HealthCareMagic is now Ask A Doctor - 24x7 | https://www.askadoctor24x7.com

Suggest Remedies For A Painful Pimple On The Back

Posted on Fri, 29 Jul 2016

Question: I saw a doctor at Urgent Care for what I thought was a painful pimple on my back. He told me it was a cyst. He gave me antibiotics and referred me to a general surgeon. The surgeon is booked until 7/15. Meanwhile, my cyst is now draining. My instructions were if it drained to wash, dry and put bandage on and keep with the antibiotics. If the drain last more than 2 days, I get a fever or if the area around my cyst becomes swollen, red and painful, I should go to emergency. I'm comfortable right now. Should I wait to see the surgeon, return to Urgent Care or go to Emergency? Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Ronald Schubert (13 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
cellulitis in a sebaceous cyst

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for contacting HCM with your health care concerns

I am sorry to hear that you are having pain and discomfort in the area of you cyst. It sounds like you have an abscess and infection. Now that it is draining that is a good sign. You do need to irrigate the cyst with saline which you can get at a pharmacy and wash teh cyst out 1-2 times daily. Stay on your antibiotics.

I would recommend going to an urgent care if you develop fever or you have so much pain you can't stand it. Otherwise the cleaning and antibiotics will help. Keep your appointment in middle of July. They can't remove the cyst anyway until the inflammation is resolved.

I hope I answered your question. Please contact us again if you have any additional questions

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