{ "slug": "pilonidal-cyst-pregnancy", "question": "Can you get a pilonidal cyst during pregnancy, and how should it be treated?", "shortTitle": "Pilonidal Cyst During Pregnancy", "clinicalQuestion": "Among pregnant women, especially in the third trimester, what is the incidence of pilonidal cyst/sinus disease, and what treatments (conservative versus surgical) are safe and effective during pregnancy?", "pico": { "population": "Pregnant women, particularly in the third trimester, who develop or are at risk of pilonidal cyst/sinus disease", "intervention": "Conservative management (hygiene, hair removal, warm compresses, topical or oral antibiotics) or surgical incision/drainage or excision performed during pregnancy", "comparator": "No treatment during pregnancy, deferral of surgery until postpartum, or standard management in non-pregnant patients", "outcomes": [ "Symptom resolution (pain, swelling, discharge) during pregnancy", "Need for surgical drainage or excision before delivery", "Labor and delivery complications", "Wound healing time", "Recurrence rate postpartum", "Rate of abscess formation or systemic infection" ] }, "category": "anorectal", "relatedConditions": [ "pilonidal-cyst", "pilonidal-sinus", "pregnancy-complications" ], "relatedTreatments": [], "relatedEvidence": [], "bottomLine": { "verdict": "No study has looked at how common pilonidal cysts are during pregnancy or which treatments work best for them.", "detail": "The only related record found is a single case report about a woman with a bladder-pain device, not a pregnant woman with a pilonidal cyst. It cannot answer how often this condition occurs in pregnancy, how it should be treated, or whether it affects labor and delivery.", "studyIds": [ "pmid:22453325" ] }, "strength": { "level": "very-low", "why": "The 1 human study found measure a related question rather than this one, so they can only be read indirectly.", "override": null }, "direction": { "level": "not-studied", "why": "No study has measured this outcome in people with this condition.", "override": null }, "counts": { "recordsRetrieved": 11, "recordsScreened": 11, "included": 1, "rcts": 0, "systematicReviews": 0, "observational": 0, "participants": 1, "yearFrom": 2012, "yearTo": 2012, "registeredTrialsWithoutResults": 0 }, "excluded": [], "outcomes": [ { "name": "Symptom resolution (pain, swelling, discharge) during pregnancy", "status": "not-studied", "note": "No study has measured whether pilonidal cyst symptoms improve, worsen, or stay the same during pregnancy.", "studyIds": [] }, { "name": "Need for surgical drainage or excision before delivery", "status": "not-studied", "note": "No study has looked at how often pregnant women with this condition need surgery before giving birth.", "studyIds": [] }, { "name": "Labor and delivery complications", "status": "not-studied", "note": "No study has measured whether a pilonidal cyst changes labor or delivery.", "studyIds": [] }, { "name": "Wound healing time", "status": "not-studied", "note": "No study has measured how quickly a pilonidal wound heals in pregnant or postpartum women.", "studyIds": [] }, { "name": "Recurrence rate postpartum", "status": "not-studied", "note": "No study has tracked whether pilonidal cysts come back after delivery.", "studyIds": [] }, { "name": "Rate of abscess formation or systemic infection", "status": "not-studied", "note": "No study has measured how often this condition turns into an abscess or spreading infection during pregnancy.", "studyIds": [] } ], "benefits": [], "limitations": [ { "text": "The one record found is a case report about a woman with an implanted bladder-pain device, not a pregnant woman with a pilonidal cyst herself — it is only loosely related to this question.", "studyIds": [ "pmid:22453325" ] }, { "text": "The only human report is a single case of a baby born with a pilonidal sinus to a mother who used a sacral nerve stimulator during pregnancy; the authors state it is unknown whether the stimulator caused this, and the case says nothing about pilonidal cysts occurring in pregnant women themselves.", "studyIds": [ "pmid:22453325" ] } ], "risks": [], "whyPeopleTryIt": [ { "text": "Sitting for long periods, weight gain, and skin friction in late pregnancy can make tailbone-area skin problems more noticeable, so people search to see if pregnancy itself is the cause." }, { "text": "Worry about needing surgery close to delivery, or about anesthesia and healing while pregnant, makes people look for pregnancy-specific guidance." }, { "text": "Discomfort sitting or lying down in the third trimester can be mistaken for, or worsened by, a pilonidal cyst, prompting searches for reassurance." }, { "text": "Concern that a tailbone-area cyst could interfere with an epidural or with positioning during labor drives some of these searches." } ], "keyStudies": [ "pmid:22453325" ], "studies": [ { "id": "pmid:22453325", "pmid": "22453325", "doi": "10.1097/SPV.0b013e3182436ae9", "nctId": null, "pmcid": null, "title": "Sacral nerve stimulation during pregnancy: case report and review of the literature", "firstAuthor": "El-Khawand", "multipleAuthors": true, "journal": "Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg", "year": 2012, "design": "case-series", "n": 1, "nField": "reported", "population": "a 25-year-old woman with severe bladder pain who had a sacral nerve stimulator and became pregnant twice", "intervention": "keeping a sacral nerve stimulator activated during pregnancy for bladder pain control", "comparator": "no comparator; device deactivation was advised but not followed", "primaryOutcome": "effects on the babies and on symptom control", "result": "the second child was born with a pilonidal sinus and the first child developed a tic disorder, but it is unknown if these were caused by the stimulator", "resultDirection": "unclear", "quality": "very-low", "qualityWhy": "this is a single patient case report so it cannot show whether the device caused the problem or if it was chance.", "directness": "indirect", "limitations": "single case, no control group, cause of the pilonidal sinus and tic disorder not established, device use was against medical advice", "followUp": "", "plainFinding": "Baby