Cyst on neck

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Can I do anything? Dr said it is a cyst. It’s been there about 6 weeks. It’s definitely getting bigger and today looks red. Anything that will help get rid of it sooner rather than later?

if it's changing then go back to your doctor. Don't fanny about poking/prodding it...depending on where it is on your neck/what sort of cyst it is you could end up causing real harm.

What type of cyst is it?

I had a cyst on my neck a few years ago. If it looks red it may well be infected. I needed antibiotics. Mine eventually shrunk away, took a year or so. It would come up, then start leaking, then get infected so they didn't want to operate, then go back to being to small to operate on. Eventually I popped it by just playing with it and it never came back up.

Husband had one, it grew and grew and grew. Benign so dr/hospital wouldn’t do anything. Paid £1000 to gave it removed privately.

I’ve no idea what type of cyst. Dr only saw it today. I pointed out that the skin was now red and it had grown more in the last few days.
it feels under the skin so I can’t see it coming to a head

Well, I recently had a cyst which went red and inflamed. It took nearly a month and three lots of antibiotics before it came to a head and was really grim when it burst. Also made me feel quite unwell the whole time.

You need to find out what type of cyst it is and then act accordingly. But yes, if it's red and growing then it's probably infected. They won't remove it while it's infected, and the NHS probably won't remove it at all if it's not causing you major problems. I'm waiting to find out if they'll do mine, but expecting to have to go private. (Would happily pay to not go through the month of pain and antibiotics and then bursting again).

Did the antibiotics not sort the problem?

drainage of infected cysts/abscesses is one of the commonest operations we do on emergency lists. Cysts are better done when they're not infected because it's easier to get the whole capsule out which is the definitive management, but if an infection is not recovering with conservative treatment or antibiotics/is in a higher risk place (like some parts of the neck)/is causing problems then they definitely do get the pus released in theatres. That's all assuming we're talking about sebaceous/skin cysts, not cysts in deeper structures.

What do I do? It was getting bigger last week, I waiting to see the doctor yesterday and it looked red when she saw it. She said it was cyst and would either stay like that or disappear. She said to come back if it was bigger than 1 cm or the redness spread. I’m sure it’s grown since yesterday and it’s more red but I don’t think it’s over 1cm. Typical that I’m going into the weekend and back at work next week. What would you do? Wait and see?

So it’s less than 1cm?
stop poking at it and see if the redness spreads. Cysts usually self resolve or stay static. If it’s staying so small no one will want to remove it

yes I would say it’s the size of a smartie but sticks out more. Might measure it later. It’s right next to the front of my neck so very visible and hurts when I move my neck.

I think unfortunately you'll just have to wait and see. If it gets hot or the redness starts spreading go back to the GP.

The antibiotics I was on for mine were to stop the infection spreading in the rest of my body. The cyst itself got bigger as time went on (but was already bigger than 1cm when it got infected).

Can I pick your brains please, as you have experience in this field? What do you think my chances are of getting a sebaceous cyst removed by the NHS? It's been infected, grown, burst and now healed, but very lumpy still. On a visible part of my chest when I wear a v neck/shirt. A GP I saw said they might not remove it until I've had multiple infections, and a pharmacist told me to go private to get it removed asap so it doesn't get infected again.

If the advice is basically wait until it’s over 1cm or redness spreads, and it isn’t either, then you just have to wait.

(am an anaesthetist not a surgeon so only know from what I see in theatre rather than doing the decision making myself) usual criteria are along the lines of: recurrent infections (there may be variations in what counts as recurrent)/ the cyst being somewhere inconvenient where it's getting traumatised or causing pain (bra strap distribution counts)/ cysts on the face/ diagnostic uncertainty. Lots of areas put information sheets online with their local policy on them - may be worth googling. More often than not though if it's a removal for cosmetic reasons you'll have to part with some cash to get it done.

I seem to be a bit prone to cysts
the standard GP treatment appears to be a course of antibiotic capsules which in my experience do nothing to stop the cyst growing. I had one on my breast, I went to the GP about and I asked for some antibiotic cream I could put directly on it. She prescribed fucidin cream and it did do the job. Took a while but I needed no further interventions. it's also worked on a cyst down in my groin area. The previous one down there grew and grew was affecting how I walked, was agonisingly painful to the point I couldn't sleep. I was on the phone to 111 at 0530 for help, got an OOH GP appointment and it burst whilst I was sat waiting to see the doctor, which at least meant it got dealt with once and for all. But it had to be packed and dressed and I had to keep going back for dressing changes.

I would suggest considering getting some chloramphenicol cream from the pharmacy (Golden Eye ointment for conjunctivitis) which is the only OTC/non POM antibiotic cream I know about and seeing what that does. I know it can be used for skin infections, a consultant paediatrician told us to use it on my DD's infected ingrown toenails whilst waiting for surgery and referred to it as "willy cream", so i guess that's another thing it's used for (I only have girls so no direct experience of boys specific ahem, difficulties)
otherwise you're stuck over the weekend watching it grow and get ever more painful. It might be worth putting some marks round it to track the infection spread and photos.

They are hateful things and you want to try and avoid it growing and bursting and then needing the wound packing and dressing and all of that.

@Greybeardy Thanks so much. I really want to avoid another infection as I found it so painful and it made me feel unwell, so I'll start looking into private next week rather than wait. Sigh!