# What is this Thing on my back? TMI **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 7, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264 "2005-06-07T06:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/21 "2005-06-07T16:12:28Z")
Oh, and thanks, kids, for the info. It all helped out a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/22 "2005-06-07T16:13:11Z")
> [@Hung Mung](#): > > I’m so…proud… :dubious: Oh, well done! _slaps **Hung Mung** on back_ Oh, YUCK!!! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/23 "2005-06-07T17:19:58Z")
> [@Daithi Lacha](#): > > Oh, well done! > > _slaps **Hung Mung** on back_ > > Oh, YUCK!!! I am now looking for a spoon to gouge my mind’s eye out. I do not need that image! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/24 "2005-06-07T18:18:21Z")
I used to have one on my back. I popped it once, and got lots of blood and pus out of it. I don’t remember it smelling particularly awful, but I do remember the huge amount of blood and pus. It came back, but deeper, after I popped it- sebaceous cysts tend to do that if you don’t get out all of the sac holding the gross stuff. It was under the horizontal strap of most bras that I would wear (and I’m well-enough endowed that going braless isn’t really an option). It would occasionally cause me to get pimples on or near it. but otherwise didn’t bother me for a few years. Then, for no apparent reason, it got infected. It hurt. It hurt when I wore a bra, it hurt when the covers rested on it (through my nightshirt) in bed. The doctors gave me antibiotics to try to get it to be less swollen and infected, and made an appointment later for a surgeon to remove it. By the time it was removed, it had shrunken to almost nothing, but I still had it removed to avoid a repeat. I have not had any pimples on my back since I had the cyst removed, two years ago. When I told one of my friends, who was my boyfriend in high school, that I was getting a cyst removed from my back, he said “So that’s what that thing you’ve always had on your back is”. So it’s possible you’ve had this cyst for a long time, but it has stayed small and you haven’t noticed it until now. I had no idea I had it until I popped it (which was when I was in college). ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/25 "2005-06-07T19:15:42Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > _slowly sets down container of yogurt_ > > …I lost my appetite. Ditto. I’m saving this thread for when I think I might want to eat. Anything. But most especially, anything like, oh lets say…custard? ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/26 "2005-06-07T19:20:27Z")
PulletFiance has two of these on his back. They were about pingpong-ball sized and we never thought much of them until they started leaking. We’re short on cash at the moment, and since periodic squeezing appears to keep them flat and happy, they’ll probably stay put for now. Just wanted to chime in that, while surgical removal is a good goal, you might be able to get by with maintenace for now. Works for us, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Aguecheek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/27 "2005-06-07T19:34:53Z")
Yup, I’ve had one right in the small of my back as well. The first time I asked a doctor about it, he told me it was a cyst, nothing to worry about. And then it got [infected](http://boards.straightdope.com//sdmb/showthread.php?t=98803) and hurt like a sumbitch. So of course I had it removed, and now I’ve got a rather large-sized divot in the small of my back. But it doesn’t hurt, so it’s all good. Funny story about the removal - I’ve got a big tattoo on my back that incorporates the crest of my ancestral Scottish Clan. So I’m lying there on the table when the doctor asks what it was. “Oh, it’s just my Clan crest,” I say. Silence in the OR. Finally, one of the nurses, a very large black guy, quietly asks “…Klan?” “Yup! …NO! Not ‘K’ clan, but ‘C’ clan! Old Scottish family! Nothing to do with white sheets!” Everybody had a good yuck over that and another one after the doctor, who had a very stereotypical Jewish name, told me that if I hadn’t qualified my remarks, he woulda left me a scar in the shape of a Star of David. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/28 "2005-06-07T19:35:17Z")
Let me just say that ping-pong ball-sized cysts are kind of abnormal. I got one of those big, deep ingrown hairs on my leg once, too. I must have done a good job of messing with it (and oh, my, don’t they have a buttload of pus in them), because it seems to have gone away. For now. (I kinda want to put a BUWAAAHAAHAA after that.) Anybody want my rice pudding? ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/29 "2005-06-07T19:39:14Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I am now looking for a spoon to gouge my mind’s eye out. I do not need that image! :eek: Might I suggest one of those serrated grapefruit spoons? Then loan it to me? EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW! ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/30 "2005-06-07T19:40:36Z")
