cyst

How do i know if i have a cyst? I have this little hole on my inner thigh by my vagina. It almost looked like a scar from an in grown hair. I didnt think it was any thing but a scar! I got out of work tonight and decided to take a hot bath, while i was in the tub i squeezed out of curiosidy and a bunch of white puss came ozzing out of it! It never botherd me at all, i didnt even notice their was a bump thier untill after a drain it! It was never sore or anything and now that a drained its really sore, and thier still a hard lump underneath the skin! I drained it as much as it would drain but it feels like their still stuff in it or underneath the skin! How do a drain it all out? How do i get the rest of the stuff to come out so its not hard and sore? Better yet how do i get ride of this with out seeing a doctor? Is their anyway i can get it to dry up and go away? I cant afford to go to the doctors!

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like a sebaceous cyst. A sebaceous cyst is a closed sac occurring just under the skin which contains a "pasty" or "cheesy" looking substance called keratin. Blocked sebaceous glands, swollen hair follicles and excessive testosterone production will cause such cysts.

Generally no treatment is required but they become painful then it means they are infected, then surgical excision by traditional wide excision, minimal excision, and punch biopsy excision may be required.

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 doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.