To perform minor surgery on myself?

[AlannaPartridge]

Serious question.

I have a sebaceous cyst on my earlobe. It's been there about two years and is the size of a pea. It's not sore or painful, but it's quite obvious & I feel self conscious about it.

I also want to get my ears pierced (finally!) but can't while it's there.

The doctor won't do anything because it's purely cosmetic & causing me no problems at all.

So....I'm thinking.....what if I clean the area really well with antiseptic wipes, sterilise a craft scalpel, make a small cut over the top and squeeze the bugger out (making sure the sack comes too)?

I am a sporner and feel quite excited at the thought of squeezing it out () but obviously don't want to do myself a serious mischief.

What do you think?

[50shadesofmeh]

I'm not sure you would be wise to pierce and earlobe that had a large cyst in it, even once it is healed it would still be somewhat 'hollow ' and not good tissue to pierce.

[50shadesofmeh]

That is once cyst had been removed

[Fakebook]

Eurgh. This thread should have a warning on the title. I was just sick in my mouth. Disgusting.

[Cheesy123]

I feel a little faint, you lot are gross!

[AnyoneforTurps]

You just need a less jobsworth doctor

The GP is not being a jobsworth; the GP is giving you good advice. As plummy said, ear lobes are prone to severe scarring - see here for some examples (not for the squeamish). I love removing lumps and bumps but there is no way I would touch this.

I'm also at all the people who don't seem to give a toss about the cost to the NHS. £60 (the minimum cost of removal) is the same amount that a GP gets for giving an entire year's worth of care including the average 5.5 consultations per year and all admin costs. If everyone has small cosmetic lumps & bumps removed, the NHS will be bankrupt. It's depressing that some posters apparently think it's OK to lie about your symptoms in order to get treatment. If everyone behaves like this, the NHS will collapse.

[WhitesandsofLuskentyre]

My XH had what the doctor said was a cyst on his shoulder and the doctor said it wasn't worth cutting out/draining. It was just a lump for ages, but one day it had gone a bit red and was uncomfortable, so XH told me to squeeze it. In our defence, it did look more like an angry zit than a cyst by that stage.

Well, I kid you not, one squeeze and the contents hit the bathroom ceiling. Best ever, never-to-be-repeated (not just because I divorced him - this predated the divorce by about 15 years!).

[PedantMarina]

All the posters going on about growing and re-growing the pus sources makes me ponder:

How many calories can one use up growing pus? Perhaps it should be part of a new diet regime quite aside from all the loss of appetite hhere.

Just pondering...

[shouldistayorshouldagonooooooo]

only on MN is there such eclectic posts !!

[MadameLeBean]

This is gross but I can't stop reading

Have you done it OP?

[Snoot]

Don't do it! I home surgeried (sterilised pin!) what I thought was a persistent spot on my leg, I've got keloid scarring which will never go. I've not had keloid scarring before or since, I'm not from a likely ethnic group, no way of knowing it would happen.

Having said that, I successfully treated a ganglion cyst (bible bump) which the GP wouldn't touch by hitting it repeatedly with a remote control . Took weeks for the thick puss to dissipate under the skin, travelling down my hand

[SybilRamkin]

Do it, do it!

In the meantime, for the rest of you disgusting creatures sporners, watch this:

[StHelenInPerson]

This thread reminds me of a time my ex had a cyst on the back of his earlobe and was apparently very sore.
I promptly smacked it til it burst while I was sleeping so I missed the puss bit.
Watched the link early in the thread I was both interested and horrified by the amount of cheese that came out of his ear.

[Gobbolinothewitchscat]

Fuck's sake - why was there no klaxon in the title and I've missed this?

Ignore all the boring sensiblebastards on here and just do it!

I don't know why the NHS is boring on about the cost if cyst removal. I would gladly do that job for free. I could be covered by fellow sporners when I go on my hols. There's an untapped market there, I tell you. I feel it would be doing a noble duty - as per David Cameron's Big Society

[PedantMarina]

There's got to be a fetish club in soho where people would pay YOU to have the privilege of doing it. Have you looked into this?

[Snoot]

Keloid scars. Just sayin'!

[Boosterseat]

of these returning puss pods.

Seriously jealous of the poster who got one to hit the roof - so unfair.

[Alohomora]

Ooooh, I'd do it! OH had something under his skin that'd been there for 20 years, it was the most satisfying thing to squeeze out ever, sack and all!

[AlannaPartridge]

Ha ha!

So nice to hear from people as peculiar as me!

Surely the risk of septicemia is not "huge"? I mean, I realise there is a risk, but it's unlikely I'd have thought. Much more likely is that it'll come back and/or that I'll end up with a scar.

I am taking notice of the warnings, though, promise.

[Jessicarthorse]

Well my GP is positively trigger happy when it comes to slicing random lumps off me - warts, skin tags, cysts, you name it. I reckon he must be a secret sporner. Never once had a lecture about the £60 cost (But then, I've had no children so reckon I'm a net contributor to the NHS)

[PedantMarina]

The most satisfying thing I did was such a small thing, compared to some fo your exploits! I dug a blackhead out of [now]exDH's back. This was a long-term thing - we'd kept popping it and it kept coming back; it had burrowed well into the skin. We finally got a really good strong light, a couple of sterilised needles, some needle-nose tweezers, and I had a great dig. Got it up by the roots and it never came back.

I always wondered what happened to the hole that was left behind. Did the skin grow back and compensate, or what?... Not that I'm ever going to get in touch and ask him now, natch.

[Jbck]

How do you know if you have got the sac?

[Alohomora]

Jbck In my experience you can definitely see it, it's this weird, velvety purplish thing.

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

This video is fucking amazing:

[MrsOakenshield]

sorry if this has been asked (I've only read page 1) but what's a sporner - from reading just page 1 I feel I may be one, which is exciting - a new club!

[AlannaPartridge]

MrsO It's weirdos people who are fascinated with pus & pimples and love squeezing gunk out of their body. Or their loved ones bodies!

Teenage DS is going to let me have a go at his blackheads this weekend as the Clearasil hasn't worked. Joy!