Pilonidal Sinus (Tailbone Cyst)?
In young adults, this condition (technical term: sinus pilonidalis) is a common cause of discomfort in the buttock fold area, caused by ingrown hairs.
If you are familiar with these symptoms on your buttocks, it is very likely that you have a Pilonidal Sinus:
- Pain when sitting
- Openings in the buttock fold
- a non-healing "pimple
- Traces of blood or pus on the pants
Then you should read on here and learn all the important facts. With this actually harmless condition, the consequences of a well-intentioned but unsuccessful operation are sometimes worse than the original problem. Therefore, trust our experience from over 6000 operations.
With the latest laser technology and a well thought-out concept, we will find the right path to healing for you. We offer an all-in-one solution of examination, consultation and treatment on an outpatient basis in one day. Save yourself general anaesthesia and hospitalisation! Then even a long journey to Munich is worthwhile.
Do I really have a Pilonidal sinus?
- What is a Pilonidal Sinus?
- What are the typical symptoms of pilonidal sinus?
- What can a Pilonidal Sinus look like?
Ignore? Operate? And if so, how?
- Possibilities of treatment without surgery
- Surgicalmethods for Pilonidal Sinus
- Advantages of laser treatment and laser surgery
I've already had surgery. The fistula's back. What to do?
- Why does a relapse occur?
- In which cases can minimally invasive treatment be used for recurrence?
- When is Karydakis surgery recommended?
Pilonidal sinus - What is it?
Mayo Fistula (lat. fistula tube, pipe) is the name given to a tubular duct resulting from chronic inflammation. The term sinus pilonidalis ( pilonidal sinus, pilonidal cyst, coccygeal cyst, sacral dermoid, dermoid cyst) dates from Hodge 1880 (lat. pilus = hair and nidus = nest).
These fistulas are only found in the gluteal fold. They can be chronic (= Pilonidal Sinus) or acute (= coccyx abscess). Ingrown or spiked hair leads to a state of irritation as a foreign body. A protective wall of scar tissue forms, the fistula capsule (foreign body granuloma).
A stable layer of collagenous connective tissue, the fascia, protects the gluteus and coccyx bone.
The rectum and sphincter are never involved.
The pilonidal sinus is a simple disease.
Which doctor is the best to go to?
Why does one need a specialist for a simple illness?
The coccyx fistula is a disease of the skin. Consequently, the dermatologist would be responsible. However, the first contact person is usually the family doctor. He will refer the patient to a surgeon.
About 50,000 patients are operated on a pilonidal sinus per year in Germany. In other words, each surgeon treats an average of only 1.4 Pilonidal Sinus patients per year. With this number of cases it will be difficult to gain experience.
Look for a doctor who really has a lot of experience with his method and who focuses on the treatment of Pilonidal Sinus . You should not choose the nearest hospital, not the quickest appointment, not the doctor who generally has the best reputation, but the best doctor for your problem.
Read also the interview with Dr Hofer
Pilonidal Sinus - OP: What is the problem?
The supposedly small intervention can have unexpectedly large consequences.
- Long healing period with sick leave
- Extensive and painful wound treatment,
- frequent wound healing disorders
- high relapse rate of up to 57 %(Deutsches Ärzteblatt 2019)
- scarring
- Repeated hospital stays
- Loss of income and career interruption
- Restrictions in sports fitness, weight gain
- Restrictions of body feeling and sexuality
Good decisions are based on experience.
We are the experts
6123
Operations for coccygeal fistula (as of 29.03.2023)
8763
Treatment cases for coccygeal fistula (as of 14.04.2022)
Laser Treatments
Experience in laser therapy and laser surgery since 2012
Cash and private
Full authorisation for outpatient surgery and integrated care
Pit Picking Operation - The gentle alternative
According to the current state of science, a healing of Pilonidal Sinus is only possible through surgery. The decisive factors for the success or failure of an operation were already described in 1965 by the English surgeon Peter Lord.
- The cause of Pilonidal Sinus is hair embedded in the subcutaneous tissue.
- All penetrated hair must be completely removed.
- All entry ports (pores, pits) for hair must be identified and eliminated.
