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Mystery Abscess?

Hi I'm new to this forum and wanted to introduce myself.

I'm a woman in my mid-20s, currently dealing with a perianal fistula. I joined up today because of a scare I'm currently dealing with.

I have had a seton in since ~Aug. of 2015 after getting a very large abscess a couple months before (I&D produced 100 cc's of initial drainage). The seton had been slowly draining less and less since the immediate post-op period, but yesterday there was suddenly a lot of swelling and hardness around that area, I got a fever, and it's basically stopped draining despite my attempts to tug on the seton and do multiple sitz baths. Usually it doesn't take much movement for the thing to drain at least a little bit.

It seems that despite the seton, either A) a new abscess is forming or B) my old abscess has come back, meaning that either 1) my current seton is clogged (I tried pulling it around and it seems to move okay / seems that the tract is clear so this is perhaps not the cause) or 2) my current seton never actually addressed the root of the abscess. And so it has flared up again.

It's all very confusing and I hope to get a hold of my surgeon tomorrow. At the same time it's frightening because sometimes the procedures are sudden and painful. I'm nervous because I'm supposed to get on a flight on Fri. and start a new job next Mon. I want to make a good impression--taking sick time isn't really conducive to that lol.

Has anyone else had a situation like this? Seton in for moderate period of ~6 months and everything's okay, then suddenly an abscess reforms or new abscess emerges? I thought setons were supposed to prevent abscess formation and that was the whole point of the pain of getting a seton lol. What I suspect is this developing abscess is now forming along the lines of my old abscess, which of course coincides with where my current seton is located.

I'd write a whole lot more--provide the full director's cut extended edition origin story for all this--but don't want to ramble too much....
 
Ok, I am now maybe 12 hrs into this latest bout (can't think of another word to describe this) and am convinced that this is an abscess and it's the same one. It's weird because my seton essentially forms a border of the abscess, the side that's near my anus.

It's getting pretty uncomfortable despite the sitz baths and hot showers, and I've already taken an Advil. Sooo nervous about seeing the doctor tomorrow! His office is closed on weekends so I don't even know if he's in next week, I'm just going to show up when it opens and hope he can squeeze me in (and we can squeeze this pus out).
 
Sorry I don't have any experience with this but it is possible for abscesses to reform so it's good you are going to get it looked at. Hope you find relief soon.
 
Welcome to the forum. I hope you can get into your doctor and he can help you out. I don't remember the last exact name but there is a section in here called Fistulas, Fissures and Abscesses
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
Welcome to the community. Were you able to get in to see the doctor?

There's various potential causes for a perianal abscess. Have they run a bunch of tests on you to see if they could figure out why you're getting them?
 
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