Dermoid cyst: to remove or not to remove!

Hi I'm 37 next month and have 3 kidsI had a scan December it showed just over 3 cm dermoid cyst on my left ovary and scanned again Feb it had grown to over 5 cm I am having it removed on the 20th of April and they are looking for endometriosis ..I'm hoping they remove the lot as been in agony .. personally I think it would be best as it would only grow more and possible cause torsion

Hi there,

I am no doctor/nurse, but I have had a 9cm x 8cm dermoid cyst just removed 10 days ago.  My doctor told me she would do her best to save my ovary because I am in my reproduction years and I have no child yet.  I asked her in what circumstances that a doctor would remove a patient's ovary?  She said if the cyst had become too large and inseparable from the ovary.   Or if the cyst had torsion or twisted, this would be an emergency and surely the ovary would be affected(or even died).  The good news is that this could eliminate the chance to develop ovarian cancer 'cuz you don't have it anymore.  That made perfect sense to me.  However, removing both ovaries will also mean removing the uterus as well.  This will make you start menopause right away.  I know it is a tough decision....

- V

Here's my story. Hopefully it helps. First, I'd like to say that even though a cyst looks like one kind in tests, it could be a completely different kind as I found out after my surgery.

I'm Tracy, 39 and have been trying to get pregnant.

I had my right ovary removed in 2004 because it was engulfed in scar tissue. This was because ten years earlier, I had a cyst with a fertilized egg in it, in the wall of my ovary and it blew up like a grenade. I had two kids after that, though. Hours after my second baby was born in 2000, I had my tubes tied.

In 2013 I had major surgery to repair my one remaining fallopian tube so I can get pregnant again.

In December of 2014, on ovulation day, I started having excruciatingly sharp pain in the area of my only ovary, on the left side. The pain shot into the tip of my hip bone and radiated along the top of my pelvic bone, down the back and ended at my tail bone area. It also shot down my thigh on the same side. I went to the ER many times and all they saw were two small ovarian cysts. I've had recurring ovarian cysts since puberty.

This pain caused me to basically become bed ridden. About two months later, a horrible burning pain started and this was in addition to the already severely sharp pain I was experiencing. This burning pain caused the hip bone pain to radiate down the front of my pelvic bone and ended in my pubic bone. So, now my pain was all along the top of my pelvic bowl, on the left side, from my pubic bone to my tail bone.

After being pawned off from Dr to Dr, I finally found the most wonderful OBGYN surgeon. She was worried and did another ultrasound. One of my cysts had all of a sudden gone from being one inch to the size of a lemon. In the ultrasound, it looked like it was a hemorrhagic cyst. But, with the severity of my pain, my surgeon was worried my ovary was possibly twisted and dying. So, she got me into surgery the very next day. This was now three months after the pain started, March 3rd.

She went in laparoscopically and found a little bit of a lot of things. The cyst was actually fibrous, caused by endometriosis. My fallopian tube was stuck by adhesions to my bowel. There was a bit of endometriosis on the right and left side of my uterus, but luckily not inside it. On my bowel, there was some scarring and a little endometriosis. Along with all that, my one remaining tube that was repaired in 2013, had been blocked by scar tissue.

My amazing surgeon gently removed the cyst, scar tissue/adhesions, endometriosis, and unblocked my tube. She cured my pain, she's my hero!

One reason why I wanted to post all of this is to let you know that it's possible to actually get rid of the pain and save your reproductive organs so you can still get pregnant. If course, there are different circumstances for some, but not for all.

VERY IMPORTANT:

My surgeon was specially trained to remove ovarian cysts THE CORRECT WAY, with little to no damage to the ovary. Apparently, in medical school they're taught to just rip the cyst from the ovary wall, which will cause damage, scarring. My surgeon went to additional schooling, to be trained as a specialist, to gently tease cysts away from the ovarian wall and preserve the egg reserve as much as possible. It takes a long time to do such delicate work, but if you still want kids it's definitely worth it!

One other thing I want to mention is, each month when an egg is developing in the ovary, it develops inside a cyst. But, at that point it's called a follicle. Once you've ovulated, the follicle is then called a cyst. They typically go away on their own. I've had them linger a little, sometimes for months, since I started puberty.

Anyway, my first period since my surgery started a couple days ago. For the first time, I'm feeling cramps the way normal women do. I am having some ovary pain, but that's normal this soon after surgery. Also, my period is heavier than I've ever had, insanely heavy. But, that's normal after this surgery as well.

I hope this info helps put your mind at ease and educates you a little about what you may be going through. There's hope! I personally recommend the laparoscopic surgery, but only if you find a surgeon who specializes in this sort of thing, one who's had additional training in making sure they're as careful and gentle as humanly possible. Laparoscopic will cause far less internal scarring than major surgery. I read that something like 80% of people will have internal scarring after major surgery. That's why, no matter what kind of surgery you have, you need to be extra careful about not using your abdominal muscles for about 6-8 weeks. If you need to cough, sneeze, vomit, etc, make sure you have a pillow you can press on your belly to prevent any major abdominal movement. That can help prevent adhesions like I had.

I had a 14cm Dermoid Cyst removed nearly 6 months ago now!! I had to have open surgery and was cut open right across my lower stomach but I'm so glad I did. My cyst was measured at 8.9cm in April then at 10.5cm in July then from that to 14cm when I had it removed in October.

I recovered well from the op and I am still seeing the gnaecologist as I am still experiencing that dull achy feeling when I had the cyst so I had further ultrasounds and trans vaginal scans and they said I had a cyst on each ovary this time but they were only blood filled and should pass through naturally. I just worry I will have another cyst that grows and if so I will want my ovaries removed I'm only nearly 31 and no children but I can't keep thinking and worry about cysts and surgery. If you want to know anything about the surgery I had feel free to ask any questions or message me. I honestly thought the surgery would be a lot worse than it was my surgeon was amazing