- These goals can usually be achieved by a comparatively simple, small operation
All fistulas will heal if they are not kept open. A pilonidal sinus is a foreign body - fistula, with hair being the foreign body. If the hair is removed, the fistula will heal
Surgical techniques
Wide excision and leaving the wound open ("Butcher method")
The story of the operation of Pilonidal Sinus begins with an error.
At the beginning of the last century, when the diagnosis of the pilonidal sinus became increasingly common, including in soldiers in World War I ("Jeep's Disease"), one thought of the congenital disease of an embryonic malformation.
In other words, a relapse (recurrence) could not occur after complete removal. However, after recurrences were nevertheless observed, the extent of the operations was extended more and more.
This radical removal (Latin 'radix', root) became accepted worldwide. Although this theory has been Patey is regarded as refuted, most surgeons still stick to this outdated therapy concept.
Excision with closure of the wound by local tissue transfer (flap surgery)
Why not close the wound by stitches?
With a simple suture in the midline, wound infections are common, the suture bursts open or must be reopened to control infection.
In addition, the suture leads to a slight inversion of the wound edges, which favours the re-growth of hair and thus the relapse (recurrence).
The constant movements while walking and sitting cause shearing forces in the area of the gluteal fold, which prevent a stable healing of a sutured wound.
For this reason, procedures have been developed to reduce the tension in the sutures by relocating the patient's own tissue (flap plasty) and to enable a laterally displaced (medically: lateralised) suture:
- Karydakis - Operation
- Limberg - Operation and the related Dufourmentel - Technique
The alternatives to conventional surgery
Pit picking surgery, laser surgery (SiLaC®), sinusectomy, endoscopy (EPSiT)
Less is more:
On the basis of the pit-picking technique developed in England and popularised in the USA, we have various variants of this gentle treatment available.
Pit picking refers to the selective removal of the affected hair roots as skin cylinders of 2-5 mm diameter and the cleaning of the fistula tract from deposited hair fragments.
The more perfectly this goal is achieved, the lower the risk of recurrence of fistula formation.
The decision for the best technology is made individually:
- Laser treatment of the fistula from the inside using a glass fibre probe(SiLaC®)
- Precise peeling along the fistula capsule(sinusectomy or fistulectomy).
- Videoendoscopic surgery (Endoscopic Pilonidal Sinus Therapy EPSiT)
Aftercare after the operation
Optimize the healing process and avoid relapses
With us you will not be left alone after the operation.
The best operation does not guarantee a problem-free healing. In questions of aftercare, we advise you already at the surgery appointment.
Especially if you live further away, your relative can become your private wound specialist. We support you through all common digital communication channels.
From our information brochure you will learn what to expect in the course.
At the follow-up appointment in the practice, your surgeon will personally take care of the optimal healing process, if necessary.
In our special wound and laser consultation your wound will be professionally cared for by a trained and experienced therapist.
The success story of our practice
From the idea to an internationally renowned treatment centre
Mail from Dr. John Bascom from Eugene, Oregon
It must have been around 2003. Having successfully passed the specialist examination, I was entitled to operate on my own. The first procedures that await a young surgeon are the supposedly simple ones - like removing a Pilonidal Sinus.
In specialist medical training, the complete excision of the fistula region down to the bone, which many patients now call the "Metzger method", was taught.
My friend and colleague Dr. K. had to experience first hand a painful wound treatment lasting 9 months after such an operation in a large Munich clinic.
A revolutionary new method from England and the USA
"There's got to be some other way to do this," were his words that lingered in my ear canal.
My research on the then just burgeoning internet brought me to the method of Dr. John Bascom from the USA. The inventor was actually the British surgeon Dr. Peter Lord. Bascom's merit was to make the "Pit Picking" - operation known worldwide.
Thank you, John Bascom, for all your help and support! The pioneer of the pit picking method sent me a package with instructions, a video CD and self-drawn graphics. In difficult cases you could always get good advice from him by mail.
Evolution of the Pit Picking Technique Operation
Despite a success rate of initially only about 50 %, the patients were happy to have escaped the standard operation. Consequently, more and more requests came in. I was and am constantly on the lookout for innovative medical technology, fine special instruments, medicinal therapies and biomaterials.
Today we achieve cure rates of > 90 %. Currently, about 1000 patients per year visit our practice with a Pilonidal Sinus .
From this we have learned that minimally invasive techniques are not only suitable for a first operation. Also the relapse (recurrence) can be taken away with it the frights.