After 23 Years - Cyst Caused by Trauma

[nak81783]

Everything is/will be OK.

After 23 years of paintball, I caught one right above the visor of my JT Spectra, about 1.5" above and 1/2" forward of my left temple. Hurt like heck. Saw some stars for a minute. Headache for the remainder of the day. It's been tender for nine weeks now. May have been a bad paintball - 80% shell, 20% fill, instead of the should-be opposite. Was almost more blood than paint.

When the scab, bruise, and welt went away, I'm left with a fluid filled bulge, about half the size of a grape, on my forehead. My receding hairline does little to conceal it. My wife, a PA-C, says it's a cyst caused by trauma. I'll likely need a shot of lidocaine to numb it, slit it open to drain the fluid, and a stitch or two. Dermatologist, here I come.

Definitely my worst. I can only remember my top three (maybe due to head trauma), but this is definitely the worst. Will it deter me from paintball? Heck no.

What's your worst?

[redsquirrel]

Not a personal worst, but buddy I played with on my team came over the top of snake and took one in his prominent Adam’s apple from about 2ft away. Had trouble breathing for about 30 seconds and worst bruising I’ve ever seen from paintball. Was legitimately scary for a bit.

Hope you heal up ok! Older I get, more padding and protection I wear.

[nak81783]

This made me remember another top 5. Couple years back, ran at guy in snake, he was ready for me, took a couple to the neck (above throat guard) and jaw bone, right before 4th of July party. Had to tell everyone in my cousin's swanky neighborhood that I didn't have ringworm. I was still a peon for participating in such a violent sport as paintball. We don't attend that party anymore...

[redsquirrel]

Ha, and that reminds me of a time I went to donate blood following a day of paintball. Had to inspect the inside of my arms to make sure I wasn’t using needles, and found about 4 classic ringed welts. Almost thought I wasn’t going to be able to convince the nurse I wasn’t an addict.

[Criticalhammer]

I took a shot on the left side of the throat, next to the adam's apple from shortish range. Had problems breathing for 1/2 hour from the internal swelling. No bueno.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Taken a shot of two off the forehead that made me sit down, but nothing that bad. Since changed my headgear from a backwards hat to a toque and bought a headband for the first time. I’m not smart or pretty enough to lose what little I have.

Hope your lump gets cleared up quick and relatively painlessly!

[nak81783]

Lidocaine is my friend. I pity people for whom it's not effective. I've watched some unnatural things happen after a wee bit of lidocaine. Starting to show my age. Been around the block. There are worse things in life than pain.

[zinger565]

I wear a backwards hat with at least one headband underneath it. I also picked up a bumpcap liner for one of my hats that I wear taking pictures. It's hard plastic, similar to mask material, so really protects the noggin.

nak81783 I really love tiger balm in addition to lidocain.

[Memornix]

Probably not my worst but most interesting. I was on a small inflatable field and was crouching and leaning to my right. Someone got around to my left and put one at fairly close range into the left side of my neck. Whatever the muscle, tendon or whatever they hit was Probably already tight from my head leaning to the opposite side and it felt exactly like if you held a spring between your fingers and flicked the middle except it felt like that inside my head.

After a few minutes I got my senses back and just had the usual bruise but I still remember that one.

[nak81783]

Similar scenario, but took one right behind the right ear. Dizzy for about ten minutes. Probably #7 on my list.

Ribs on the taught side are always bad too.

[nak81783]

Ooh, ooh, I forgot I have pictures, so I'm up to remembering top five or so now.

1. Shot to head as described above. Just took pic. It's bigger than it looks...said every guy ever.



2. Recipient of 12 year old cowering in building in scenario game. "I'm out. I'm out. I'm f'ing out. Stop g.d. shooting you little b, or I'm going to kick your a!" Bacitracin on counter prescribed by wife. She also got me elbow/arm pads the next father's day, bless her heart.



3. Scrotum shot. Not my scrot. Mine was nowhere near as bad as shown below. But wear a cup for Peter's sake (pun intended). Pic was from late 90's/early 2000's. I actually had a cup on, due to this pic, when I took my hit, but it wasn't the wrap around, tickle your bum-hole style. It is now. No longer needed for procreation, just fun.

Is it wrong for one man to keep a picture of another man's... No! No, it's not, when it's for safety.



4. Basically a repeat of #2. Probably wasn't wearing the elbow/arm pads the wifey got me. I do now. She's even sewn them back together a few times.



5. Face and throat shot. Throat shot covered by hand. Took pic to remind me how it got underneath mask...kinda scary when thinking about eyes.



Honorable mention: This is what happens when you offer a point blank surrender to a young lady instead of putting one right down her @$$ crack due to flat out inappropriate paintball apparel. Had a similar one just outside the groin zone from a bachelorette party. Couldn't believe a bachelorette party was playing paintball, so I just laughed that one off.

