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What Causes Painful Lump On Shin?

Posted on Mon, 29 Dec 2014

Question: I have a small (1cm), hard, painful lump in my shin. I noticed it a few weeks ago, but my shin has been sore for a few months. It seems to be growing slowly, but it does t protrude from my skin, it's just hard & painful under the skin. Any suggestions?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (16 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Evaluation of the lump will be needed. Cpild you give me a bi more information?

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Can you please attach a photo of it so I can give more precise answer?

A lump on the shin which is painful can be caused by varicose vein with blood clot or infected sebaceus cyst.
Shin pain especially calf pain along with its hardness can be caused by deep veins thrombosis. This is more possible when it has started after some injury or if you take any hormonal pills. The lump should be present in the area when there was a varicose vein or visible vein before.
Sebaceus cyst is a benign skin lesion. When it gets infected, the pus appears and leads to pain and swelling.

In both cases you should consult general surgeon. Veins thrombosis should be diagnosed with Dopplers veins ultrasound and treated with Heparin injections.
Infected sebaceus cyst should be incised and drained.

This is the best answer I can give not being able to see it.

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

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (49 minutes later)

Thank you for looking at my question. This is a picture of it. It is just barely red right now, though after a shower, bath or exercise, it seems to get more red. It is not raised above my skin, it is a hard lump under my skin.

I had a blood test to check for a blood clot (as i am on birth control), but the test came back negative.

In the past year and a half, I have lost 80 pounds (I still have 30 pounds to go), and have switched to a clean eating, pescetarian lifestyle. I exercise 6 dats a week as well, but do not recall any injuries to my shin. Do you think that these lifestyle changes may have anything to do with this lump?

Thank you in advance for your assistance. I greatly appreciate your opinion!

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (4 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Lifestyle change is not the case.

Detailed Answer:
I do not think the lifestyle changes could have any impact on that.
The lump is not in the area where veins can get clotted. So veins thrombosis is rather hardly possible in that case.
So most likely it is a kind of soft tissues benign lesion. I suggest you to have soft tissues ultrasound at first. This should give good answer on what it might be. Consult general surgeon with an ultrasound result.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad