Purple bump

[Lin47]

Hi, I'm concerned about what was a hard purple bump under the skin on my daughter's upper arm.  I took her to the docter who thought it was a sebaceus gland but wasn't sure.  I asked to have her referred to a dermatologist but he just laughed at me and squeezed the area with great force.  Her arm was welted up and all that came out was a little blood.  There was no appearance of an enlarged pore, whitehead or blackhead.   It was hard and looked like a vein prior to this.  My daughter scratched a small scab off (he said to squeeze it every day and if no change would lance it in a month).  After the scab came off there is what appears to be a core-like object about 1 mm thick, sticking straight up.  I tried pulling at it with tweezers but it is very hard and when I pulled, the tweezers would just snap off, not able to pull it out. A little blood around the edges.  I'm worried and would appreciate any help.  What can I do?

Thank you.

[Martzy]

I had what I think was a cyst, and if it was similar to this, here is what worked for me. For about a week straight I refrained from touching it at all, and every night I would take a nice, warm shower or bath to let it soak. After about a week, after letting it soak in the warm water, it had turned white and so I squeezed it firmly until an object fitting your description of the core like thing above popped out. I then cleaned it with rubbing alcohol, put a some neosporin and a bandage on it and it went away just fine.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
First of all pls stop pulling it with tweezers and also stop squeezing it.You will only be inviting infection and complicating the picture.From the symptoms it sounds like a sebaceous cyst but without examination,it is very difficult to confirm a diagnosis.It can also be a benign skin growth.I would suggest a dermatologist’s examination and a biopsy of the lump to confirm the diagnosis.

I hope that helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing or if you have any additional queries.Kind regards.