Hello, ladies.
First off, this is rather long, but please bear with me!
I'm trying to get some more feedback from women who have experienced this so as to try to get to some sort of resolution about my problem.
Almost 3 years ago, I started noticing soreness and a slight itching in the upper folds of skin (labia area). Upon inspection one day around that time, I felt a small pimple-like "bump." I brought it to the attention of a former OB/GYN that I had, the same guy who performed my third c section.
Now, this 'bump' (which I recently found out is a very deep-rooted sebaceous cyst), moves around like these cysts tend to do, so it can be difficult to 'recreate' it for a physician to see.
The doc at that time obviously didn't have much of a clue what I was trying to tell him and wrote the words "vulvar lymph node" on the medical paper. I don't remember him telling me these words to my face.
I looked up the topic online, and all I saw on the subject was the word cancer, which obviously scared me, so I sought a 2nd opinion, this time from a totally different OB whom I had never seen before.
She was thorough with the exam but came up with zippo; that is, she didn't see any problems, growths, bumps, etc. in the area. I felt reassured by this and went on my way, cyst in tow (unbeknownst to me, of course...
:rolleyes: )
Fast forward to now: In December of 2005, I had a cat scan to confirm a ventral/incisiona hernia that I incurred after my last c section. My surgery was in January 2006. The ct scan also revealed a dermoid cyst on my left ovary. That was surgically removed in March.
At my first post op visit with my new OB GYN, I brought up the subject of this 'mysterious' irritation in the gyno area, but he didn't take the time to look at it but mentioned something about prescribing [Diflucan, I think], although I didn't see how he could prescribe ANYTHING w/out first looking at the area in question (just a typical response that a lot of these doctors have...)
I got a new doc because I didn't want to deal with the 'old' group, and I needed a doc who had privileges at the same city hospital where my hernia surgery took place at in the event both docs needed to work side by side in the operating room because I have hernia mesh inside of me...)
BTW, the general surgeon didn't need to assist...
Moving on...
This cyst was still active when I had my second post op visit with the new OB GYN. He did look at the area but actually seemed more concerned about taking a culture, which did not turn up yeast or bacteria.
However, he showed no signs of detecting any cysts. Amazing, isn't it? (insert sarcasm)
Well, he [automatically] prescribed Temovate, a very high-powered steroid cream and wrote down 'dermatitis.' Lots of previous online research had me wondering if this is what the problem was.
Well, let's try something, I thought. So I did.
During the first week/week and a half of the treatment, the skin felt a little better, and I had no ill effects from it. The 'warning' on the paperwork associated with this cream said that it could thin the skin, it could get into one's bloodstream (that might be if you used it beyond the time you were told to), which was 2 weeks tops and no longer, you are to report use of this cream (present or past use) to all of your doctors, and you should watch out for any of the side effects listed for up to 1 year after discontinuing it. Sounds kind of major, eh?
Well, towards the end of the treatment, I had made up my mind to ask the doctor about the subject of vulvodynia/see if he was knowledgeable about it and if he was willing to put up with some trials to see if they would help because the area was still sore, etc.
It never got to that point.
Guess why?
Well, 2 Sundays ago, the Sunday before Mother's Day, around 12 noon, I would notice that the area (the left side) started to HURT, which escalated into pain for over 2 hours. I finally took a peek with a mirror and a flashlight, and the area was red and extremely inflamed. A second look (and feel) revealed a large lump somewhere deep inside my skin.
This really got me going, and I was almost ready to go to the [city] hospital where I've had my 2 surgeries at.
It was Sunday; go figure.
I did soak in the tub, at the advice of a friend of mine who's a nursing supervisor at a local hospital, and the pain went down considerably, but the lump remained well into the next morning, good for the doctor to finally see.
