Have Small Roundish Protruding Lump On Back Near Spinal Cord. Skin Round Is Red And Is Painless. Suggest?

Posted on Thu, 18 Jul 2013

Question: I have a small roundish protruding lump on my middle back just to the right of my spinal cord. It is reddish in color around the outside of the lump and normal skin color in the middle. It has been there for maybe a couple of years. It has grown just a very little bit since I first noticed it. It is painless. Any thoughts on what it could possibly be and what type of doctor should I see? Thank you

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (31 minutes later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

This lump looks like sebaceus cyst. This is a benign skin lesion, filled with whitish masses. The reason of its appearance is unknown. It can stay under the skin for years, gradually growing. This lumps are usually harmless. However sebaceus cysts are prone to get infected. In such case, the pain, redness and swelling appears due to pus accumulation. Infected lump needs to be incised and pus drained.

That is why, it is good to remove this lump before it will get infected. It is because non infected cyst can be removed completely so it wont regrow. When infected, complete removal is usually impossible.

I suggest you to visit general surgeon and have this lump removed.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar