Surgery made the problem worse, what now...

[Ggreen]

Last year I had a surgery to remove a pilonidal cyst, motherglocking nasty things and I lived with one for 12 years. I finally have some decent insurance, although still a high deductible Obama disaster plan, through my company and the surgeon was confident. So after the surgery I ended up off work for 3 weeks, in the er once for infected stitches, and followed up with 6 or 7 check ups to make sure it was healing right. Well it didn't and now instead of the original cyst I have a surgeon induced cyst that is easily 10x worse than I had going in.

So what now? I can go to another surgeon and get the last one fixed, but now I'm out another 3500 dollar deductible. I don't think I have a malpractice suit, definitely not one that would pay the lawyer and me to satisfaction. Do I just suck it up and find a better doctor and move along, or is there another way to hold the failed surgeon responsible for his botched repair job on my tailbone? I mean if I mess up an engine on an overhaul, i'm pretty much on the hook as the mechanic is there a comparable non lawsuity path for botched surgeries?

 

[hoosierdoc]

Why do you think the surgery was botched?

good luck finding a new surgeon to take over after another one’s case. Do you have a seroma? Not sure what a surgeon induced cyst is. Removing a pilonidal leaves a cavity where it used to be. The body doesn’t like cavities and fills them with fluid. What is your current surgeon saying? Usually we leave them alone and wait for the body to reabsorb the fluid. If persistent or symptomatic you can do things to remove them. But again, problem is developmentally you had a structure there that you no longer do. Will take a while for your body to figure out where the skin goes now.

you can’t compare work on an inanimate object to repairing a human where your body has to do a lot of the work. What is the surgical error you’re alleging he made?

 

[Ggreen]

Why do you think the surgery was botched?

good luck finding a new surgeon to take over after another one’s case. Do you have a seroma? Not sure what a surgeon induced cyst is. Removing a pilonidal leaves a cavity where it used to be. The body doesn’t like cavities and fills them with fluid. What is your current surgeon saying? Usually we leave them alone and wait for the body to reabsorb the fluid.

The doc opened the whole thing up and monitored the healing for about 5 or 6 months to try and ensure it healed from the bottom of the incision up. It is not a seroma, I have another cyst with another pilonidal sinus. The scar is out of this world lol, thank god I don't have to look at it. I say botched because it has actually made my quality of life drop. It really feels like getting conned out of 3500 dollars and being left with a nastier problem than I started with. Again I had no idea it could be worse than it was going in, and the surgeon acted like it needed to come out. First consult to surgery was less than a month.

 

[hoosierdoc]

The timing of the surgery is quite impressive really. You showed up to a surgeon with a surgically correctable problem that had been bothering you for 12 years. Other than surgery what else did you expect the surgeon to offer management wise?

Have you read about them online? Sinus tract to another cyst is always possible. As you said it’s a terrible condition. It’s not like removing a sebaceous cyst unfortunately.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3829057/

[FONT=&quot]Surgery is the main treatment, and up to 40% of patients develop recurrence.[/FONT]

 

[Ggreen]

The timing of the surgery is quite impressive really. You showed up to a surgeon with a surgically correctable problem that had been bothering you for 12 years. Other than surgery what else did you expect the surgeon to offer management wise?

Have you read about them online? Sinus tract to another cyst is always possible. As you said it’s a terrible condition. It’s not like removing a sebaceous cyst unfortunately.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3829057/

My primary care doc is across the hall from the surgeon. Primary said nothing he could do referred me to the surgeon the next week who said I'll take it out no problem... Felt like the express lane. I've read about them more now that I'm dealing with a pretty major issue. Working outside in the heat, moving constantly, really aggravates the new beast lurking below. This isn't just a minor league recurrence issue though, the original was arena league, this new one is full on NFL level. I guess I'll just suck it up and deal with it so I don't ruin another summer healing and get it fixed this fall. If I am forced to go to back to the same surgeon I feel the second one should be half off or something though, I'm not looking to buy a house, I just want to not be embarrassed by his handywork oozing out of my a&* anymore. He did say after the surgery that it was MUCH larger than he thought it was, maybe he wasn't prepared for what he encountered. I couldn't tell if he was impressed or disgusted by it. I will do my best not go back to him though. I'll have to try to find someone with a history. In the post op check ups I got the feeling that I was one of his first pilo cases. I guess I should have asked how many he had done personally.

 

[Vigilant]

Google is not my friend on this one! Sorry about your condition, but now I wish I didn’t know about it. At least we’ll know where to aim in July!

 

[Ggreen]

Google is not my friend on this one! Sorry about your condition, but now I wish I didn’t know about it. At least we’ll know where to aim in July!

Lol I should have put a Google warning up on this one. Since I've acknowledged mine publicly it's helped out more than a couple people who were too embarrassed to do anything about it.

I'll be well protected in July lol, if I make it worse my wife will put me in a home lol.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The surgeon wakes in a cubic room. There is a door in the center of each side, and each is marked by a pattern of dots. As soon as he presses one, a voice says "that's one, you don't have many to waste".

I've had them lanced and packed with dressing, along with antibiotics. They pretty much know their own way out now. One time one was infected with a combination of e. coli and staphylococcus, and that was pretty much the worst one; when the doctor let that one out, it smelled bad all the way up here at the other end of my spine. You've already had yours removed, so you don't have the option of going to see Dr. Lance Boyle every few years when it acts up.

 

[Rookie]

I had one years ago. The surgeon told me, up front, that it may reappear and he would have to take a bigger chunk the second time around. Fortunately, it didn't happen to me, but it sounds like that's what happened to you. It really sucked having to have my wife remove the gauze and repack it twice a day. I will say that it took almost a year for the area to be completely pain free and I remember being worried that it came back. Are you certain it's back? Not calling you a liar, just trying to give you some hope based on my experience.

 

[Ggreen]

I had one years ago. The surgeon told me, up front, that it may reappear and he would have to take a bigger chunk the second time around. Fortunately, it didn't happen to me, but it sounds like that's what happened to you. It really sucked having to have my wife remove the gauze and repack it twice a day. I will say that it took almost a year for the area to be completely pain free and I remember being worried that it came back. Are you certain it's back? Not calling you a liar, just trying to give you some hope based on my experience.

Mine was removed 1 year and 3 months ago. It is healed. It took 10 months to actually heal. I've been hoping for improvements but it's only getting worse. My doc only packed it once during the surgery, and when the stitches got pulled in the er they packed the area again.

If they have to take more tissue this time around I'll never get featured in the swimsuit edition lol.

 

[PMR]

Ggreen, I had mine removed 35 years ago, Doc said it weighed 1 pound. I don't know how it's done now but they did not close my wound. I was told no sitting for a month and then easy does it for I don't remember how long. All this to get to the tip Doc gave me to help deal with it till healed. Slide a tampon vertically between the cheeks to absorb any leakage. Not the most pleasant thing but it did help.

I didn't know these problems could rise again, that sucks! Hope you're able to get this thing gone soon.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

With my first one, I went through a few boxes of maxi pads that were left over from my late wife. Those things were crammed into every space they could fit in. Freed up some storage space, anyway.