First aid, not radical treatment
Suppuration of the epithelial-coccygeal tract is manifested by sharp pain in the intergluteal fold, swelling and redness, often with increased temperature. An autopsy provides quick relief, but does not eliminate the cause: the tract itself with the hair follicles remains, and suppuration is repeated, each time leaving new fistula openings and scars. Therefore, an autopsy is considered as the first stage, and 1–3 months after the inflammation subsides, a radical excision of the tract is performed. The more suppurations suffered, the more extensive the scar changes and the more complex the radical operation.
The purulent process does not wait
Acute paraproctitis is a purulent inflammation of the tissue around the rectum. It is manifested by increasing throbbing pain, swelling, redness and high temperature. This is an emergency condition: pus spreads through the cellular spaces, and a delay of several days turns a limited abscess into an extensive phlegmon.
Antibiotics do not work here without opening: they cannot penetrate the cavity delimited by a purulent capsule. The only effective approach is opening and drainage.
Basic conditions
- acute paraproctitis - an abscess in the perirectal tissue
- suppurating pararectal cyst - inflammation of a pre-existing cystic formation
- suppurating epithelial-coccygeal tract - inflammation of the congenital canal in the intergluteal fold
- suppurating epithelial-coccygeal cyst - a cavitary form of the same process
- boil - purulent inflammation of the hair follicle
What happens after opening
An autopsy relieves the acute condition: pain and fever go away within 24 hours. However, with paraproctitis and the coccygeal tract, after healing, a fistula often forms, requiring planned radical intervention in 1–3 months. The patient is warned about this in advance - this is not a complication, but a natural stage in the course of the disease.