Abscess down below. Anyone else?

[Unicorn1985]

I’m new to the skin tag thing, the one in my armpit only developed over this past year. I do remember my dad had one about 1cm in length on his chest, it looked like a long balloon that had deflated. Almost tear dropped shaped. This seems same sort of thickness all along but round at the end. Problem is I’ve taken photos and magnified them so I guess I’m not seeing them like your normally would which has led me to over analyse it at length.

Thanks for responding and you've made me feel a bit better so thank you. I need to calm myself down x

[sarahsarah]

I have a couple of these tiny dots at any one time on my labia, they're milia and eventually pop out and a tiny white seedlike thing comes out then it's gone. I also have a skintag on my labia, looked at and diagnosed as harmless by a medical professional. It isn't like a face or neck skintag, it is flat rather than hanging and I would never have recognised it as a skintag myself but that's what it is.

It'a normal to get lumps and bumps in that part of the body, after all there are loads of sweat glands and hair folicles. Keep and eye on anything and don't feel embarrassed about getting them checked out but it's likely nothing. You wouldn't worry about a spot on your arm, would you?

[Unicorn1985]

Thanks Sarah. Mine isn’t like a big wrinkly balloon like the images you see on google. It looks like a tiny few mm long flappy bit of skin but if I take a photo and zoom in it does look like a tiny balloon that’s not fully blown up. I don’t know but it’s stressing me out. I think it wouldn’t hurt to get it confirmed as a skin tag if that’s what it is. It is skin coloured and doesn’t hurt or itch. I just always think it’s cancer when I find something. I try so hard to be rational and I will be for a few days and then my brain says “what if it’s the start of cancer...”

[Unicorn1985]

I’ve just for my husband to look again. First time he was admanant it looked like a skin tag and looked just like the one under my armpit. Now he’s saying it doesn’t look like a skin tag and it looks like “a nodule” whatever that means. Safe to say I’m really stressing out and feel close to tears. I’m just going to have to go to the drs and get it looked at.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I have a couple of these tiny dots at any one time on my labia, they're milia and eventually pop out and a tiny white seedlike thing comes out then it's gone. I also have a skintag on my labia, looked at and diagnosed as harmless by a medical professional. It isn't like a face or neck skintag, it is flat rather than hanging and I would never have recognised it as a skintag myself but that's what it is.

It'a normal to get lumps and bumps in that part of the body, after all there are loads of sweat glands and hair folicles. Keep and eye on anything and don't feel embarrassed about getting them checked out but it's likely nothing. You wouldn't worry about a spot on your arm, would you?

I find that happens with some of my Fordyce Spots. It's the same as any spot where the stuff hardens up.

[Sparky16]

Speaking as someone who has a black belt in Internet dermatology and has had a number of odd skin growths removed, I've learned some things:

1. Internet photos are of what I would call "textbook examples" of various conditions. In the real world there is a wide range of appearances of of these same things. This is why doctors go to med school, to see lots and lots of patients so they can identify more than the "classic" presentation you see in the textbook. This means that a skin tag can look like a lot of things, not just a big wrinkly balloon.

2. There is a wide range of benign skin growths and conditions that don't get any attention on Internet sites because they are harmless and boring. Only the scary stuff and the weird stuff gets Internet attention.

3. There is also a wide range of things that can happen with your skin that isn't even a condition or a growth, it's just skin doing weird things.

Have a doctor look at it, but don't fret about it. It sounds like it is something akin to a skin tag. I got something similar in the same general area and the derm said it was caused by wiping after using the bathroom - the motion was always pulling at the same area of skin. I had it removed, and it was fine.

[Unicorn1985]

Thank you both. I’ve calmed myself down this morning, he’s now looked up skin tags on the net and is saying he thinks it ticks all the boxes. I think I just need to leave it alone for a few weeks (if I keep checking constantly I won’t actually really notice it’s grown) and see if it’s bigger in a few weeks. If not then it will more than likely be harmless.

Sparky you are right with all you say. I had a really blood shot eye just in the corner, it looked awful, when I googled it kept bringing up cancer of the eye, some looked exactly like mine. When I went to the dr she told me what it was and I never heard of that in any google search I did. It never came up. Mine was caused over Xmas by cooking lots of fatty foods in the oven and the steam hitting my eye ball when I opened the oven door and damaging it in the corner. I must try to remember this in future when the anxiety gets bad x

[sarahsarah]

Take a few deep breaths, Unicorn. I am absolutely terrible for spiralling just like this so I am perhaps not the best person to be doling out advice (or maybe I am)? but you will get through this, I promise you.

The skin tag on my vulva looks nothing like any skin tag you will see a photo of if you google but that's what it is, the doctor just looked at it and said right away it was
a skin tag and she also said how tiny it was (I had in my mind it was huge and hideous because had never actually seen it with me own eyes, obviously) and that I shouldn't worry. Of course anxiety being what it is, I soon moved onto something else to obsess about but at least I stopped worrying about that.

The amount of time I have wasted worrying about health stuff that has completely cleared up within a fortnight or turned out to be nothing is terrible and such a waste. I don't want to see anyone else doing that xx

[Unicorn1985]

Hi.

this is a bit gross but I’ve got an abscess at the bottom of my bum, it’s in the crack (don’t know technical name sorry lol). It’s definitely my bottom and not my vagina area. It started off pea sized, then grew and was very painful. I ran a hot bath and it popped on it’s own, went back to pea size.

I then a couple of days ago wore a pair of undies that were a little too snug. It’s come up so big (much bigger than the last time it came up) and painful now. I’m talking painful just gently touching it. No head, just a huge lump under the skin. You can feel the fluid under it and the skin feels very strechted and looks a bit shiny. I ran a really hot bath yesterday and tried to squeeze it. Nothing. I couldn’t have the water any hotter than I did. So i sterilised a needle and set up a mirror, through tears I put a hole in it, well I drained so much puss and blood I went through about half a toilet roll catching it all. It only reduced in size by about half so it’s still huge. I just couldn’t lay there any longer squeezing it, it was so incredibly painful.

So now its half the size but still very sore. I bathe every day and I am also washing it with a flannel and soap after any bowel movements, plus applying antiseptic cream to it. Is there any thing I can do to get rid of this? It’s really getting me down I think I’m getting these as I’m very overweight at the moment, must be the sweat and things rubbing together. I want to get back into walking again but I’m scared the sweating will make it worse. I think I probably need antibiotics but last time I had penicillin I had horrendously itchy breasts for a good week, I must of had a mild reaction. I’m also due on my period in the next few days and I’m concerned that too will make or worse. I can’t use tampons.

any advice would be greatly appreciated please x

[Unicorn1985]

Thanks Sarah. It’s so hard not to spiral. I’m keeping myself busy and I’ve not touched it for a few days now. I know if I touch it every day and it is growing I won’t notice for a while. So I’m trying to leave it alone and check it in a week or two to see if it’s the same size. I’m really praying it’s just a skin tag, but the doubt creeps in and I start thinking it’s cancer and I’m ignoring it, I’ll end up dying because I left it too long. It’s so hard to be rational. I also keep thinking every concern so far has been benign so this probably is, but then my brain says what if this time it’s not benign. All the vulva cancer websites say to get any unexplained growths checked, that on its own freaked me out. I’m just really hoping it is a skin tag x