“…Few surgeons now practise total excision of the sinus and its side tracks, so producing a large wound which heals very slowly.2 Excision and primary suture is still popular, but only small quiescent sinuses should be so treated, with painstaking attention to technique-otherwise infection and breakdown are a serious threat. 6 Happily'a much more conservative approach to treatment has prevailed over the past 10 years. Goodall7 claimed that with daily -baths, shaving of the natal cleft, and withdrawal of protruding hairs some 90% of patients did not require surgery.…”