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One day at a time , 28 Aug 2017

Cannot believe I did this

Hi everyone!
I recently noticed a red bump on the outside of my left calf. Well, I tried to ignore it but that lasted for all of 20 minutes. It had been a super stressful day, and ALL I wanted to do was pick at that spot. When I started squeezing it I saw that there was a white spot a little deeper in the middle of it and so I tried to squeeze it like a pimple. It wouldn't pop! At this point, I'm fully invested in getting this white thing out, so I start clearing away the skin surrounding it so that I can grab it with the tweezers. When I get it with the tweezers it starts to come out, but I can see that it's hard and super long. Well, the part that I had broke off leaving just a little tip of white showing. I bet you know where this is going. I dug into my skin around the white thing to make it long enough to grasp with my tweezers- creating a dime-sized wound in the process. It continued to break off three more times and I dug deeper and deeper. I didn't even feel pain. Eventually I got to what I can only describe as the core of whatever it was, and was able to remove it completely. It was the size of two poppyseeds, and very hard. Once I pulled it out, I saw that there was a hole where it had been-and it looked like in the hole was some more loose tissue. I squeezed the whole wound, and out popped a round piece of fat (I worked in the OR for many years, so I know fat when I see it). I had dug all the way down to the fatty layer on my leg. Only then did I notice the damage I'd done to myself. I don't know how to heal this without going to a doctor. I'm currently changing the bandaid twice a day, washing it gently, and spraying Bactine into it before applying another bandaid. It's starting to get firm and red around the wound, but there is little to no puss. I'd really like to avoid the embarrassment of going to a doctor. Any one else ever pick this deep? Any advice would be so appreciated. Thank you

2 Answers
serene
August 29, 2017

Chasing those white nodules deep inside the pore is what does a lot of us in. Its the chase of the hunt, some sort of challenge for us to come to the rescue of our skin. I personally never extracted fat from a picked sore. Its worrisome because when you damage the fat layer, it can leave an obvious indentation on the skin. I am sure that it will heal in time, you just need to give it a week to two weeks. Once the wound closes up a bit you can maybe apply medicated Manuka honey in order to speed up the healing process? Its used in hospitals to heal wounds. Just allow the inflammatory process to take its course for now. Which band-aids are you using currently? Switch to hydrocolloid bandaids and the wound will heal much faster.

mbr1978
August 31, 2017

Hello there...
So that's what it was... a year ago I picked my skin near my cheek so much for so long... I was convinced there was a cyst inside that whole since after squeezing a pimple, the bump would not go away for days... but with a needle I managed to "fish" a transparent/ yellowy raisin size (a bit wrinkled like one) slippery mass out of it, which got out out of a sudden from the small hole... it hurt so much to "pull any further" that I freaked out... and put it back in.
That incident scared me and made me realize I had a problem. It was a reality check.
But until today I thought it had been a soft cyst or even something unknown to man.
Good news is: I washed it over and over and used antiseptics to clean it, anti inflammatory ointment for 2 days, lots of ice at the time to prevent it from becoming swollen and went to bed / slept over it for many hours.
The next day it looked bad... but not as awful as I expected, and to my surprise it healed ok. No marks.
Just watch it and see if it seems to be healing with no serious infections... otherwise it would be best to see a doctor. :-(
I hope it will sort out fine without any further stress...!

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