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The small bone, which is at the bottom of your spine or backbone, is called the tailbone. The common problems associated with the tailbone include tailbone injuries, pain, tumor, infection and cysts. A growth on the tailbone that you can see or feel maybe a cyst.
If you do not get the cysts on your tailbone treated soon it might lead to painful abscess and or an infection. If untreated or not treated properly a chronic recurring tailbone cyst might also lead to squamous cell carcinoma a type of skin cancer. A medical check up is recommended to check the severity of the problem and to avoid future complications.
In medical terms a tailbone cyst is also known as pilonidal cyst, a term taken from the Latin words for hair (pilus) and nest (nidus). It is the pocket of skin in the buttock cleavage that is close to the end of the tailbone. It usually contains skin debris, hair and a little bit of other abnormal or infected tissue.
The tailbone cysts are more common in men than in women. It is seen as a small pit on the skins surface. It is usually harmless until it becomes infected and turns into an abscess. It then causes drainage of fluids (pus and blood), fowl smell from the drained fluids, skin reddening, inflammation and a lot of pain. In some rare cases it might also cause fever.
Loose hairs that penetrate the skin cause most tailbone or pilonidal cysts. Sitting for a long duration, tight clothes, skin friction, riding a bicycle for long duration force the hair into the skin causing ingrowths. The body reacts to the hair as a foreign substance and creates a cyst around it. It could also be caused due to an inactive lifestyle, obesity, excessive body hair, poor hygiene, excessive sweating or an occupation that requires you to sit for long duration. Sometimes it is also caused due to a ruptured hair follicle that is the structure from which a hair grows. It could happen due to sudden stretching of skin.
Regular shaving and removal of hair from the buttocks and tailbone area helps to prevent tailbone cysts. But if the cyst is already infected then you might need surgery to open and drain the cyst. In some cases if it is a recurring problem then the doctor might recommend complete lancing, that is complete removal of the cyst and a little bit of the surrounding tissue.
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