Pimple, abscess or ingrown hair????

Hey Everyone,

Ok, kind of a personal question, but I am not sure what this is.

For the last week and half I have noticed a small lump in my butt cheek not to far from the rectum, but it is it on the butt cheek. Well it is kind of painful when I touch it. I took a look last week and just thought it was a ingrown hair, it was just a little pink in color. Well today I looked at it and it is NOT pink at all, you can hardly see it really, I mean there is like a darker, kind of purplish spot there. There is No opening at all. Well, I tried to sueeze the skin together and I can feel like a lump under there. I asked my husband to look at it ( yes, he is a wonderful guy, I always ask him to hold the mirror for me ). Well he said he was not sure, but it could be a ingrown pimple or something.

I am NOT diagnosed with crohns, my GI keeps saying I have IBS. Well, I am not sure about that diagnosis so for now I am in limbo there. But I have read about all the crohns causing abscesses and fistulas so I am a bit worried. I see my gastro doc in a week so I will definitely be asking him to look.. I am just worried about it. I mean how do you tell the difference between a pimple, ingrown hair and an abscess??? I mean ingrown pimples and hairs can be very painful from what I was told. Should I just leave it alone for now and just have the GI doc look at it when I see him next week??

I am going to ask the gastro to look at my butt while he is down there too. I mean my whole anal area seems irritated too...

Try putting a hot washcloth on it a few times a day, see if it comes to a head. Could be a blackhead. Perhaps try to use a squirt bottle each time you use the bathroom. That may help keep the area clean and less irrittated.

Thanks Mickey for the advice. I will try that. It is just kind of painful. I mean I try and look down there and I can definitely feel the lump under the skin, but on the outside it just looks kind of purplish, you cant hardly see much of it. It hurts though! Thanks for the advice, I will try out the warm compress...

mickey said:

Try putting a hot washcloth on it a few times a day, see if it comes to a head. Could be a blackhead. Perhaps try to use a squirt bottle each time you use the bathroom. That may help keep the area clean and less irrittated.

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sure, let it come to a head or do whatever it is going to do. The more stimulation, the more pain and complication. So, suggest you only use compresses, rinses and leave it alone otherwise. It will quickly come to a head and resolve itself either way. Good luck!

Hey, just would like to suggest sitz bath with epsom salts or a heating pad to help draw it out. Keep an eye on your temperature, if you have one you will need to be seen asap, otherwise hope it resolves itself and you can wait till your appt.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try the warm compress. No Baths or sitz baths ever for me, I am very prone to UTI's so I cannot even take a bath, just showers .

Geez, I hope it is not anything serious. My appt. with my GI doc is on the
13th next week so I will have to wait until then I guess.. I have not had fever yet or anything but will keep an eye on it. I hardly ever get fevers though, I mean I am weird that way. Even when I have a nasty infection of any kind, I usually do not ever get fevers.

warm cloth for sure then, just make sure your hands are sanitized and cloth are clean. If the pain gets worse I would go in. hopefully it's just an ingrown hair that goes away and not an abscess. good luck!

I would keep an eye on it but don't worry. We can all get lumps and bumps down there but the key is fever, increased pain, increasing in size, and draining. If it continues to grow in size and become hot and tender then call your GI's office and tell them what's going on. It's hard to sit down when you have an abscess. I would show it to him/her on the 13th.

With my current abscess, I've never had a fever but I couldn't sit down for a few days. It was too painful to have pressure down there. When it finally started draining, it was a relief. If you can't take a bath, maybe sit on a heating pad? Or like someone else suggested a warm washcloth?

Thinking of you!

Thanks for the replies.

Sybil Vane: I will definitely keep an eye on it. I tried looking at it again( probably obesessing now ). well It seems kind of like it is under the skin. I mean all I can see is a little purple discoloration where it is. Believe me, I will have to point it out to the GI, you could not readily see it without really looking. I mean it is there though. It feels like the size of a pee underneath the skin and is firm and it does feel somewhat tender. I will try the heating pad. Is it good to do that though, I mean to try and have it come to a head??? Wouldn't that be bad?? I remeber when I had a nasty pimple once in my ear canal( I know, weird place to get one), but I went to see an ENT becuase it hurt. I remember the ENT doc telling me to never pick at a pimple or bump. He said that you dont want it to open really as that is when it can become infected. He said leave it be and the body will either naturally have it come to a head or the body will absorb it from the inside. Now this was from a pimple in my ear that was ingrown. This may be different, I dont know.
I felt it there a week and half ago. At that time it looked like a pink spot there, kind of like a pimple. But now the pink spot is gone, it looks more purpleish, but it hurts a bit more. I guess all I can do is watch it and have the GI look at it. I called my GI nurse and left a message so she can call me. I am just going to mention it to her.. She will likely tell me to do the same thing you all told me and to just show the GI when I see him next week. This is just all very frustrating because I do NOT have a crohns diagnosis, so I am certian he will Not even think anything of this.... I mean can a GI tell the difference between an ingrown hair, pimple, cyst or whatever from an abscess???

A GI will definitely be able to tell the difference. Picking at it is definitely a bad idea, but gentle heat won't hurt. It promotes draining of infected pus. If it's not hot or tender, then it might just be a sebaceous cyst and it will be reabsorbed or become hard and permanent. You can have sebaceous cysts removed by dermatologists. The heat was a suggestion if it was a developing abscess and it's causing pressure and pain. If it's not hard to sit down, you might just leave it alone entirely. Your GI will be able to help you.

I'm sorry you haven't gotten a diagnosis, yet. That is a horrible feeling but I'm glad you're being followed by a GI!

Sybil Vane: Thanks. I called my GI office and the nurse called me back. She was no help at all. She was like, Oh it's probably a ingrown hair or something. MAybe you should tell your primary care about it!! She said since it was not on the rectum that it would be more of a primary care docs issue! Umm, ok. So anyhow, she said since I have an appt. coming up next week that if I am still having issues with it to have him take a look. She also said I could use the heat on it. Geez, this is so frustrating. I mean I even told her my whole anal area feels irritated and is kind of inflammed. ( I do NOT even have diarreha so I have no clue why I am irritated down there).

So that is where I am at. I mean the lump does hurt when I sit down, but not where it is horrible or anything. I guess I will just keep an eye on it.... Thanks again for all the advice and support. I am just so frustrated....

In the first i say thanks for the advice. I'm putting a hot washcloth on my big ingrown pimple a few times a day. Slowly my ingrown pimple is gone.