New with abscess healing question

[Flash]

Hi there,

Just to start off, huge thank-you to all who post on here! Comforting when something new happens.

I had never heard of Perianal abscesses before last week. Turns out what I thought was hemorrhoids, turned out to be a good size perianal abscess. I am sure others have had DVT's associated with Crohn's disease but I am on warfarin which always is out of control when Crohn's flairs up, so they would not lance the abscess until it my warfarin levels were good. It burst on its own the following day, and I get to see my gastro (appointment was made 6 months ago, so good timing on that) later this week. However I am concerned with the healing process, what do the abscesses feel like when they are healing? Mine isn't really shrinking anymore, while it is not painful, it is hardening, normal?

Thanks
Mike

 

[sawdust]

Hello Flash, and welcome to the forum. I can't directly answer your question, but I wanted to encourage you to continue to work closely with your GI concerning your abscess. I'm not sure how much an abscess can heal without drainage? I would definitely get an opinion on it at your appointment. :hug:

 

[Sailorluna]

Hi Mike,
You mentioned that the abscess is hardening, this could be a sign of it filling up again. They can fill and burst repeatedly. You may want to spend some time in a hot bath or on a heating pad, the heat will encourage the infection to continue to drain if there is still some in there. With luck there is no fistula and you abscess will heal up and and not re-occur. I am glad to hear that you are seeing the doc soon. Or perhaps you already have? Good luck!

 

[JoFowler]

I agree with Sailorluna above. I have had mine a little over six months and it goes through cycles of pain, filling up, eventually draining and going down. I have to do three sitz baths a day....if I skip even one, I get a blister that forms and the whole cycle of it filling up starts again, and it is painful.

Hopefully you are on the mend, that would be great Good luck with it!

 

[KWalker]

I agree with what Sailorluna and JoFowler said. Mine went through the same cycles of filling and draining. I would always know when they reached their "maximum capacity" as well because they would start to hurt, but then soon after they would pop again and the pain would release as well. I'm still healing from an abscess but luckily I haven't had pain from it lately and it is continually getting smaller while the drainage is just enough to allow it to decrease in size.

Once you have an abscess you can expect a lengthy healing process unfortunately because it does not heal like a normal cut. It could take anywhere from weeks to months, and even up to a year to heal so just don't get too worried if you feel it isn't getting better.

 

[annawato]

All the anal abscesses I've had have cleared up after being drained/lanced by the doctor and haven't returned so yours may well be healing. I guess the main thing is to keep an eye on it and get it checke d by your gastro/doctor if the lump remains. hopefully yours will disappear like mine did.