“Bartholin's cyst?”
I have had a Bartholin's cyst drained and a word catheter put in for 6 weeks. After this time I came back to my doctor. When I got it taken out he said that my labia is swelling. Today, two weeks have gone by and nothing has changed, my labia is still swollen. Is that normal or maybe it is another cyst forming? Is it possible a few days after treatment that the cyst is coming back?
Female | 41 years old
Complaint duration: 29/12/2020
Medications: no
7 Answers
Please do some sitz baths twice daily ad. Disappearance of the swelling. If it came back, better to remove the gland after 40 years of age.
You probably need marsuplisation surgery
Dr. Victoria Mondloch
OB-GYN (Obstetrician-Gynecologist) | Gynecology
Your question is a good one: but I have a question for you, Why did they leave the Word catheter in for 6wks? That is much longer than usually recommended so your body was starting to not only consider the catheter a part of your labia but it started to build an epithelial or outside skin lining on the inside of your cyst based on the rubbing of the catheter inside of a mucosal cyst; epithelial tissues have their own gland openings and the tissue is like the back of your hand vs the inside of your mouth; it’s tougher so it will appear swollen. I would ask your doctor why the catheter was allowed to stay in place that long.
It is possible that you have another Bartholin's Gland cyst. There are many duct systems to this gland. So it is possible for another cyst in this same gland. You may need a special procedure called a Marsupilation or an excision of the gland.
Follow up with your doctor.
Follow up with your doctor.
Dr. Whitney Dunham
OB-GYN (Obstetrician-Gynecologist)
It is not uncommon for the Bartholin's cyst to reoccur on the same side repeatedly or occur on the opposite side. Now it will be difficult for me to clearly answer whether this swelling is from the procedure or from reoccurrence. It will be important to follow up with your physician to confirm reoccurrence vs infection from another source.
You may have an abscess and need antibiotics.
I think the cyst was not completely drained and has become infected and swelling again. You really need an ultrasound scan to diagnose this and probably a course of antibiotics
Dr. Trevor Wing
Dr. Trevor Wing
