Frequently Asked Questions
It is a procedure for pilonidal disease that removes all of the existing cysts, sinus tracts and open wounds, and flattens the gluteal cleft. By flattening the cleft, recurrence is minimized.
Compared to the standard wide excision, it is a much easier recovery. There is no wound packing and repeated office visits for wound care is not necessary. Most patients are fully healed and back to normal activity in six weeks.
When there are multiple operations for the same disease, that usually means that the best operation has not been well defined. Although the cleft-lift (and similar operations, like the Karydakis procedure) are the best, not all surgeons have been trained in the technique. Hopefully, as time goes by all surgeons will be performing this operation.
These procedures have a higher failure rate, but do not change the appearance of the cleft, and have smaller scars. Cosmetically they may be superior, and they are worth a try – as long as you understand they do not necessarily prevent pilonidal disease from coming back in the future.
The cleft lift is a modification of the Karydakis procedure. Dr Bascom described this modification in 1987, so this has been around for well over 30 years.
No, I do not agree. However, for some surgeons who are not properly trained in this operation, it may have a low success rate in their hands and they reserve it for the more difficult situations. In our clinic, the success rate is between 95-99% depending on the starting situation. So, we recommend it for any type of pilonidal problem.
When we perform a cleft-lift, there are certain subjective changes that we want to make to the anatomy. Because of our extensive experience with the procedure, we can tell when we have achieved a good result. If you are interested in the technical differences between successful and unsuccessful cleft-lift procedures, follow this link.
Most likely, yes. We have successfully performed the cleft-lift on patients who had previously had failed rhomboid flaps, Limberg Flaps, Karydakis Procedures, cleft-lifts, Z-Plastys, V-Y Plastys, and gluteal flaps. Actually, in those cases the cleft-lift may be the only viable solution.
No! As surgeons we do not like failure, and if when a surgeon sees a pilonidal patient, they anticipate failure – it is not going to be the kind of case they want to deal with. Because of the high success rate in our clinic, we are thrilled to see new patients, because we anticipate success, not failure.
No, this is not considered a cosmetic procedure, and is usually covered by insurance. It should not be confused with a “butt lift”, which is indeed cosmetic. We will work with your insurance company to get approval for surgery.
Yes. This link will take you to a page of post op examples. The cleft-lift does change the appearance of the buttocks, and does leave a scar that is several inches long. If you can’t accept this change, then you may want to look into the minimally invasive category of procedures – as long as you understand that the success rate is significantly less than with the cleft-lift operation.
We take care of patients who live a long distance from Eau Claire, Wisconsin every week. We ask you to tell us the history behind your pilonidal problem, and send us photos as described on this web page. Once we have that information, we can let you know if a cleft-lift is a good option for you, and we can set up a time for you to travel here for surgery. Typically, we see you in the morning, and then perform surgery a few hours later. How long you need to stay in Eau Claire post op depends on many factors, but is usually between 3 and 7 days.
