A man found himself confined to bed for over a year due to a condition that remains largely unknown to many.
Since he was 19, Dylan Conway has faced nine surgeries, and at one point during his health struggles, he was bedridden for 14 months.
Dylan, an infantry officer in the Australian army, began experiencing severe back pain.
He described feeling ‘immense pressure on [his] lower spine’ and believed that following his initial surgery, he would be able to resume his army training.
It was discovered that Dylan was suffering from pilonidal sinus disease.
Describing this condition, the 27-year-old from Queensland, Australia, explained to ABC Science: “With pilonidal sinus disease, hair will fall into your pants and your buttocks rubbing against itself will actually implant hair into your body.
“If you zoom in on a microscope with the hair, it looks similar to a screw. And eventually the friction from walking will end up embedding that hair follicle into your skin.”
Pilonidal sinus disease frequently reoccurs. As indicated by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), over 78 percent of those affected experience one recurrence, 19.2 percent face two, and 2.6 percent endure three or more recurrences.
Given this, Dylan has undergone nine surgeries to address each recurrence.
Discussing his symptoms, Dylan stated: “A lot of people will go through this and feel all the symptoms. Tightness in their lower back, pain while sitting down and they won’t even realise or think to get it checked and it can end up leading to an infection occurring in the lower back.”
Reflecting on his first surgery, Dylan recalled waking up to find a ‘huge chunk of flesh’ had been removed from his lower back.
Commenting on the numerous surgeries and their impact on him, Dylan shared: “Each time I would go in to have another surgery not knowing what I’d wake up to and see.
“I went from being this really confident young man who was very confident in his body image to all of a sudden you can’t sit down, you can’t walk, I couldn’t socialise with my friends. I couldn’t see my family, couldn’t live life to be completely honest with you.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ7RRJTScjM
In a conversation in 2022, he expressed that if he needed further surgery, he now feels ‘equipped to deal with it’.
“Most recently I have had the top of my butt completely cut off, and I have a large scar that runs from my lower back all the way down,” Dylan continued.
“I’m uncaring about what it looks like, I’m just happy that I can get outside again and start walking and see my friends.”