple of weeks it was almost impossible to tell it was still there. The two I had removed would dry up, then fill again repeatedly, so doctors recommended removal. They recommended leaving any that remained dormant alone. I’m sure I could have found a surgeon to remove them if I wanted them gone, but I understand most insurance won’t cover removal for cosmetic purposes.
My particular little cyst never had a gooey discharge or anything - was extremely bloody. I think that’s what set my doc’s concern up. After a period of scabbing over, it would gradually decrease in size.
I had one on my lower back for twenty years or so. Every so often I would feel a lump and squeeze some puss out of it. Then, when I tried to pinch it nothing would come out. I tried harder and harder over a few days. The lump was getting bigger from my causing it to get inflamed so I stopped pinching it-for awhile. Then I got my courage up again to really go after that baby. All of a sudden something popped out. The whole thing came out as a capsule with something that looked like a spiral seashell filled with the pus. That was the end of it. Nothing ever came back. A cyst can grow and be troublesome, but it is contained and can be removed if it becomes troublesome.
Damn! Over the weekend my SIL noticed a little hard spot on my leg. I squeezedit and a hunk of yellowish white stuff popped off. I did it again and blood came out.
It’s scabbed over and the skin is bruised this morning.
It’s time for me to ride my hobby horse. If you feel or see or are informed of an abnormality on or under your skin, hie thee to a fucking dermatologist instead of waiting for what you thought was harmless to kill you.
But at the same time realize that most skin bumps are completely harmless, so there’s certainly no need to go to the emergency room unless something’s extremely painful, bleeding, or infected. 99.99… % of skin abnormalities are just freckles, moles, skin tags, warts, aforementioned cysts, none of which cause problems normally. Definitely schedule an appointment for any pigmented or rapidly growing abnormalities though.
I didn’t say go to the emergency room; I said see a dermatologist. I’ve had approximately thirty skin cancers removed, some of them quite large and potentially dangerous. Few of them looked dangerous.
I would add, ‘or gets hot’. Hubby had one, now and then it would discharge, then it appeared to get somewhat larger, but he’d had it so long why worry? He woke up one day and told me it was hot, sure enough, hot to the touch. Not a good sign. While he was busy poo pooing my concern I got on the phone to the Dr’s office. There direction was to take him to Urgent Care within the next few hours. Again, he thought it was nothing.
Once at Urgent Care, they lanced it, drained it, packed it, prescribed an antibiotic. A nurse came to the house for about a week to change the packing every day. Within a week it had healed perfectly. While it appears to be recurring it’s very tiny so I’ll show the doc when we’re next there just to check.
Urgent Care said they do a couple every day, so I guess it’s not all that uncommon, who knew?
] “It was just a sub-cutaneous cyst.”