lump on scalp

[Elibean]

On Friday, I hurt my neck - trapped nerve, shooting pains in face/eye/ear etc. The next day, I also had incredibly itchy/tingly scalp and eyebrow - not all the time, on and off, but very weird. Just on one side, the side where my neck had seized up.

Its slowly got better, then today I find a fairly large, firm, flattened, oval-ish lump (1/2 inch across max) on the left hand side of my scalp.

I'm loathe to go to GP straight away, because I've just been in and out of there over BP issues...but am wondering if its something I can happily ignore? Could it be related to the itching and tingling?

So is the lump on the same side as everything else was?

Is it sore? Does it have any colour to it? (if you've got someone who can look!)

It might be nothing, but I think what I'd do is wait a few days and see what happens. If you get any further symptoms or if it appears to grow larger, go back to GP.

dh has looked

He says just skin colour, bit tender when poked, but thats all. Yes, its on the same side as everything else, but I may be running it all together when they're not connected.

And to complicate things further, I have very sore throat (on that side) and slight fever, as of yesterday.

We're away for half term, so I'll decide before end of week if GP needed - thanks FA.

Where on your scalp is it? You have lymph nodes above your neck, on the back of your head, on both sides.

No, I don't think its a lymph gland, its on the top/side of my head, sort of diagonally upwards and backwards from my left eye.

I did wonder about a bite, because the prickly/itchy/stabby pains I had I suppose could have been a histamine reaction? My eyebrow on that side is still itchy, on and off

Could it be a tick bite? Or some other hideous insect? Those can affect nerves and so on I think. I think with all your other symptoms I would see the GP tomorrow, just to get an opinion. good luck, hope you feel better soon x

No tick in sight (thank goodness!) and have no idea where I could have picked one up, but I am rather susceptible to gnats and so on.

I do have a smear booked on Thursday, suppose I could ask the nurse to check out the other end and tell me if its worthy of GP apt! Just don't know whether to laugh about it or worry about it

Oooh, I do remember a gruesome article years and years ago about maggots burying into scalp after fly laid eggs there

Not in SW London, though.

I took your advice on board and went to the walk-in surgery this morning.

Young GP said 'sebaceous cysts' and to come back if they bothered me in any way, as they could get infected etc.

I've discovered a couple more, smaller ones - am I suddenly getting cystic or could they have been there for ages?! The biggest one is sort of uncomfortable if I put my head down (ie gravity pulls on it) and occasionally itchy.

Has anyone else ever had these? Google says 'pilar cysts' would be more accurate name.

Ooh. How odd...so nothing to do with the itching thing then?

I would try to see someone else and get a referral to dermatology, particularly if they have only just appeared.

Anything new needs checking out properly. I really don't want to scare you but my friend had a sort of itchy lumpy thing on her scalp, and it was skin cancer - however this is very rare indeed.

You should try to get referred as her GP was useless for roundabout a year. At least you can find out what it is and what to call it...dermatologists have seen a lot more than GPs in this field, obviously! Hope it is absolutely nothing to worry about, but do get it checked again.

I mean nothing to do with your eye/neck?

No, nothing to do with the eye or itching/pain in my face and head. That, he is sure (as was last GP I mentioned it to), is a trapped nerve as it started the day after I saw my osteopath

I'm sorry about your friend, thats scary. Was it ordinary skin colour, do you know? I've googled a bit and apparently its fairly common for 'middle aged women' to get pilar cysts: they pop up in crops, often, and are harmless nearly all the time. But they can get infected, especially if you comb/brush them too hard - ugh!

I'll keep a close eye, but these do fit the 'pilar cyst'profile...am due to see my own GP, an experienced older one with skin specialism, in 5 weeks so will check them out again. I really appreciate the nudges, and the support, thank you FA!

Forgot to say, he also checked all my neurological reactions, re the face/eye pain. No problems, all fits with trigeminal (?) nerve apparentlyl. Ouch.

No trouble!

It was skin colour, yes - or sort of unhappy skin colour! It grew slowly over several months and became ulcerated - scabbed over, I mean. They treated for ringworm and so on before they realised it was something else.

Pilar cysts are FAR more common though and I'm pretty sure it'll be summat like that. I just always urge people to be checked out with any odd skin related stuff, as a matter of duty now!

Hope they go away as quickly as they appeared.

Thanks

Mine boring old no-emotion-of-any-kind skin colour, no scabbing, no dryness, no anything else. But I will keep a stern eye on them.

Hope your friend is all ok now?

Thanks for asking, was hoping you wouldn't! Sadly, no - but she was very, very unlucky. honestly I don't think you need worry, the fact the GP had no idea what it was shows how unusual and rare it was.

Keep an eye, but don't worry. Forewarned is forearmed and if they don't shift after a few weeks you can go and demand a biopsy.

But I don't think they sound worrying at all.

You're doing the right thing!

I'm so sorry Now I come to think of it, I have a faint memory of reading a thread where you may have mentioned your friend...if it was a melanoma...and I'm really sorry I didn't remember sooner, before asking

No, I don't think this thing resembles anything that dangerous at all - at least, not at the moment. Especially as I seem to have a whole crop which is typical, it seems, of pilars.

But if I hadn't been to GP this morning, I'd still be thinking melanomas - knowing me - so thank you again for nudging me GP-wards!

Please don't apologise, I'm a terrible bore on this stuff and have been sending people off to the GP left, right and centre for months..

Your diagnosis sounds right, and it's always so nice to see a benign diagnosis, it really is! I'm happy so thank you!

If it helps just one person (which it already has) then its a totally positive way of dealing with such a shocking loss. You're still being her friend.

Keep packing us off!

thankyou. I am really touched by that

Aaargh, a ps: turns out the 'weird trapped nerve stabbing pains/itching' are shingles. I probably did have a trapped nerve, but although the neck got better the tingling etc didn't. I woke up this morning with bumpy forehead, eyebrows, and now eyelid

Same GP has put me on antivirals, and ointment to protect my eye...he said the cysts were unrelated, I did check!

Elibean - how strange I was about to suggest shingles when you mentioned the tingling, as I had them in exactly the same place as you. But then read you had been DX with cysts, and didn't post.

The anti virals helped me a bit (though obv. don't know what they would have been like without them), pain killers and a cold compress on head helped a bit, also calamine cream. But sympathies, they are not pleasant, hope yours clear up soon.

Oh no, that's horrid for you, I'm so sorry

I really hope the AVs help a lot and it goes away quickly.

x

Thanks, both. Hello, Kurri sorry to hear you had them too.

I will try the cold compress, the itching is driving me mad! The worst ones are on my eyelid and near corner of eye...painful, and a little worrying (though I have Zovirax cream for eyes).

The cysts are still there, still cysts, just cysts with an overlay of shingles - lovely!