The funniest video ever .... but slightly disgusting...

[Falcon1]

You must never have had a boil.

What de hale is MRSA?

- OS

Fortunately, no, but I have seen them. We saw a lot of boils at public schools a few years back, unfortunately. I'm still not convinced that it wasn't the amount of beer the "patient" consumed before the video was shot didn't have more to do with the lack of pain.

From what I've seen (IANAMD), sebaceous cyst discharges seem to be more "string-like" and less "cottage-cheese-like" with much less blood mixed in than in the video, but again, I indeed may be wrong. It is true that there did not appear to be much redness at the site of the cyst, boil, or whatever it was.

MRSA--Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus:

MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus)

Edited August 8, 2009 by Falcon1

[Oh Shoot]

Fortunately, no, but I have seen them. We saw a lot of boils at public schools a few years back, unfortunately. I'm still not convinced that it wasn't the amount of beer the "patient" consumed before the video was shot didn't have more to do with the lack of pain.

From what I've seen (IANAMD), sebaceous cyst discharges seem to be more "string-like" and less "cottage-cheese-like" with much less blood mixed in than in the video, but again, I indeed may be wrong. It is true that there did not appear to be much redness at the site of the cyst, boil, or whatever it was.

MRSA--Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus:

MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus)

Boils are painful, as they are filled with pus (since they are an infection), which puts pressure on nerve endings. They will also eventually head up, usually inside of two weeks. They won't just sit there with no head for months. If that were a boil, that guy would have been screaming if he were dead drunk on top of a couple of quaaludes.

Sebaceous cysts are encapsulated, and not filled with pus, but rather sebum. The encapsulation keeps it separate from nerves, so generally no pain, unless the thing ruptures (in which case it becomes infected and heads up). I've had two, and in both cases the uck in there was a combo of "shapes", long strands and round "curds". The long strands may actually be the wall of the cyst disintegrating, not sure. The sebum is thick and semi-solid, feels waxy (it's original purpose is to lubricate).

The larger question is why in the hell do I care enough about his to even post?

- OS

[Falcon1]

The larger question is why in the hell do I care enough about his to even post?

- OS

Morbid fascination on the part of all of us?

[Punisher84]

They just saved $500-600

That was my first thought lol

Sebaceous cysts do not necessarily start as "zits". They can begin their growth in the under layers of the skin and, in fact, you may never be able to bring it to a head and force any of the contents through the skin without some sort of incision through the sac.

Life without insurance for a couple years, when money is tight and you're trying to feed your own face and pay bills, is how this happens. It didn't bother me badly until it got inflamed. Every so often I would have muscle spasms similar to tendonitis or I would temporarily lose circulation if I sat at funny angles, and feel pin pricks in my hands and fingers... but I lived through that stuff.

I am still in the recovery stages from one. If I can find them on my wife's old phone, I've got pics of what mine looked like before it was removed. Let's just say the surgeon and my MD both said it was the largest they had ever seen. Nurses were called in for show-and-tell at both offices. It looked as though someone embedded a softball within my back and it WAS even larger, once, when it got inflamed.

They did it at the outpatient center, but they had to completely put me under for several hours. The actual incision covered nearly 6 inches in length, and about 5 square inches of my skin had to be completely removed. It had entangled around nerves up and down my spine, as it was located just between my two shoulder blades. The scar looks like the stitches on a football. (correct scale, even)

The wound was so large and the interior damage was so extensive that it took 2 weeks for it to heal enough for them to actually close it up. For the first week, I had a tube sewn in to allow for drainage and it would drain into packs of gauze which had to be frequently changed. Following that, it was to remain open but without a tube.

I had to go back in for the most excruciating follow up visits you could ever imagine. The only thing I've even encountered that came close was when I had a nerve exposed on my leg. Every time anything barely even grazed it, it was nearly enough to make me pass out.

Well, this draining process and subsequent follow up visits were like that, every time. Except the doc wouldn't just "graze" by, he would squeeze on it like all holy hell, pressing his weight down on my back to force it to bleed and cleanse the inside of the wound... for several minutes at a time. My eyes rolled back in my head more than once. The last time, it was all I could do not to insert my fingers in his neck and cure my pain.

That's been over a year ago, and I constantly have nerve twitches as they regrow and associate in my back; less now than it used to be. However, I still get the most amazing itches. They just hit all at once and you HAVE to scratch them. Sometimes, my back goes itching for hours at a time until I can get home and have my wife scratch it for me. When I finally get it scratched, it never seems like it can get scratched hard enough.

As benfield stated... true hell. The cyst itself is relatively painless until it gets inflamed. We think mine happened because I landed on something at an odd angle and burst the interior sac and it leaked out inside my back. The hell is in the aftermath.

That has got to be one of the most horrible stories I've ever heard man. That just sounds horrific.

I showed this video to a couple of guys at work today. I even managed to get one of them to start dry heaving.

Bunch of Nancys! Must have been logistics guys

[Guest Ghostrider]

Boils are painful, as they are filled with pus (since they are an infection), which puts pressure on nerve endings. They will also eventually head up, usually inside of two weeks. They won't just sit there with no head for months. If that were a boil, that guy would have been screaming if he were dead drunk on top of a couple of quaaludes.

Sebaceous cysts are encapsulated, and not filled with pus, but rather sebum. The encapsulation keeps it separate from nerves, so generally no pain, unless the thing ruptures (in which case it becomes infected and heads up). I've had two, and in both cases the uck in there was a combo of "shapes", long strands and round "curds". The long strands may actually be the wall of the cyst disintegrating, not sure. The sebum is thick and semi-solid, feels waxy (it's original purpose is to lubricate).

The larger question is why in the hell do I care enough about his to even post?

- OS

OS - you are dead on that the "pus" (I used the common term) is actually sebum. My bet is that through just draining the cyst and pressing on it they got the membrane to rupture and traumatized the local tissues, causing the blood mix towards the end. GIs "bust" these things in the field all the time rather than go see the doc, then you get one that's infected and a cyst with something sweet like pseudomonas cooking in it. It creates a "unique aroma".

In other words, it's not uncommon to see some blood in a cyst after it's been dorked with by a civilian. I'm betting that guy ended up on some really good antibiotics with a hole in his back.

I watched a lot more of those on youtube (search for "pus") and it's amazing how silly some of these folks are, and what appears to be a lot of tattooists draining them....

Edited August 9, 2009 by Ghostrider
For me, it's professional interest. For you, not so sure... ;)

[Garufa]

Whatever all you shade-tree doctors decide on what that big-ass zit really is, I'm fascinated by watching this grotesque video.

[strickj]

Bump for awesomeness in case anyone missed it the first time around

[BlueRaiderFan]

Thanks for the bump, I didn't need to miss that.

[Guest H0TSH0T]

did some one say Eskimo-ice-cream?

[Guest KarlS]

This went from funny?? To some serious educational "cyst" facts. WTF That was some disgusting stuff. View with empy stomach.