Brief Answer: It is a boil, due to staph infection Detailed Answer: Hi there, Thanks for your query. I have seen the picture sent by you. It is apparently a boil, most likely due to staph infection. If similar boils have been erupting over the ear recurrently, you should get your Blood sugar test done to exclude diabetes. Recurrence of boils with delayed or incomplete healing is most common in an undiagnosed underlying diabetes. A course of a specific anti-staph antibiotic + anti-inflammatory drug, if taken for an adequate period (till the infection has disappeared completely) will cure it completely without recurrence. Do NOT squeeze it: let the boil contents liquefy completely. The pressure generated within the lesion will tear the overlying skin and the entire infected fluid will flow out. Consult your doctor and apprise him of my opinion. I am certain that he will agree with my opinion and prescribe suitable treatment as advised. Hope I have addressed to your concerns to your complete satisfaction and you find my response helpful and informative. I will be happy to answer further queries, if any. Fond regards and have a nice day, Dr. Rakesh Karanwal

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Brief Answer: It can also be a Tophi due to aymptomatic gout Detailed Answer: Thanks for informing me that it has been there for one year. You were not prescribed anti-inflammatory drug, which would have liquefied the contents. Thereafter, a small XXXXXXX over the nodule by your doctor, followed by squeezing out of pus. This would have cured it permanently. However, since it has persisted for almost one year, it can also be a tophi: nodule containing uric acid crystals. Get a Blood Uric Acid level done for Gout. Take care, Dr. Rakesh Karanwal

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Brief Answer: anti-gout measures will help. Detailed Answer: Hi, Firstly, diagnosis of gout is required to be confirmed. Did you have a painful, reddish swelling of the big toe of a foot in the past few years? Get your Serum Uric Acid level done. If it is high, gout will be confirmed. The bump, called Tophus, is a deposit of monosodium urate crystals in people with longstanding high levels of uric acid in the blood. Uric acid is formed due to break down of a substance called Purine. Purine is found in several foods and is also produced in the body. Foods with high purine content, increase the uric acid production in the body. Uric acid gets converted into crystals, which gets deposited in the skin, usually on bony prominences, joints and ear/nose in the form of Tophus. Home remedies alone will not suffice. Drugs to reduce uric acid levels in the body have to be taken. Hence, the recommended course of action is as follows:- * Establishing the diagnosis of gout is mandatory. History of swollen, reddish painful great toe, along with high blood uric acid levels will confirm the diagnosis. * Once diagnosis is confirmed, (a) Start taking foods which have very low purine content. Totally avoid :- - Anchovies, sardines, scallops, and mussels - Tuna, codfish, herring, and haddock - Wild game meats, like goose and duck - Organ meats, such as brains, heart, kidney, liver, and sweetbreads - Gravies and sauces made with meat - Yeast extracts taken in the form of a supplement (b) Restrict the intake of meat and poultry; sea-foods; Beans, peas, and lentils; Vegetables, such as, Asparagus, Cauliflower, Spinach, Mushrooms, Green peas; Oats and oatmeal; Wheat germ and XXXXXXX (c) Regular treatment with Anti-gout drugs, such as allopurinol or febuxostat, to bring down uric acid levels in the blood. Antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pain-killers will NOT HAVE ANY EFFECT on bumps. These measures will gradually heal this bumps till they disappear. Removal of these bumps by surgery is the ONLY treatment available, IF they do not respond to dietary measures and drugs. Fond regards, Dr. Rakesh Karanwal

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Brief Answer: Gout is the likeliest possibility Detailed Answer: Yes. The new information received subsequently, tips the most likely possibility towards gout, with exclusion of earlier possibility of staph infection. A doctor gives his opinion PURELY based on the information available to him. Perhaps, the possibility may change yet again, if yet another information is received, which alters the equation. As of now, the likeliest possibility is Gouty Tophi. You have probably forgotten to mention if you ever had a painful, swollen big toe of the foot. Please get Serum Uric Acid checked up. Consult your doctor who knows what the best course of action is for you. Take care Dr. Rakesh Karanwal

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Brief Answer: Consult a Rheumatologist Detailed Answer: Hi there, Sore feeling in the tailbone region can be due to compression over the spinal cord/nerves; ankylosing spondylosis or a congenital anomaly of the tail bone, called spina-bifida. I cannot comment further, in the absence of additional information. An MRI of the lower back + sacroiliac joints will reveal the exact cause of your tailbone problem. You should consult a Rheumatologist. All problems including suspected gouty tophi come under his jurisdiction. Take care, Dr. Rakesh Karanwal

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