The Importance of Annual Skin Cancer Screenings
If you want a way to protect yourself against the most common type of cancer in the United States, you should schedule an annual skin check with your dermatologist.
When you have an unexplained growth anywhere on your body, it’s disconcerting, to say the least. But when you discover one developing under your hair, the inability to see it clearly and the seemingly unusual spot can feel particularly alarming.
Actually, cysts on your scalp are common enough to have their own name: pilar cysts. They’re usually not dangerous, and they’re treatable. The same goes for the other types of cysts that can develop on your scalp, like trichilemmal, epidermal, and sebaceous cysts.
In fact, at all of our LUX Dermatology offices throughout California and Nevada, our team of cyst experts specializes in scalp cysts. We can check your cyst and determine if you should pursue treatment.
In some cases, your cyst might go away on its own. If it doesn’t, we’re here.
Some cysts, especially fluid-filled ones, may go away on their own with time. If the cysts bursts and the fluid inside it drains, for example, the previously raised area will likely become level with your scalp. (If the fluid that drains smells bad, don’t worry. That’s normal.)
The issue is that many cysts that go away on their own end up coming back.
The good news about scalps cysts is that they’re almost always benign, meaning they don’t pose a threat to your health. The bad news is that they can be uncomfortable.
If your cyst isn’t bothering you, you can monitor it for a couple of weeks to see if it will disappear naturally. But if it’s painful when you brush your hair, it’s not getting smaller, or it’s recurrent, don’t hesitate to talk to our team at LUX Dermatology.
At our offices, our cyst specialists have a variety of treatment options to get rid of pilar cysts, along with other types of cysts that can develop on your scalp.
In many cases, treating the cyst comes down to properly draining it. We numb the area to ensure you’re completely comfortable during this minor procedure. We might create an incision to manually remove the contents of your cyst, or we may use fine-needle aspiration to extract the fluid from your cyst.
After this treatment, your cyst should heal in a week or two.
In other cases, our LUX Dermatology provider might recommend surgically removing the entire cyst or some other treatment, depending on what’s right for your scalp.
At the end of the day, you’re not stuck with a cyst on your scalp. If it doesn’t go away on its own, don’t hesitate to call one of our offices in California or Nevada or schedule an appointment by booking online today.
