Facial Cyst--OW

It started small. I thought I was just getting a deeper pimple on my cheek just off my nose, and did my usual skincare routine. But then, this past week, it proved to be something different. I woke up to get ready to go to work. My face hurt and felt extremely hot, so I went to the bathroom and discovered what was really happening. (I apologize: none of the pictures are going to be flattering or pretty, but nothing graphic, don't worry.)

My face had swollen up on that side and with the amount of pain I was in, I knew this had to be a cyst, not a simple zit. I called out sick and then went to work finding a local dermatologist ASAP. A few hours later I took another picture before heading in to my appointment.

It had gotten worse, puffing up under my eye and everything. I was so grateful to be seen that very day. Once in the office, they did agree it was an inflamed cyst and gave me my options. Draining it in office was a bad idea since, by being inflamed, it was clearly infected and therefore any draining done to it would be no guarantee that it would not return within a few months. The first option was to take some oral antibiotics and hope that fixed it from within. The second option was going to be very painful with the potential for the skin to dent in as it healed, but had the potential to clear it up faster and keep it from returning: an injection of antibiotics directly into it. I took the second option.

As you can see from how much more swelling there was, it hurt a LOT and didn't make it feel much better, but I could drive home and rest, icing my face. The next day, I looked better, though.

The swelling had gone down a bit and you can see the cyst has opened where the injection occurred. I did keep it covered after this, at least for the day. The pain has gone down as long as I don't touch it.

After another day, the swelling had gone down and the cyst itself had scabbed over, so this is roughly what I look like now. I think I will cover it for work, though, since, well, I don't like it.