A Journey Through the Healthcare Maze Imagine being a healthy 27-year-old male, living life as usual, when one day, a small bump appears near the tailbone. It grows bigger, becomes painful, and makes sitting uncomfortable. What seems like a minor issue soon spirals into a long, frustrating medical ordeal filled with failed treatments, misguided advice,Continue reading “A Tale of Improper Pilonidal Care: The Fog of Confusion”
A friend, Clayton Barhorst (an MD), wrote and recorded this song (A Song for a Healer).
So, you develop a symptomatic pilonidal “cyst” (really an abscess), or sinus and you see a local surgeon. The surgeon advises surgery. What operation does that surgeon recommend? This is a critical question for anybody with symptoms of pilonidal disease (often incorrectly called pilonidal cyst), as not all operations are equivalent, and many operations canContinue reading “Make the Cleft Lift Procedure Your First Choice of Surgery”
Are you dealing with a failed “pilonidal cyst” surgery? Learn about the Cleft Lift Procedure. So, you have had one, or more, operations for your pilonidal disease (often incorrectly referred to as a pilonidal cyst), and now you have a recurrence or an open wound. You may have daily drainage. You may require wound careContinue reading “Don’t Live with Failed Surgery for a Pilonidal Cyst”
Dr. Sternberg will be presenting a talk on Pilonidal Disease: Truths, Myths, and Pearls as part of the Colorectal Surgery Virtual Educational Series (CRSVirtualEd) on March 26th at 7pm EST. (https://crsvirtualed.org/) The talk will be intended for a medical audience made up of doctors, faculty, and residents in the Colorectal Surgery field. Any medical practitionersContinue reading “Pilonidal Disease: Truths, Myths, and Pearls”
Pilonidal disease is a common condition affecting perhaps 1% of the young population in the United States. Few medical practitioners appreciate the prevalence of this condition, and it is surprising how misunderstood this condition is by medical providers including surgeons. Way too many patients are having their condition improperly diagnosed. Many urgent care providers, pediatricians,Continue reading “Underappreciated and Misunderstood”
Dr. Sternberg’s paper has been published in the Seminars in Colon and Rectal Surgery journal. The Cleft Lift procedure for pilonidal disease renamed as rotation and advancement flap procedure (RAF): Insights and technical tips for a successful outcome is available online here. Here is a note from Dr. Sternberg: In this paper I describe theContinue reading “Dr. Sternberg Paper Published”
Clearly, if you develop pilonidal disease, you would like to avoid surgery if possible. Surgical avoidance, however, may not be completely under your control. For early, mild pilonidal disease with a small pit or two and occasional pain, surgery may not be inevitable if the symptoms remain mild. Avoiding sitting for long periods of timeContinue reading “Is Surgery Inevitable for Pilonidal Disease”
