Male underarm swelling with low grade fever and pain

[LisaMorales]

An underarm swelling (egg-size) appeared under my husband's arm 13 days ago. It has been accompanied by a low-grade fever plus some local tenderness and discomfort in the surrounding arm, shoulder and neck area. Strong antibiotics (over the past 7 days) don't appear to have made a difference. An ultrasound was done 2 days ago. No results as yet.



Could you please suggest what the next steps might be to rule out anything serious?



Also, hope this isn't a strange question - but is it possible to have a hernia in that area, since my husband did do some heavy lifting just before this symptom manifested itself?



Thanks in advance...JR

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,

Underarm lumps are axillary lymph nodes which could be enlarged secondary to infection or even trauma. They are usually enlarged when a new deodorant is used, after shaving or waxing the underarm area.

You should refrain from the above for a few days and keep the area clean and apply calamine lotion to help soothe the areas.

The pain could be due to trauma, injury, tight clothes, bad posture, lifting heavy weights, infections of the lymph nodes etc.

You could try some warm compresses and oral pain relief medications and see if it helps with his symptoms.

Let us know if you have any more doubts and keep us posted on how he is doing.

Hope this helps.

Regards.