Reoccuring cyst

I had a cyst on my Bartholin glad this August. I went to the Doctor and they drained it and also used a catheter so it would create a permanent hole so it wouldn't come back. Well it did. It is not that big right now but it is starting to get pretty tender. Is there anything that I can do to help reduce the swelling or make it go away? I don't have Ins. at the moment, I just started a new job so I really didn't want to go into the Doctors again. Any suggestions?

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
It is common for those darn things to come back!  Unfortunately if it is tender, that suggests infection and if it is infected, you are going to have to see the doctor.  If you were my patient, I would first prescribe some antibiotics to see if we could get the infection to clear up without surgery.  If a week of antibiotics didn't do the trick, I would marsupialize the gland.  This is a minor surgery in which the cyst is drained and sewed open.  It works better than the Ward catheter.  Even so, they sometimes still come back.
Bartholin's gland cysts are very pesky!
I hope this helps!
Good luck!
Dr B

[danielle231]

Thank you. It ended up draining some on its own thank god b/c I just started a new job and have no Ins. at the moment. However, it is still there but its not painful. So I will just keep watch on it. Thank you for the advice.

Danielle