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Pilonidal Cyst

Posts to Ask Dr Stoll BB regarding Pilonidal Cyst

There have been several posts to the Ask Dr Stoll
Bulletin Board (BB) regarding Sebaceous and Pilonidal Cysts.
Many of them have been archived here. The archive is roughly
chronological. I hope you find it useful.

Introduction summary for Sebaceous cysts:

To understand what you need to do to prevent sebaceous cysts and what you have to do with large ones already present, you have to know how they form.

Sebaceous glands make an oily secretion (sebum) that serves to lubricate and keep skin moist and flexible. These glands only form with the onset of puberty.

When one has a relative essential oil deficiency (extremely common in our culture), fat and oil metabolism is different. The oily secretion from sebaceous glands is thicker and stickier than normal. That makes it very easy for the little duct, through which the secretion flows to the surface, to get plugged up.

This happens at the opening of the duct to the surface of the skin (pore) where the secretion starts to dry and to oxidize from the oxygen in the air. This quickly can start a hard plug to form.

Just because the duct is plugged does not make the lining of the gland stop making sebum. SO, it accumulates inside the gland and that accumulation is called a "cyst". As the pressure continues to build up in the blocked gland, the lining gets pushed into the duct and permanently blocks it. This is why surgical removal is almost always needed once they get large enough to be a bother--OR following the first infection. ANY space in the body, that does not drain normally, will eventually get infected. The infection helps damage the duct.

By using the essential oils, the secretion soon goes back to the normal fluidity of sebum AND it is less quickly oxidized or dried into a plug. Since the sebaceous glands are the ones involved with acne, one can easily see why essential oils frequently help acne as well.

Remember. Many metabolic functions inside the body are dependent upon a healthy level of these essential oils. Anyone using them will not only notice no more sebaceous cysts but that their health will improve in many other ways at the same time: the positive side effects of taking them.

Finally, there is a mechanical way to help remove these plugs before the pressure in the cyst permanently blocks the duct as above. Every time we take a bath or shower, the plug gets wet and sometines can be removed just by vigorously toweling with the terrycloth towels we all use. As a matter of fact, that is WHY these towels are MADE of terrycloth. It is to make it easier to rub away the dead skin we all accumulate on our bodies. It can remove early plugs at the same time.

Within 3 months of vigorous toweling after bathing, and starting the essential oils on the homepage of this 'site, there should be no new cysts forming. The old cysts will need to be surgically removed WHILE THEY ARE NOT INFECTED AND WITHOUT BREAKING THEM DURING SURGERY. This will keep the old ones from recurring.

I hope this also explains why cysts sometimes come back with surgical removal: the duct is no longer functional and ANY scraps of the old lining not removed will just continue making sebum--which will cause another cyst to form. After all, that is what these cells were programmed to do: make sebum.

Walt Stoll, MD

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