Lumps under my skin

[pronto82]

Hi, I'm a 26 year old male and recently I've had a few small lumps underneath my skin, along my jawline. They caused the surface of my skin to be slightly red, and they were very tender to the touch. They are no longer painful at all, but I can still feel one on my jaw, and it isn't completely fixed in place. If I push on it, it moves slightly. Also, one of them surfaced slightly and leaked clear fluid. I'd assumed these were swollen lymph nodes, possibly a result of cat scratch disease.

However, I currently have a small, tender lump on the front of my chin, slightly to the side. It's roughly right between the corner of my lip and my jawbone. It's not as painful and tender as the lumps I had on my neck/jaw, but still a bit tender nonetheless. I also can't really tell if the lump moves or not when I touch it. I'm unaware if there are any lymph nodes in that area (I figured they were all below the jawline and more in the 'neck' area?), so I have no idea what this might be. Could it just be a deep pimple? Or something else?

[pronto82]

Just an update. Since my last post, in addition to the small lump on my chin, I had one appear on my cheek and one between my eye and nose. I'm assuming they were acne, since the eye one is gone, the cheek one is near-gone, and the chin one is very small.

The movable lump on my jaw, however, is still there and still painless, still the same size. However, there is also a lump on the other side of my jawbone. It's hard and feels more like bone, much different than any of the other ones I mentioned. It doesn't hurt either and I'm not sure if it's new or just something I've had for a while and never noticed until I started looking for it.

I still have all my wisdom teeth. My furthest tooth back on the lump's side (not the wisdom) is crooked, leaning toward the middle of my mouth. Is it possible that the lump is a result of the root of the tooth pushing outward? Or even that it's related to my wisdom tooth? I plan on seeing a dentist fairly soon anyway, but am just curious.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
The lumps that you are having under the jaw can be due to swollen lymph node but the lump on the chin looks like an infected hair follicle or a boil.

Please keep the area clean and apply some topical antiseptics. Also use an antibacterial soap or mild soap like dove. Avoid any kind of cosmetics. Topical antibiotics such as mupirocin or neomycin containing ointment are also useful. In case the symptoms persist then oral antibiotics may be needed. Please consult a dermatologist in that case.
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.