Abscess inbetween buttock cheeks.

[Bouttimeforwine]

What we thought to be a bruised coccyx was actually discovered to be an abscess, after it burst and bled.

They wanted to operate to clear it out, but ds made such a fuss they agreed to leave it, as it was blood rather than pus, leaking. He has antibiotics.

No mention of any follow up, just to return to A&E if he gets flu like symptoms.

Any advice or similar stories?

There's an episode of Embarrassing Bodies where a bloke had this. It's not pleasant though! He has quite a big op if I recall but it does explain it quite well.

It's likely it will come back if it's not been operated on, my dps did, it's caused by an in grown hair and until that's removed the risk of it reappearing is high.

That'll be a pilonidal sinus. (Not sure of spelling).

I've had one, it recurred for years before I eventually succumbed and agreed to have it operated on. DH had one too, and was less lucky - he got blood poisoning from his and had to have emergency surgery and intravenous abs. Its horrible, and embarrassing, but its really far better to get it operated on.

My brother had this. He ignored it or ages. Then had an op. was off work for weeks and the nurse had to come out daily for ages to dress it.

Also, they are apparently very common, but they can be huge - my gp told me that as a medical student he observed a surgery on one that had burrowed so deep into the skin that the hole left when it was removed was much bigger than the surgeons fist, and deep enough to go past the surgeons wrist when he was cleaning it out. They pack the wound though, so it heals from the inside out, so don't worry about having a big gap left where the abscess was.

Yes, it's a pilonidal abscess. A GA clean up a good idea. Otherwise will slowly leak pus/blood and could become a chronic wound/sinus. Post-op, Some people have no further bother, in others it can recur and need elective surgery.
Can help by doing a Clean with spray from shower head daily, no smoking and ensure BMI in normal range.

If it's a pilonidal sinus, the abscesses are usually caused by ingrown hair, so if the antibiotics don't work, he may need surgery to clean it out. I was born with one, its not very common for a female, much more so for men. Mine can get infected because its a dimple where there shouldn't be, so if I get bleeding or any secretion from it, I need antibiotics. They work for me and I've not needed surgery yet in thirty one years of having it, only a few courses of topical antibiotics. Hopefully that's enough for your husband too. Although my research says they operate much less intrusively these days with a different procedure to the surgical opening and packing, if they can.

I has this when I was 16 - glamorous.
I had an operation, and a few weeks of district nurse visits to repack the dressing. It was fairly painful and a bit gross, but it healed quickly and cleanly.

I thought it was a coccyx injury too.

Thanks guys.

We are due to go abroad in less than 3 weeks now. I'm hoping that this will heal and we'll be able to go.
I did ask whether they were sure it was ok not to operate on, but they seemed to think it would be

It seemed fairly flat yesterday morning, seemed bigger last night, and seemed fairly flat this morning with just a puncture wound. DS now has the squits can't spell the d word probably a side effect of the antibiotics. Difficult to keep the dressing clean

Can you go to GP's and ask to see a nurse or someone with experience in dressings - normally district nursing team ,and see if there's a special dressing they could recommend ?
Of course maybe the dressing you've got is fine - IME the clingfilm type ones are good for difficult areas .

Brother had one. Needed draining, packing, and daily dressing. Still has a bit of a dip in his skin where it was.

I'm surprised they didn't insist, but I've never heard of one just bursting on it's own either.

He cmplained for a week that his lower back was really sore. We took him to the gp on Friday morning, then to A&E on friday night because the pain was so bad. Both the doctors and us, missed the abscess a bit further down. We all assumed it was the coccyx. There was lots of blood Saturday lunchtime and I was panicking because we thought it was coming from his rectum!

Was quite a relief to find it was "only" an abscess.

Was it pretty small then? My brother's was like a golf ball, it couldn't have been missed, I think most of the dramatic stories are probably on the larger size.

It was about 1cm x 2cm after it had burst. I don't know what size before then. Nobody looked lower than his trouser line and he didn't touch anything as it was so tender in that whole area. He could only lie on his side.
Who knows? He's not in too much pain now.