Ans: Pilonidal sinus or cyst is small opening or swelling near tail bone. It is filled with pus, hairs, dirt and debris.
Ans: • Foul smell discharge from opening.
• Pain
• Swelling
• Redness
• Pain While sitting
Ans: The major factors that are believed to cause pilonidal sinus are:
• Excess and coarse hair : the root cause of pilonidal sinus is the hair follicles entering the pits of the skin.
• Friction: Friction is also among the major factors leading to pilonidal sinus. The local pressure that results due to friction pushes the hair growing in the area into the pits of the skin. Thus, if you wear tight-fitting clothes very frequently or involve in friction producing activities, you are at increased risk of developing pilonidal sinus.
• Hairier and deep natal cleft: People with hairier and deep natal clefts are at increased risk of pilonidal sinus. This is because in such cases, the probability of the hair entering into the skin pits increases.
• Male sex: It has been seen that pilonidal sinus is more common in men than in women. Men are about 4 times more prone to developing pilonidal sinus than women.
• Age: People between the age of 14 to 30 years have higher chances of developing pilonidal sinus. In fact, pilonidal sinus is rare in children as well as people above the age of 40.
• Sedentary Jobs: Jobs that involve long sitting hours also act as a risk factor for pilonidal sinus. Sitting for long hours creates friction and pressure which are the major contributors to the pilonidal sinus.
• Family History of pilonidal sinus: If someone from your family had pilonidal sinus, it is quite possible that you might develop it too.
Ans: Here are few measures which one should take to avoid pilonidal sinus formation. • Avoid sitting continuously for prolonged periods of time.
• Good hygiene practices can be very effective. Wash the area daily with mild soap and keep the area dry.
• Avoid excessive pressure on the tailbone area.
• If you are obese, try losing weight to reduce the risks of the condition.
• You can use some hair removal creams to shave the area.
Above measure reduces the chances of pilonidal sinus formation but if you still develop consult doctor for further treatment, delay worsen your disease.
Ans: In allopathy surgery is option for pilonidal sinus or cyst treatment. Different types of surgery option are open surgery, flap technique or laser surgery.
In these procedure there are high rate of Recurrence and patient need bed rest, hospitalization, daily dressing and lot of medication.
At Arogyam piles clinic and research center we perform ksharsutra ligation or ksharkarma under local anaesthesia. In this procedure patient doesn’t require bedrest, daily dressing and hospitalization. We discharge patient after 2 hour of procedure and patient can resume his duty from very next day.
