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Have Painful Lump On Chest. Pus Comes Out After Pressing. Is This Cancerous?

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Posted on Thu, 16 May 2013
Question: Hi Dr XXXXXXX I've a lump on my chest for a few months and lately become painful and if press it ooze out smelly pus. Is this cancerous ? Thank you doc.
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Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (42 minutes later)
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Lump present on the soft tissues of the chest which gets painful and secretes a pus is most likely sebaceous cyst which has gotten infected. This is a benign lesion which contains lots of keratin masses. When infected, the pus starts accumulating in this area what irritates nerves and gives pain. It is not cancerous and can not get cancerous.

The best way of treatment is complete removal of it (with a capsule), however when pus is present is can be impossible. So it needs to be incised first, cleared from pus and healed from an inflammation.
After the inflammation will be gone it can be removed by a surgeon.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Grzegorz Stanko

General Surgeon

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 5795 Questions

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Have Painful Lump On Chest. Pus Comes Out After Pressing. Is This Cancerous?

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Lump present on the soft tissues of the chest which gets painful and secretes a pus is most likely sebaceous cyst which has gotten infected. This is a benign lesion which contains lots of keratin masses. When infected, the pus starts accumulating in this area what irritates nerves and gives pain. It is not cancerous and can not get cancerous.

The best way of treatment is complete removal of it (with a capsule), however when pus is present is can be impossible. So it needs to be incised first, cleared from pus and healed from an inflammation.
After the inflammation will be gone it can be removed by a surgeon.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.