Open wound

[kindman7th]

I have an open wound that never heals.
This happens when I was just 18 years old.  Now I'm 26 and the wound is still there.  I have undergone one minor surgery but it never heals the wound.  I did went through another doctor and he said it's like a hematoma. However, I did not provide the exact information how did it started. This started when I've noticed that something pop out on my left side ankle. It is like a hump or maybe a tumor I could say; I used to wear shoes, so I keep wearing shoes even if there's a tumor on it.  Later on, It formed like a boil that it looks like there's an opening eye at the center of the tumor.  It started to swell so I picked a needle to open it up so that the yellow green liquid will come out.  It relief the pain. However, it never heals so I went to a doctor and he perform a minor surgery. He scrapped the wound and after that he provided me cefalexin, and amoxicillin for medication. The wound healed for a couple of months. I went out to visit a friend and the were building their house. I started to carry a sack of cement back and forth in a 20 meters distant.  At the night after that, I felt pain and there it goes again, it looks like a boil popping out in the same area.  A few days after it opens up with red and white blood flowed out from the wound.  And now it goes out with the same routine for almost ten years. The wound heals, then it swells, then it opens, blood goes out, it relief the pain. Then it heals and  open again.     I hope you could help me with this Doctor.

[kindman7th]

I have been to a major surgery. The Doctor find it out that it is a fistula. It has been operated last July 4, 2013. It is now healing. However, it has a very slow in progress. The regeneration of the wound does not heal quickly. Although it is no longer producing a fluid. Please tell me how to take care of it. I just clean dressed it with peroxide and betadine. The Doctor did not provide any medicine anymore after I have finished my medication for antibiotics. Is it normal for the fistula to recover very slow?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
For this wound, you need to take oral antibiotics after getting the pus like discharge from the wound cultured. Moreover any sebaceous cyst should be ruled out. It is filled with a soft, whitish brown material that sometimes oozes out onto the skin's surface. This material is called sebum. Treatment includes small surgical opening into the skin and removing the sac (excision biopsy). But recurrence is quite common. I suggest you to get the diagnosis confirmed from a dermatologist after examination.
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.