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Experts in treating and preventing pilonidal cysts

The Pilonidal Care Program at Boston Children’s Hospital specializes in the treatment of pilonidal cysts. Our team has a broad range of expertise in treating pilonidal disease and preventing its recurrence.

  • We offer the largest pilonidal care program for teens and young adults in North America.
  • We treat more than 300 children and teens with pilonidal disease each year from Massachusetts and beyond.
  • We have a success rate of over 90 percent without the need for painful, debilitating operations.
  • We research every aspect of the care we provide and create a customized plan specific for the needs of each patient.
  • We treat the vast majority of our patients with non-invasive care.
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Read our research articles

  1. Resolution of pilonidal disease after bone marrow transplantation: A case report. Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports. 2024 July.
  2. Resolution of Mild Pilonidal Disease in Adolescents Without Resection. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 2022 November.
  3. A minimally invasive pilonidal protocol improves quality of life in adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. 2021 October.
  4. Pit-picking resolves pilonidal disease in adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. 2018 October.
  5. Improving resource utilization and outcomes using a minimally invasive pilonidal protocol. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. 2019 September.

Non-invasive pilonidal cyst treatment

Our main priority is providing care that has the least impact on a patient’s life. To us, this means the least pain, fewest days of missed school and the shortest period of exercise restrictions. Our patients enjoy a full sports and activity level throughout the course of their treatment with no restrictions.

Teen years are short. Every patient deserves to live free of the burden of this disease during this important time. We have two mottos in our clinic: 1. No torture and 2. no surprises. We explain everything that we do in full detail in advance and alert patients to anything that is even potentially painful.

Pilonidal cyst removal and follow-up care

Our treatment plan begins with improved hygiene and hair removal, as needed. For patients with thick, coarse hair, we offer laser hair removal.

Once the acute inflammation has resolved we perform a sinusectomy in the office with local anesthesia. After the well-tolerated procedure, patients have no activity restrictions and can promptly return to their pre-procedure activities.

Patients return for follow-up office visits and wound checks at six to eight-week intervals until they have no further signs of pilonidal disease and have a minimum risk of recurrence.