born with pilonidal sinus; cause unclear.", "retracted": false, "expressionOfConcern": false, "hasErratum": false, "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22453325/", "sourceText": "BACKGROUND: The use of sacral nerve stimulation during pregnancy is not recommended because of the unknown effects on the offspring. There is a paucity of literature on the subject. CASE: A 25-year-old woman who had a sacral nerve stimulator for severe interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome had 2 successful pregnancies. Against medical advice, she kept the stimulator activated for symptom control during the pregnancies. The first child was later diagnosed with chronic motor tic disorder, and the second had a pilonidal sinus at birth. Whether this outcome is related to the neurostimulator is unknown. The efficacy of sacral nerve stimulation decreased after each pregnancy. CONCLUSION: The safety of sacral nerve stimulation in pregnancy has not been well established. Until further research is done, we recommend that women of reproductive age with a sacral nerve stimulator be advised about contraception and that the device should be deactivated before or as soon as pregnancy is confirmed.", "provenance": [ { "field": "n", "quote": "A 25-year-old woman who had a sacral nerve stimulator for severe interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome had 2 successful pregnancies." }, { "field": "population", "quote": "A 25-year-old woman who had a sacral nerve stimulator for severe interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome had 2 successful pregnancies." }, { "field": "intervention", "quote": "Against medical advice, she kept the stimulator activated for symptom control during the pregnancies." }, { "field": "comparator", "quote": "we recommend that women of reproductive age with a sacral nerve stimulator be advised about contraception and that the device should be deactivated before or as soon as pregnancy is confirmed." }, { "field": "primaryOutcome", "quote": "The first child was later diagnosed with chronic motor tic disorder, and the second had a pilonidal sinus at birth." }, { "field": "result", "quote": "Whether this outcome is related to the neurostimulator is unknown." } ] } ], "faqs": [ { "q": "Can you get a pilonidal cyst during pregnancy?", "a": "It's possible, since pilonidal cysts can affect anyone with hair, friction, and pressure near the tailbone — pregnancy involves weight changes and more sitting that could plausibly matter. But no study has actually measured how often this happens in pregnant women, so there's no real number to give you." }, { "q": "Can a pilonidal cyst during pregnancy in the third trimester cause problems during labor or delivery?", "a": "This hasn't been studied. No trial or case series has looked at whether a pilonidal cyst changes labor, delivery, or epidural placement, so there's no evidence either way." }, { "q": "Are pilonidal cysts common during pregnancy?", "a": "No one knows. The only record found on this topic was a single case report about something else entirely — a bladder-pain device, not a pilonidal cyst in the mother — so there's no study that counts how common this is in pregnancy." }, { "q": "What is the treatment for a pilonidal cyst during pregnancy?", "a": "There's no study comparing conservative care (like warm compresses or drainage) with surgery specifically in pregnant women. If you have symptoms, your doctor or midwife will need to make a judgment call based on general pilonidal cyst care and how far along you are, since the research doesn't give a clear answer." }, { "q": "Does a pilonidal cyst affect my pregnancy?", "a": "No study has measured this. If you're worried about a cyst near your tailbone while pregnant, the safest step is to have it examined rather than search for an answer that the research doesn't yet have." } ], "searchedAs": [ "pilonidal cyst pregnancy", "pilonidal cyst during pregnancy", "pilonidal cyst during pregnancy 3rd trimester", "pilonidal cyst pregnancy treatment", "are pilonidal cysts common during pregnancy", "pilonidal cyst affect pregnancy" ], "patientTakeaway": "There is no real research on pilonidal cysts in pregnancy — only one unrelated case report turned up, so this question is essentially unanswered by science. If you notice pain, swelling, or discharge near your tailbone while pregnant, tell your doctor or midwife and have it examined in person rather than looking for an online answer. They can decide on care based on your symptoms and how far along you are, since no study tells us which treatment works best during pregnancy.", "methodology": { "databases": [ "PubMed", "ClinicalTrials.gov", "Crossref" ], "searchStrings": { "pubmed": "(\"Pilonidal Sinus\"[Mesh]) AND (\"Pregnancy\"[Mesh] OR \"Pregnancy Complications\"[Mesh] OR pregnan*[tiab] OR \"third trimester\"[tiab])" }, "pubmedQueryTranslation": "\"Pilonidal Sinus\"[MeSH Terms] AND (\"Pregnancy\"[MeSH Terms] OR \"Pregnancy Complications\"[MeSH Terms] OR \"pregnan*\"[Title/Abstract] OR \"third trimester\"[Title/Abstract])", "searchedOn": "2026-10-13", "inclusion": [ "Human, animal or laboratory studies reporting an outcome relevant to the question" ], "exclusion": [ "Records about a different condition or intervention", "Records reporting no outcome", "Retracted publications, which are listed but excluded from every count" ], "extractionLevel": "abstract", "gradingNote": "Evidence strength is adapted from the GRADE framework. It is not a GRADE assessment and was not produced by a GRADE panel.", "limits": [ "Fields were read from abstracts, not full text, so detail reported only in a paper's methods section is not captured." ] }, "seo": { "title": "Can You Get a Pilonidal Cyst During Pregnancy?", "description": "Only one unrelated case report turned up — no study has measured how common pilonidal cysts are in pregnancy or how to treat them." }, "lastChecked": "2026-10-13", "lastChanged": "2026-10-13", "nextCheckDue": "2026-11-13", "history": [], "pipeline": { "screenModel": "claude-haiku-4-5", "extractModel": "claude-sonnet-5", "composeModel": "claude-sonnet-5", "promptVersion": "ev-1", "ranOn": "2026-10-13" }, "status": "published" }