Pregnant daughter has cyst behind ear that has grown and today felt "shock and headache" on that side

[April2]

My daughter has had a fluid filled cyst behind her ear for years. When she first noticed it, about 3 years ago, we had an MRI or CAT Scan done on it, I forget which, but they said it just looked like a fluid filled cyst and that if it grew or bothered her it could be removed. Well, she decided to leave it alone since it didn't bother her. The last several months it has grown and is noticeably bigger and was causing some discomfort so she decided to get it removed. However, before she could do that she discovered she was pregnant and canceled the surgery.

Today she said she felt a "shock" feeling where the cyst is and a headache going up that side of her head. Should we be concerned??? What can she do now, though, being pregnant? She's early in her pregnancy, not quite 10 weeks, so I guess nothing can be done about this till after the baby is born but I wanted to check with the doctor here, first to see if there's anything at all that can safely be done while pregnant? And should we be concerned?

I know she didn't want the surgery because of the drugs, both during the procedure and the pain medication afterwards. I'm not sure what's best to do in this situation or how concerned we should be. I would assume since she had it tested years ago that we don't have to worry about it being cancerous, right?
Please share your opinion or advice in this or if I should post this in a different forum. I wasn't sure where to put this. Thank you.

[April2]

Thank you so much Dr. Rajgopal! We will talk to her ob doctor when we see him in a couple of weeks and her pcp and go from there. Thanks again!

[Dr Rajgopal]

Hi,
The shock like sensation may be due to nerve compression by the cyst. The surgical excision of the cyst  may be carried out under local anesthesia and minimum medication may be required therafter. So please consult an ENT specialist and a general surgeon for examination and treatment plan. Thorough investigations of the cyst fluid must be carried out to find the nature of the cyst because  some cysts do have the tendency to become cancerous. Hope this helps you. Take care and regards!

[April2]

Yes, it's pretty large now. It's grown this last year. It's probably about 2 inches now. That's why they sent us to a plastic surgeon to take care of it so that he could make the scar look better, I guess. We did go to the initial visit and he looked at it and we scheduled the procedure and he gave us a prescription for some pain meds afterwards and we were getting all ready for that when she found out she was pregnant and canceled the procedure.
I will mention it to the ob doctor and I guess play it by ear whether she needs to have it removed now or if it can wait. Thanks.

[ggreg]

Well, I get cysts now and then of differing kinds, and they have always removed them in the dermatologist's office with just a local shot to numb it up right in the area where they cut off the cyst, and they they cut it out of there and sew it up, with no pain medication.  You wind up with no more than a simple cut, like if you cut yourself on a piece of glass, so that's why no need for pain meds.  The cyst may be large, but the incision won't be.  But mine have not been very large, the biggest one was about the size of my small finger's nail.

I don't know why she got a headache in that spot, but could just be the cyst is pushing on little nerves and tiny blood vessels in the area, and the body didn't like it and sent out a shocky feeling.  But I suppose it's possible the cyst is expanding under the skin now, so she gets discomfort from it, but it still will only affect surface parts of the head.  There is very little chance that a visible cyst on the head is going to turn into some sort of brain cancer tumor growing like crazy inside her skull where the brains are.  The cyst she has is outside the casing for the brain, so it will only affect outer structures like the ear or skin or smaller nerves and vessels.  But I am NOT a doctor.

So, your best bet is to go to the doc who checked it out in the first place or someone like him, and get his opinion, and then get a second opinion.  Also, her obstetrician should be consulted.  That way, you'll be able to make a safe decision about whether it should be removed or not.  The docs can also tell you why she got that little nerve zap that day when the cyst hurt her.

But I think you'll wind up leaving the thing on there until she gives birth, and then she can have it taken off.  But she's got to get a professional opinion now, because it could very well be the head pain might get worse, and so at the very least she'll need to be reassured by a doc that either that's an okay thing or not, and also how any little surgery may or may not affect the pregnancy.  But those are just my thoughts and experience on the situation, from having a tendency to get cysts.