Pilonidal Disease: Can I Avoid Surgery?

Pilonidal Disease: Can I Avoid Surgery?

Will this go away by itself? Is it manageable with non-surgical care?

This is a commonly asked question. Although I am a surgeon, I realize that surgery is not for everyone, and nobody is really excited about having an operation if there is another option. Drainage of a painful, infected, abscess (lancing, I&D) is often an emergency and is very obviously necessary, other operations are elective – meaning that a patient has a chance to think about it, weigh the pros and cons, and decide if that is the route they want to proceed.

The decision is easy if the pilonidal disease is painful, embarrassing, disruptive and depressing, and it’s clearly time to do something about it. On the other hand, for other patients surgery is not really the route they want to go. There can be various reasons for this:

• The symptoms aren’t that bad.
• Their philosophy that surgery is only a last resort.
• Financial considerations.
• Concern regarding the cosmetic change.
• General fear of surgery and hospitals.
• Lack of a qualified specialist nearby.

These are all reasons to step back and see if there is a non-surgical approach that will work. It is a rare situation in which pilonidal disease becomes life-threatening. For various reasons, there isn’t very robust data regarding the recurrence rate of pilonidal problems. So, I can’t really tell you that if you had one abscess, what the chances are that you will have another. In a specific situation, if I can evaluate the anatomy, I may be able to predict whether future problems are expected or not. But, if you are not seeing a pilonidal specialist, it will be hard for you to come to any conclusion on your own.

These are situations where future problems are very likely:

• Multiple, enlarged midline pores or actual open wounds.
• A very deep gluteal cleft. Sometimes this is apparent, because it takes some strength to spread the buttocks apart to see the base. Or, in other situations, the crease seems to open up easily when prone, but folds when standing. Brownish discoloration (hyperpigmentation) of the skin on either side of the cleft is a clue that this is a problem.
• Multiple abscesses.
• The presence of a sinus.

Sometimes after an abscess has been drained, there are no visible abnormalities. This is the kind of situation where it is not clear how much a problem it will be in the future. This web page discusses that situation.

But, if you are dealing with any of the situations described above, it is possible to get along without surgery, but the pilonidal disease is going to be an intermittent long term problem and, contrary to some rumors, will not just disappear after age 40.

Diligent attempts at hygiene, antiseptics, dressings and at times antibiotics may help minimize symptoms, but most likely won’t completely eradicate the problem. A discussion of home remedies can be found here. However, if a patient’s issue is that surgery is not feasible now because of finances or other obligations, some of these home remedies may make delay less painful.

In general my recommendation is that the best approach is to proceed with surgery at some point, and the sooner this is treated, the sooner patients can get on with their lives. I believe the cleft-lift operation by an experienced pilonidal surgeon is the best combination of high success rate coupled with ease of recovery. Contact us if this is something you would like to explore.