Scab that's not a scab behind my ear - any ideas?

[interminablehellishwhatever]

Sorry if this sounds a bit gross, I'll try to be brief!

A few weeks ago I felt a small round raised area developing behind my right ear, about halfway between the hairline and the back of the ear, and almost halfway up from the bottom of the ear. Within a week or two it became textured like a scab, except that I can't pick it off like you could a scab. I suppose the circumference is about the size of a garden pea, although it's only raised by a couple of millimetres.

Soon after it came up I was at the GP for something else. He said there was nothing there, basically, and since it hadn't become the size and consistency it is now, I let him brush it off. But it has been there for weeks and doesn't seem to want to go away. It's not squeezable, doesn't seem to ooze anything, rarely itches, but feels rough under my fingertip. I don't have anyone close to look at it for me, and am a bit concerned that it might spread.

Probably nothing, but can anyone recognise what I'm describing?

I have a couple of small cysts which looked like spots at first. They aren’t particularly bothersome but I got a doctor to look at them to be safe.

Could you try and photograph it with a phone so that you can monitor it?

That’s strange. I have something similar in the same place. See photo It looks like a spot but has a strange rough texture and has been there a couple of weeks now

Could it be a wart op?
I have a skin coloured spot on my scalp that I've had since a child, the other year it went larger and scabby, I kept an eye on it (not easy!) and it seemed to fill up with pus and then pop and go scabby. I went to the gp and he seemed to think i had caught it with my hairbrush and snagged it and that had caused it all. Its never happened since and it's years ago now so I think he was right, I use a comb now!

Could be a million things. I get weird little psoriasis scabby feeling bits around my neck because it's close to my scalp. But go back to the drs and /or see if goes away with a week of hydrocortisone...

Thanks for your replies everyone

Jenasaurus, great idea, will try and upload the pic now. It seems to be skin-coloured, fleshy, so maybe it is a wart, bobstersmum*.

If so, I'm officially a witch

Funny, expected it to look all black and scabby...

Legofriday, thanks for the suggestion but based on past experience I can't use corticosteroids. Life would be so much easier if I could, sigh, but they cause more problems than they solve for me.

It just looks like irritated dry skin to me. DS2 gets the same thing and so do I especially if I've been in dry environments like heating etc. I put a bit of nappy cream on DS's and it clears up, I think anything moisturising or healing would work. Sudocrem, coconut oil, savlon, whatever you have.

Update: I think it might be shingles. I've had a persistent headache behind the right eye for weeks and weeks. So, same side as the bump behind the ear, which in the last few days feels crusty. (Was searching for the right word when I started this thread, but couldn't think of it.) Has been very tricky to figure out what has been going on with me, because I've had ongoing sinus and orafacial problems too.

This afternoon I discovered that if I press down on the 'blister' it increases the pain behind my eye, which suggests they're running along the same nerve. And that's what shingles does. I googled and you can get shingles behind your ear and behind your eyeball. I also read that acyclovir (cold sore cream) is often prescribed in tablet form as an antiviral medicine for shingles. I have some in the drawer, so I put it on the blister and rubbed a smidgen on my eyelid (thinking it might absorb into the bloodstream near the eye - probably a nuts idea). Anyway, the pain behind my eye has definitely decreased since. Am I mad, or could this be an explanation? Bit worried about the possible complications if it is untreated shingles behind the eyeball.

Ah OK now I'm on desktop it does look like more of a bump.

I'd go back to the GP and say you're concerned about it - but I don't know that your experiment with the cream is likely to be of any significance. It could just be a placebo effect. When you have the appointment just explain that it's still there after several weeks, query wart/shingles with the accompanying sinus related symptoms.

FWIW if you google the shingles rash, it looks absolutely nothing like it - it looks more like a harmless cyst or wart. But since it's been there for a few weeks and hasn't gone away it wouldn't be overkill to get it checked up on.

Thanks Bertie, next seeing GP a week Friday so will bring it up with him then (although knowing him I expect to be fobbed off). Perhaps significantly, the pain in the right side of my face has been raging today and I can only conclude that, having absorbed a couple of doses of acyclovir, it isn't happy! On the other hand, the blistery thing feels like it has actually shrunk down a bit.

What made me seriously consider it could be shingles is I had it in my late twenties along one of the nerves that runs around my back and chest, and it looked very similar to that pic I posted, which if you look closely is like a little cluster of three bumps that look a bit translucent, and now it has crusted over.

Aren't you suppose to take tablets for singles asap? I thought it could be quite serious and affect your brain/eyesight or something equally sinister. My son had it 3 years ago and I remember forcing the tablets down him due to the worry of what could happen.

*shingles.

If you are worried it is shingles and you've had it before it's probably worth going tomottow rather than waitig another week.

I don't think it looks like shingles from the picture, but if you really think it might be, I would get an appointment ASAP. It can be really serious if around the eye area.