Sore bump on nose

[pocketlindt]

On the end of my nose to the left I have had a red bump (it's very small - I'm sure most people don't notice it) for a long time now. I'm not entirely sure how long. It will become sore on and off and, since it appeared, I tried to pop it on and off. I put OTC acne cream on it, convinced it was some kind of pervasive pimple. My opinion changed today when, randomly, sitting in lecture it began to bleed. It wasn't gushing, just oozing blood - it took about five, ten minutes to stop the bleeding.  It was red after that, but now, several hours later, it's sore again. I'm a poor college student without insurance, but I'm getting pretty nervous about it. Help?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it can be an infected cyst or a fibrous papule of the nose. It occurs in adults and is characterized by a dome-shaped, sessile, skin-colored, white, or reddish papule 3 to 6mm in diameter on or near the nose.

It cannot be removed on its own and you need to get it examined from a dermatologist to confirm the diagnosis. It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[pocketlindt]

I just want to add that after having a mole removed last year, I had some antibiotic cream left over and applied some of that a one of my first measures to battle this thing. I wash my face daily and perform microderm abrasion weekly in the shower. Below is a link to a picture of my nose!

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x21/dunkelxblau/Photo148-1.jpg