Pressure builds slowly, under the skin and in our heads. Stay steady under pressure, because most of it eases quickly once it is properly released.
This photo shows a man in his fifties with a golf-ball sized red swelling over his shoulder blade, with several smaller firm bumps clustered just beside it.
A group of lumps like this usually means several epidermoid cysts that formed close together, with the largest one now inflamed and pushing the skin tight.
Cysts cluster on the shoulders and upper back because the follicles there are large and oily, and friction from shirts and straps keeps irritating them.
As pressure builds inside the main cyst, it can grow fast, feel hot and tender, and make it uncomfortable to lean back or lie on that side.
A doctor will examine every lump in the cluster, pressing gently around each one to see which are tense and which are still soft and quiet.
The inflamed cyst is numbed, opened and drained to relieve the pressure, and the sac inside is removed; the smaller cysts can be taken out the same way.
Afterwards the area is cleaned, dressed and checked again after a few days to make sure everything is healing well and nothing has refilled.
Keeping the skin clean, avoiding tight straps across the spot and leaving new bumps alone lowers the chance of another cluster forming.
Stay steady under pressure and let it be released the right way. The videos below show shoulder and back cysts being treated by professionals.
