Ingrown hair cyst

Our face is our fortune and anything that maligns it should be taken care of swiftly. While many skin problems afflict the face, from teenage acne to severe forms of sun damage, it is important to identify the problem, its underlying cause and its course of treatment.

A facial cyst is a bump or a growth on the face, formed by shed tissue from the epidermis of the skin. Our skin sheds old tissues all the time, self-rejuvenating itself by making new skin cells. This is a continuous process which, when it takes its normal course, does not leave any mark on the skin. Sometimes however, the old tissue fails to shed off the skin completely and forms a clump on the skin. The new skin, meanwhile, moves under the clump and accommodates itself accordingly. A collection of such old shed tissue trapped inside skin cause facial cysts to form. While most of these are painless and non cancerous, it is an unsightly formation on the skin.

When ingrown hairs are formed along with these cysts, they take a turn for worse. Appearance wise, the lesion formed with the ingrown hair clumps can be a sore sight. More importantly, facial cysts with ingrown hair have more chances of getting inflamed and infected. While these cysts seldom prove troublesome, ingrown hair can increase the chance of infection enormously. It is very important for people who have existing facial cysts to take very precaution against ingrown hairs. They should shave with utmost care, avoiding shaving over the cyst at all times. They should also be very pertinent in using antiseptic lotions after every shave and keeping their face clean with regular exfoliation.

In spite of the precautions, if ingrown hair does occur along with facial cysts, there can be various options of treatment to choose from. The first would be to leave the ingrown hair be and wait. Most ingrown hair conditions disappear as skin and hair keeps growing. The important thing to remember is that it is not suitable to pluck out an ingrown hair from a cyst. For one the surface of the cysts is harder than normal skin and plucking out the hair might be impossible. Even if the hair can be plucked out, it is best avoided, as cysts should not be broken or ruptured without medical help at hand. The better option is to apply regular ingrown hair cream, which will cure the hair and also prevent recurring ingrown hair. If this option also does not work, the only option is to remove the cyst along with the ingrown hair. This might be done with only cosmetic need in mid, because unless and until the cyst becomes infected or inflamed, there is no medical reason for its removal. But since an ingrown hair can increase its chances of getting infected, it should be best removed.

The procedures of removal and treatment are many and varied.

• Medication can be used to treat an inflamed cyst. Corticosteroids are used to reduce the size of the cyst, which is attained over time. This option however, will not ascertain complete disappearance of the tissue. This might not be the answer to ones cosmetic needs to remove all blemishes including cysts from the face.
• Drainage of the cyst can be an option where the cyst is drained out to nothingness. Here, a small incision is made on the cysts and a syringe is inserted to drain out its liquids. When all the liquid is drained, the cyst flattens and becomes part of the skin over time.
• This might be a successful procedure for removing a cyst but facial cysts can reappear over time and again develop ingrown hair. The available option then is surgery. If the cyst is small, the liquid and other content are taken out first making a small incision. Then the wall or the surrounding harder tissue of the cyst is taken out. This way of surgery ensures that cosmetic purposes of cyst removal are sanctified and there is minimum scarring. But if the cyst is hard and has been recurring, with all other options of treatment failing, a more invasive surgery is performed. The whole cyst tissue is scooped out of the skin, which ensures that the cyst will have very little chances of recurring. This can however leave a scar, which may or may not fade with time.
• Finally, a newer non invasive laser technique can be used to remove the cyst with almost no scarring to speak of. Here, carbon dioxide is emitted directly on the surface of the cyst. As the laser penetrates, it produces enough energy to disintegrate the cyst. This is a more expensive form of removal technique, but for those who love their face and can afford to pay a price for it, it can be the best option available.