causeAscene

I'm a 20 y/o female. I have had a little hard bump - about the size of a pea - on my neck for about 3-4 years now. It was on the right side of my neck and it was near the carotid artery. It never really bothered me... every now and then I'd get a sudden, but bearable wave of pain and then nothing for weeks or months.

Well, in January (of 2012) I decided to visit a dermatologist just to check it out and she said that it was a cyst and would probably never do anything else and never be a problem for me. She said I could have it taken out if I wanted, but it wasn't necessary. A couple of months later, it grew a lot and became inflamed and VERY painful. I went back to her and it apparently went from 8 mm to 2 cm. She gave me antibiotics but said there was nothing else really.

I then went to my family doctor and they said it was a cyst and referred me to a plastic surgeon. The bump did go down quite a bit before my surgery which was Friday, June 6th.

After the surgery, I was told that it wasn't a cyst at all and appeared to be some sort of lymph tissue...?

Either way, I now have to get an IV contrast and am waiting on pathology to tell me what it actually was. But all the while, I'm kind of worried. Has anyone ever had something like this? Lumps on the neck never sounds too good to me so I'm pretty concerned right now.