The only problem is that there is always the risk of it getting infected. Fistula, may be described by other people as a big pimple on top of the butt crack.

Introduction If you are reading this website, you are probably looking for a better way to treat your pilonidal disease. Please read on Over the past century, many patients with pilonidal disease have received suboptimal care, as many medical practitioners (including surgeons) don’t fully understand the root cause of pilonidal disease and also underestimate its impact on the lives of young patients. Many doctors continue to believe that the cause of pilonidal disease is a congenital cyst (i.e., a cyst present from birth). This is not true. There is no cyst. Pilonidal disease is simply an infection under the skin between one’s buttock cheeks that typically arises from a trapped hair or fiber.

It’s an acquired disease. It’s challenging to treat because of where it develops, the moist airless environment there, and the repeated pressure of sitting, and motion in the region. Many surgeons choose to treat patients with disfiguring, wide-excisional operations hoping to resect the elusive cyst. The problem is that many of these radical operations: 1) don’t work and lead to a recurrence and, 2) even if they eventually fix the problem, have a long recovery which is often miserable for the patient and his/her caregiver.

When these operations fail they often make the problem worse. Moreover, few surgeons want to tackle pilonidal disease. Even fewer care to operate on patients that have failed surgery from other surgeons. Sternberg: premier expert in pilonidal disease As I started my fellowship in 1999, I was one of those physicians who were reluctant to treat a patient with pilonidal disease. But the turning point came when I expressed this concern to an attending who knew of ‘a better way’ to treat the disease and invited me to join him for cases. From that time, and through visits with John and Tom Bascom, I learned a technique that made sense and worked. Since then, increasingly difficult cases obliged me to innovate variations that have led to my current technique.

I now have a better way to cure pilonidal disease: I have extensive experience performing an operation called the Cleft Lift procedure (approximately 1,500 cases since 2002) and perform it regularly, curing almost 100% of patients. So why do I want to operate on patients with difficult pilonidal problems? 1) I truly am gratified when I improve a patient’s quality of life, and 2) the operation that I perform cures almost every patient, even when they’ve failed prior surgical attempts. I am committed to helping cure pilonidal patients of their disease, and, in the long run, wish to change the way other doctors treat patients with pilonidal disease so these patients have access to reliable and appropriate care. Pilonidal disease overview Pilonidal disease (pie-low-NIE-dul), a chronic infection of the skin and underlying tissue near the tailbone, is a common disorder. It typically affects people in their teens, 20’s, and 30’s and often disappears by the age of forty. In its most severe form, pilonidal disease can be very debilitating, causing daily discomfort and limiting activity.