[EvilCreature]

I was in a highschool speedball tournament in maybe 2003 and an opposing player found himself on the other side of the inflatable bunker I was in. He decided to go over the top and his, I believe Angel, went full auto thanks to the old trigger/bounce adjustment where it would shoot 15+ BPS just by slapping the butt of the tank. Between 10 and 20 balls went into the top of my head from 2 feet or less. He got an overshooting penalty and I think tossed from the event. In my 20 years of speedball tournaments I do not recall seeing another overshooting penalty. I actually talked to him about it a year or two ago when he was recalling the story thinking he had done it to a much more talented/well known player on our team. Both the player he thought he shot and I were there and we set him straight and gave him some crap.

I have also got a few good ones reffing - once I got laced, starting in my facemask and ending on the tip of my... Self... With about 4 balls in-between, leaving me blinded and down. Another time I was reffing by the net and someone in the prone position blind shot at an upward angle right under my facemask and into my jaw. The impact hit a spot that made my jaw click and dropped me into an uncontrolled freefall. It was rather unnerving to completely lose my balance like that. I don't think I pulled the player but I let him know what I thought of blind shooting. A number of spectators got pretty concerned so I had to downplay it so they didn't freak out.

[nak81783]

OK, that's far worse than mine. Didn't someone in the pros get knocked unconscious from a similar event?

[RAZRBAKK]

Ooooook really wasn't anticipating a sack pic in this thread...

[nak81783]

I aim to "pee"se.

[BenoitOWN]

I think we all thinking this

[EvilCreature]

My teammate got a sack hit on a Sunday and had his physical to join the army on Monday. He had to do a follow-up exam because of all the purple/blue.

[Riot]

Damn, sounds like you got hit some a small bone with FSR or someone shooting hot (hard to tell the difference.)

I took my first neck shock right off the command tent at Endless this past week and as I took the two steps back to tag in and muttered about the cu*t that shot me in the neck, an opportunistic business man on the command staff hit me with a selfish plug for gaitermaille to protect my neck.

Like WuTang taught us, protect ya neck!

(wasn’t as bad as I expected and not at all my worst shot, that was teammate shot as Castle this year to the side of my newly shaved head.)


also, hehe, nutsack.

[nak81783]

Well, as much as mine hurt, a guy a few years prior had it worse. Took an FSR round to the forehead. It resulted in a golf ball sized goose egg (biggest one I've ever seen), and he was just out of it the rest of the day. Had to have a concussion is my guess.

I asked the guy with the FSR to chrono. He didn't want to do so with FSRs due to the cost. He chrono'ed with paintballs at 295-ish. I forced him to chrono with an FSR. It was 370-ish if I recall correctly. He said, "Oh sh!t!." I said, "Yeah, that's why. You did that to that guy. Get your sh!t right."

As far as my cyst, no. I know the guy who shot me. Stand up guy. Wouldn't hurt a fly. Chrono's every day of play. I blame today's sh!tty paint. I wasn't joking when I said almost more blood than paint.

[Carp]

Ooooook really wasn't anticipating a sack pic in this thread...

[Meleager7]

Do you think you'll record the video of lancing it ? The cyst I mean, not the bulging, pulsating nut sack....

If that is the plan, basically, let me the know the day to stay off of MCB

[Sharkpocalypse]

Never had anything that left any permanent marks. My most recent memorable hit came from some nublet blind-firing out of the bunker behind me and catching me square in the adjustment buckle on my goggle strap. That one rang my bell a bit, but I was fine after about 15 minutes. My all-time most gnarly was probably from the first time I played. Got nailed in the nerve cluster on the side of the thigh and it killed my ability to walk for a bit. Field paint back then was Big Ball and I'm pretty sure the guns were shooting hot. Once everything had a chance to settle, I had a softball-sized bruise that included almost every color of the rainbow radiating out from a blood blister bullseye.

[zinger565]

Same, nothing permanent here.

Although my second day back playing after being gone 10 years I got shot in the back of the head from about 8ft off the break. I still give my (now) buddy shit about it.

[bored383]

I had scars on my thigh from a burst from an SMG60 and nearly contact distance. was indoors and the shooter found a way to fire from the 2nd floor vertically down the stairs through a gap. they'd been posted up waiting for the chance and the gun of course ran liquid and the velocity spiked. it was a bit bloody and that was the end of play for that day. the scars have faded with time

[THE SHOOTIST]

A barrel to forearm hit from a hot Annihilator, and I mean HOT! Chronoed at 344 after the game. A blue Nelson Oil-Based hit to the upper lip that required 3 stitches to close was my second worst. I can still taste the paint.

[homerj]

I’ve never had a seriously bad hit. I’ve had plenty of nasty welts & some that bled a bit but overall nothing terrible. A guy i used to play with did a running slide on his knees & peeled one of his kneecaps back. I was playing on a different part of the field when it happened & was gone to the hospital by the time i found out but the people that were there said it was super bad. As far as i know he never played again after that.

[nak81783]

Ew, that one makes my stomach turn.

I've been using a $20 clearance pair of Raven knee pads for almost 20 years. As I aged, they started causing major rashes. Turns out, it was the laundry detergent. Turn them inside out during the delicate cycle wash, and they rinse out much better.