Perianal abscess in 8 yo

[bobby81]

I wonder if anyone has any experience of this?!
My 8 year old ds recently had a perianal abscess (very painful, antibiotics didn't work & had to have an op to sort it out). It's all healed now but I'm worried about what caused it. Doctor said it's very common in adults but rare in children & one of the causes is Crohn's disease which really worries me. Ds great grandma suffers from Crohns & it can run in families.
Ds has no other symptoms & is generally well.
Am I being ridiculously paranoid to be so worried about this??!! I just wish doctors had offered up some other possible cause as I am now like a hawk looking for other signs of Crohns!!
Any help or advice very much appreciated, I am a real worrier!! Thanks x

[bobby81]

Bump

[FruitCider]

"DS has no other symptoms and is generally well".

^^he has no symptoms. Try not to worry X

[bobby81]

Thank you that means a lot. I think doctors don't always realise how much their comments can make us worry.....obviously they are just doing their job (& they were all fantastic) but when you hear certain things then get sent home to be let loose with google it can be a nightmare!!
Thanks again for the reply x

[BlackSwan]

Hi our son is 6, had an abscess which he had an op for, but it had already developed into a fistula... Had another op but looks infected again! I hate this. He had a colonoscopy to rule our chrons (no evidence of chrons yet). I'm dreading another surgery.
As for the cause... Sometimes it just happens. I feel for you and I hope you're luckier than we have been.

[bobby81]

Sorry to hear that blackswan but good news that there's no sign of Crohns.
Its horrible isn't it? Its so painful for them & there isn't anything we can do to prevent another one.
How long ago did your son have his abscess? Hope he hasn't been suffering for long X

[BlackSwan]

He had the abscess last autumn, then but the fistula was already there - though it was undetectable during the surgery and only became apparent during an MRI afterward (when the infection came back). Think he needs another MRI to see what's going on again. The abscess surgery wasn't nice, but 'laying open' the fistula was awful. We are hopeful it's just a superficial tract which needs to heal now.
Yes I'm glad it's not chrons as far as they can tell so far. Though there is medication which can help for that these days.
Try not to worry about your son (easier said) - hopefully this is the end of it for you. Where did your son have his surgery? We're at Gt Ormond st.

[HPFA]

Mt partner had a whole series of these which stopped when they put in a tube after one of the operations to drain everything "from the inside". 25 years later they decided he did have Crohns when he had an abscess somewhere else. However apart from these two episodes he's been pretty much well during his 54 years. So please don't think that even if your son does have Crohns it automatically means that he will be ill all his life - it doesn't. I thought he must have some weird variant of Crohns but found quite lot of people on google who had also had years and years with no symptoms.

[bobby81]

Blackswan - I really hope things settle down for your little one, it's bad enough having surgery once without it being an ongoing thing. I think it's the not knowing that's difficult, I just have to be grateful that we're OK at the moment & see how it goes. Thanks for your replies, it's good to talk to someone who knows what it's like. He was treated at the Royal hospital in Chesterfield which is close to us. Good luck with everything x
HPFA - thanks for that it's really reassuring. Honestly I'm lethal with Google & get myself all stressed out about what things could be! x

[McBassyPants]

Could it be a pylonidal? Caused by an ingrowing hair?

[bobby81]

I think that's often the case with adults (especially hairy men!) but not really with children as they have very little hair in that area. It's a possibility though. Also someone had mentioned that it could have been a little cut or tear around his bottom which got bacteria in it (not surprising considering where it is!)
So there are causes other than Crohns it's just they didn't really mention them in hospital so I went away panicking that that was the only thing it could be.
I've decided to take one day at a time & trying to be thankful that so far everything has healed up ok & ds is not in pain anymore.

[McBassyPants]

I work on a children's ward, it's not uncommon in kids hun :-)

You'd be surprised how many we see that are actually girls too x

[bobby81]

Thank you so much for that message mcbassypants it has made me feel much better. I hadn't heard of it before it happened to my son so thought it was quite rare but I guess it's just not the kind of thing people talk about much! x