I often see people refer to a pilonidal abscess, a pocket of pus that forms beneath the midline gluteal skin, as a “cyst.” This mislabeling is at the core of much of the confusion surrounding pilonidal disease. When the problem is misunderstood as primarily that of this “cyst,” many surgeons who are not well-versed in…
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The surgeon claims a wildly high success rate with their cleft-lift procedure which includes ultra-low longterm recurrence several years out, but strangely doesn’t arrange followup with their cleft-lift patients more than several months after surgery to monitor for this recurrence! In other words, once you are healed, you are discharged forever. More importantly, the surgeon has…
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A good surgeon hears these concerns and does his or her best to address them. At PTCNJ, we have not been willing to alter the technique of our gold-standard cleft-lift to achieve the desired “looks like nothing was done!” cosmetic outcome. Instead, we have introduced a minimally invasive surgical option for appropriately selected patients(Minimally Invasive…
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First, what is meant by the word “flap”? In a flap, a healthy equally-sized equally-shaped segment of adjacent skin and underlying fat is moved in to fill the defect (hole) left following removal or “excision” of pilonidal disease. In line with this definition, our gluteal cleft-lift is one such flap example, in which a flap of adjacent buttock…
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Pilonidal disease has nothing to do with the rectum, and even less to do with the colon. It is a dermatological disorder. If contemplating treatment with a colorectal specialist, ask him or her “What percentage of your practice is dedicated to pilonidal disease treatment ?” Herein you will get the most revealing answer. These docs…
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Once a diagnosis of tailbone-area pilonidal disease is established, when is the time to have to have surgery to treat or cure it? At our Center, we have established 5 criteria that each indicate that the “time is now” for our curative gluteal cleft-lift procedure. Here they are, in no particular order.. Okay how about…
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An accumulation of pus under the gluteal skin is a common way that pilonidal patients experience severe symptoms and present for medical treatment. This pus accumulation defines the typical “pilonidal abscess”. It is accompanied by redness and swelling of the overlying skin, in addition to severe pain and sometimes fever. Often, a nonspecialist surgeon or…
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Following all of our pilonidal cyst surgeries, we encourage sitting starting the first day after surgery. We recommend patients sit on a soft but supportive surface, exemplified by a quality office chair. Specifically regarding our cleft-lift procedure, this does not affect healing in a detrimental way; on the contrary, it augments healing by faciliitating the…
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Following our gluteal cleft-lift procedure, we encourage walking as soon as the first day after surgery. We prohibit heavy lifting (>20 pounds), strenuous bending, and squatting for the first 3 weeks following surgery. As the wound heals, beginning in week 4 and continuing to week 6, we gradually lift all restrictions . At 6 weeks,…
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