Thar she blows

NewFNP loves derm. Paring down and freezing off warts - love it. Pityriasis - fascinating. Acne - please let newFNP help. And don't get newFNP started on Retin-A. It is her second favorite medicine after the Pill. In fact, scratch that. As newFNP is in her thirties, Retin-A is usurping the Pill's position as #1 medicine of newFNP's life.

Yes, newFNP loves derm. In fact, prior to getting master's degree #1, newFNP toyed with the idea of going to beauty school to be an aesthetician. What a cushy job. Soft music, aromatherapy candles, Sothys or Peter Thomas Roth product as far as the eye can see, comedone extractions.... ahhhhh. Well, newFNP didn't even have the chance to be a beauty school dropout. No, she pursued a career allowing her to benefit humanity in a different way. Who knows, however, what the future holds with the rise of the medi-spa.

In newFNP's clinic, she does not have a lot of opportunity to practice derm. Sure there are plenty of abscesses, but one cannot deny the olfactory component of the I&D which detracts from newFNP's overall satisfaction with the experience.

Enter the epidermoid cyst.

It's like Christmas and Hanukkah all rolled up into one for newFNP. Gross as it may be, there is something very gratifying about expressing 80,000 pounds (give or take) of sebaceous material from a huge cyst. It helps to have lifted some weights prior to the expression of said contents because one truly does need to apply a good deal of pressure. And newFNP would encourage all epidermoid cyst excisers to get the sac wall out, for the love of all that is holy. Sure it would be fun to go through the process all over again, but the patient may feel some dissatisfaction.

For a great article about protecting oneself and staff from the potential spraying contents and for an overall "how to," check out: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20020401/1409.html. Very helpful.