You need a referral to a pilonidal specialist? But that’s surgery 101! –Not!!
Not a response you should ever hear from your primary medical doctor. Sadly, the story is a true one. This is the reponse that a caring parent received when she reached out to her PMD regarding her son’s newly diagnosed pilonidal sinus. The story comes from a skilled pilonidal specialist who spent much of his operating hours correcting failed pilonidal cystectomy wounds from non-specialist surgeons.
As I have repeated in much of my guidance and writing, if you are considering a pilonidal cyst or sinus removal, make sure that the surgery being offered is the cleft lift procedure. More importantly, make sure that the surgeon offering it is a true cleft-lift surgeon. Many surgeons will claim to offer a cleft-lift, but in reality they are performing only a handful of these procedures a year, and have not “hit their learning curve”. Therefore, they are actually doing barely modified traditional midline closures, which will fail. The question to ask of any surgeon offering pilonidal surgery to you or a family member is “What percentage of your practice does pilonidal treatment comprise?” If the answer is less than 75%, consider finding a genuine pilonidal surgeon.