Infected Cyst

I had a small cyst on my neck for years. About a month ago it became inflamed a grew in size very rapidly.  I was first put on antibiotics by a physician's assistant and told to schedule an excision in 2 weeks with the Dr. A few days later the cyst was even larger so I went back to the Dr and the cyst was drained, I have been on 2 types of antibiotics for 2 weeks....Leviquin and Augmentin.  The cyst seemed to be doing OK, but this morning as I got up to go to have the cyst removed it seems like it has gotten larger again (it seemed to have stopped draining a few days ago). I have a feeling they are not going to want to remove this if it is still infected.

I went through this years ago with a cyst in another location....why is it so hard to clear the infections? Is it because there is no real blood supply into the cyst so the antibiotics don't get in there? Is it because if it heals over after being drained if even a little bit of pus is still in there the process starts again?  This is fustrating, but also worrisome, walking around with a reocurring infection can't be good.

Am I missing anything?  Could the cyst be removed if inflamed and the Dr just prefers not to?  Anything else I should be doing?

Thanks.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Just because the cyst has grown doesn't mean it's infected.  The white stuff inside a non-infected cysts looks like pus, but isn't.  It sounds like removal is a good idea, since it's been infected repeatedly.  I would just check with the doctor and have it done as soon as it's feasible.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff

[chris727]

A related discussion, Puultice was started.