My work here is done. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/31 "2005-06-07T20:27:30Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > That’s what you get for buying ass flavored yogurt. [Announcer voice]_Now with THREE TIMES as much ass as the next ass-flavored yogurt!_[/voice] ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/32 "2005-06-07T21:02:51Z")
> [@Aguecheek](#): > > Funny story about the removal - I’ve got a big tattoo on my back that incorporates the crest of my ancestral Scottish Clan. So I’m lying there on the table when the doctor asks what it was. “Oh, it’s just my Clan crest,” I say. > > Silence in the OR. > > Finally, one of the nurses, a very large black guy, quietly asks “…Klan?” “Yup! …NO! Not ‘K’ clan, but ‘C’ clan! Old Scottish family! Nothing to do with white sheets!” Heh. I have my clan crest tattooed on my shoulder. I’ve been expecting someone to make that mistake for years, but it hasn’t happened to me yet. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/33 "2005-06-07T21:07:37Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#): > > Might I suggest one of those serrated grapefruit spoons? Then loan it to me? “I once took out a guy’s appendix with a grapefruit spoon.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/34 "2005-06-07T21:29:32Z")
I was gonna do the archivist thing, but **lisacurl** beat me to it. Read that link, especially **Broomstick’s** saga. Delicious! ---
**Author:** ![Aguecheek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/35 "2005-06-07T22:12:02Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Heh. I have my clan crest tattooed on my shoulder. I’ve been expecting someone to make that mistake for years, but it hasn’t happened to me yet. Yeah, I was pretty surprised it took that long. Mind you, I don’t really go showing it off all that often - it’s usually my wife that brings it up rather than me. What Clan? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/36 "2005-06-08T02:56:52Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > I was gonna do the archivist thing, but **lisacurl** beat me to it. > > Read that link, especially **Broomstick’s** saga. Delicious! It’s my favorite SDMB thread ever! ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/37 "2005-06-08T07:36:05Z")
Don’t these things ever just heal without going to the doctor? I mean, if you’re good about keeping it cleaned out, and maybe put a little antibiotic ointment on/in it? ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/38 "2005-06-08T08:03:55Z")
As someone already mentioned, there is a little sac under the skin. If it is not ENTIRELY removed it continues to secrete sebum and keratin, which continues to turn rancid, and which has a possibility of becoming infected. Unless you cover yourself in antiseptic gel every 20 minutes, it will eventually become infected. There are only two options to permanently get rid of a sebaceous cyst. 1. Have it surgically excised. 2. Squeeze it so hard that ALL of the sac is extruded through the opening,then cut out the sac. Otherwise it will keep recurring. Both of these should be done my trained medical people with the correct equipment and in sterile surroundings. Sebaceous cysts are NOT the same as ordinary pimples or boils, which will disappear once the pus has been allowed to drain. so… DO go and get a proper medical opinion from your doctor, DON’T perform DIY surgery in the bathroom with tweezers and a needle! ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/39 "2005-06-08T08:19:51Z")
Ok, fair enough. I showed it to Mother Mung tonight and she didn’t seem all that impressed by it. Of course, she never saw it at full size. I’ve been squeezing it more or less daily and applying a hot rag in hopes it will come to a head. I’ve also applying Neosporin (though not entirely consistently), but that hasn’t done much. Sigh… I find it excellent that so many are…ah…interested in the pussing Thing on my back. And **Broomstick** ’s anecdote was one of the most horrifying-yet-I-can’t-take-my-eyes-off-it things I’ve ever read. Ever. I don’t find lancing, draining, and the packing of gauze very appetizing. I can’t wait until the days of that Star Trek gadget with the glowing Duracell battery thing that cures everydamnthing in the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264/40 "2005-06-08T08:21:14Z")
Let me correct myself. UNappetizing. Yeesh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-on-my-back-tmi/307264.md?page=3)