Young and worried about dermoids.

[mischa777]

Last October I had a dermoid on my right side rupture and the fluid caused my appendix to become irritated. I went in to the ER and when they took the CT they found that the appendicitis was caused by the ruptured cyst. After a long night and surgery the next day it was time to decide what to do about the cyst. They told me I had the dermoids on both sides and they were actually very large. I don't remember the actual measurements. The doctors were kind of shocked because dermoids cause a LOT of pain and I had dealt with them getting really large (I actually had awful back pain from them the whole summer before) and they were also surprised because I was only fourteen years old. They went in to take out the dermoids a few months later in December, when they proved to be bigger than the doctors initially thought, and they had to do a five inch incision and take out my whole right ovary. I went in a couple months ago with more pain and they think I have a dermoid again. I'm not ignorant, despite my age, but although I talk to my doctor at every ultrasound and appointment I really don't understand why the cysts come back. He said the dermoid cells get stuck in my ovary and they can develop into another cyst after the first cyst is taken out, but does this mean it's cancerous? Can I develop cancer from these? I know ovarian cancer is almost unheard of in anyone under forty, but dermoid cysts are also rare in anyone under twenty. I'm not really that worried about this, but if someone could tell me some more about the difference between dermoids and cancer it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[TrudieC]

My goodness, that is a lot of cyst for someone so young!  Dermoid cysts are almost always benign and all cysts in general are over 95% benign.  There is a good descriptions of types of cysts on the health pages attached to this forum (top right).  I do hope they can easily remove this one for you.  Good luck!

[kylee_k]

I had a dermoid cyst removed when I was only 16. It took them over a year to find it simply because they kept saying I was too young. I hate when they rule out things because its "uncommon" in young women, it almost cost me my ovary because it had wrapped itself around cutting off my blood flow. I can relate to them saying you were in extreme pain, I remember a doctor telling me I was one of the toughest chicks he knew for suffering through the pain and multiple ruptures. I was on pain meds for over a year, I missed a half year of school, it was not a fun experience. Still to this day I get cyst, thankfully not as big but I still feel the pain often, and I can usually tell the difference between pain and rupture.  Ok so if they removed your first cyst, they would have determines then is it was cancerous or not, yes cyst can become cancerous however they say that its very very very uncommon for dermoid cyst to be cancerous, so its not likely cancerous, especially if they first one they removed was not. Birth control methods can help control ovarian cyst, and I've also been told that getting pregnant helps too but we dont want to rush into that haha.