Sebaceous Cyst

(Warning: this blog contains graphic material that may not be suitable for small children or the squeamish)



Once the Super Bowl is done and we are all sick of winter and snowmobiling, we resort of some bizarre forms of entertainment. This week I operated on a friend at home. She has a sebaceous cyst on her neck, which we are preparing to remove.......

....you can't see it in the last picture, but in this one, where I scared the Hell out of her by pulling out a giant syringe and teased her with it, you can see it stick out a little better.......

....I brought home from the hospital this bag of supplies. Sort of a "Home Surgery In A Bag" thing. We go from this test market to nation-wide in the spring. We plan to sell millions (just kidding)........

....we laid out the supplies............

....I then put on some betadine prep for sterility..........

....on go the sterile gloves.........

.....here goes the needle part everyone hates. I use Marcaine, a local anesthetic that lasts 3-4 hours........

....then for the incision (warning: this blog contains graphic material that may not be suitable for small children or the squeamish)....

....teasing it out of her.........

....at this point, something interesting happened. The patient got lightheaded. Her husband came to hold her hand and he got lightheaded.Wendy was taking pictures and she got lightheaded. So this picture is blurry. Almost done.....

....placing the last closing suture. This is monofilament absorbable suture, buried under the skin so you cannot see it. Like the emperor's new clothes.......

....the final product. (small children and the squeamish may look now)......

....the cyst was cut open and the contents examined to make sure it was just a benign cyst.

Normal people would be bored with winter at this time of the year, but most would make popcorn or play scrabble.

Uncle Hans