Bump on head is the small swelling on any part of the head. At some point of time, kids would knock themselves and get hurt on their head causing head injury. It would eventually cause bumps or lesions on the head at the point of injury. Head injury can occur to any person, irrespective of age and at any time. But not all the injuries are serious and the pain would disappear after few minutes if it is a minor injury. Eventually head injury can cause bump on head with or without pain.
In some cases it can cause Headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. The symptoms are only mild and will be there for few seconds/minutes. Unfortunately some types of head injuries are major and can cause serious complications requiring immediate medical care.
Symptoms :
The bump on your head can be itchy having scaly patches. For some people the lesions on the head would contain pus like fluid due to swelling. Yeast Infection can produce excess of oil under the scalp causing skin irritation and inflammation. Loss of hair can occur gradually due to bump formation on the scalp. Sometimes bumps can spread to other areas like nose and ears if it is due to seborrheic dermatitis.
Having few bumps on the head is not a thing for concern. Due to head injury or trauma there can be bleeding in the skin of the scalp since it has rich blood supply. It can result in bumps due to swelling. If there is minimal pain and no other symptoms after head injury then you can apply ice on the bump. In case there is pain and other symptoms like dizziness, vomiting and confusion then it can be something serious.
There are few factors like speed of injury, age of the person and the force with which injury has taken place that determines whether immediate treatment is necessary or not. Severe blow on your head can cause internal bleeding putting intracranial pressure on the brain. The person can lose his consciousness or may lose balance after such injury. Persistent headache and vomiting are serious signs to visit the clinic after head injury.
Causes :
Many factors can cause head bumps and it varies from person to person. Some of the common causes of bump on head include head injury, Neurofibromatosis, sebaceous cyst, Dermoid Cyst and Von Recklinghausen disease. Primary causes of head injury are road accidents, falls and assaults. Children are at high risk of getting head injury while playing since they always have high energy.
Stress can also trigger formation of bump on your head. Excess of oily secretion on the skin can cause skin irritation leading to bump formation. Accumulation of dirt and debris on the scalp due to infrequent bathing can cause bump on your head. Folliculitis is another reason for lesions on head in which hair follicles are infected by fungi or bacteria.
Diagnosis :
Head bumps can be diagnosed by physical exam.
Treatment :
The root cause of the problem is to be diagnosed before giving any treatment. If head bumps are the result of seborrheic dermatitis your skin doctor would prescribe suitable medicated shampoo like ketoconazole. In more severe cases oral corticosteroids are to be taken till the bump heals on your scalp. Over the counter shampoo that contains selenium or salicylic acid or resorcin can give relief from itchy feeling.
Topical creams will be given for folliculitis and depending on the intensity of infection oral antibiotics are to be taken. The person will give relief from severe itching as soon as he starts with antibiotics. For more severe case of large bumps or chronic lesions on the head your doctor would consider surgical drainage. He would gently insert a needle directly on the bump to drain off excess of fluid inside and cover it with topical cream for quick healing.