I was fortunate enough to get a same-day appt. with him. I actually had to point to the area that was injured. He said right away that I had a cyst (imagine that! I've had a pilonidal cyst (tailbone) and the dermoid cyst on my ovary, and now a sebaceous cyst in the gyno region. Great, just great! :o )
He took a sample of fluid or something when he left the room. I thought for sure he was going to get his tools (he made it known that he wasn't going to do anything surgically rather quickly, though) and lance or extract the thing.
His philosophy (here it comes) was for me to either take sitz baths or have tub soaks to "try to get it to come to a head." Why in the world would it do that in one week if it hadn't done anything in nearly three years?? My mom didn't understand that theory, either.
I conceded and asked him what to expect from him in a week if this was still bothering me. He said that he'd lance it (he wasn't looking at me when he said it, like he was arguing with himself in an effort to provide me with an answer).
One thing (there is more than one) that bugs me is that he revealed to me that he usually "sees 2-3 of these a day" when women have their yearly exams and asks THEM if they know that they have one/does it bother THEM? Why didn't he see mine in January when I had my exam or the other day then?
The jury's still out on that one...:rolleyes:
Well, I went ahead and made my appt. ahead of time, that Thursday, for the visit that took place this past Thursday, May 18, with the full intent that the cyst was "going down..." ha ha
No such luck!
Got in there, told his medical assistant that it was still bothering me, he came into the room when I only had gotten my shoes off (any other time he seems to take his time...), and he looked at it, almost didn't 'find' it, and, from the way he was acting/talking, it was evident that nothing surgically was going to take place! Can you believe it??
He said that
1) It's small and deep rooted (knew that).
2) It's not infected or inflamed.
3) It's 4 mm in size
4) It's sebaceous in nature (so what?!) and, because it freely moves around and is not of a malignant nature, that there's no need to "do overkill" on it.
5) Said that it's here to stay. :confused:
I think he's a good doctor; he's a patient doctor (he'd have to be to deal with a 2-hour dermoid cyst removal and saved my ovary in the process! LOL), and I think, once he knows the game plan, he's the guy to have on one's 'team,' but I had already figured out for myself that he's on the side of the "conservative camp." :rolleyes:
I asked him what am I supposed to do if it flares up again? He said, "I'm a surgeon (duh!), and people think of surgeons as knife happy (not his words but mine), and I'll be more than happy to get out my tools then..." blah blah
From what I've been reading online, a doctor doesn't want to lance/excise something if the area is infected. Is this the norm?
Is this solely an Ob/gyn's territory, or could a dermatologist handle it due to it involving the skin? This is what I'm confused about.
I made an appt. with a diferent ob/gyn in the city for 2 weeks (I can't get in any sooner) for a 2nd opinion on the matter. If he doesn't want to do anything with it, I don't know what I'll do. My spouse's job will be ending in the middle of July, and we won't have health insurance coverage after that date. I made this known to my present ob/gyn because I was trying to relay to him that I'm trying to take care of this thing NOW.
I can't understand why he would retreat, not doing anything, when he knew full well that we were 'in agreement' about the plan. I don't know how much experience he has with these, as I think this is his first ob/gyn job (he's in a group practice).
Thoughts welcome,
Hoosier
Have any of you ladies experienced a similar situation?
P.S. I wanted it excised, as I know that all a lancing is involves an incision and drainage, and that doesn't remove the sac/cavity that the cyst is in, and the cyst would recur/still be there, etc.
First off, this is rather long, but please bear with me!
I'm trying to get some more feedback from women who have experienced this so as to try to get to some sort of resolution about my problem.
Almost 3 years ago, I started noticing soreness and a slight itching in the upper folds of skin (labia area). Upon inspection one day around that time, I felt a small pimple-like "bump." I brought it to the attention of a former OB/GYN that I had, the same guy who performed my third c section.
Now, this 'bump' (which I recently found out is a very deep-rooted sebaceous cyst), moves around like these cysts tend to do, so it can be difficult to 'recreate' it for a physician to see.
The doc at that time obviously didn't have much of a clue what I was trying to tell him and wrote the words "vulvar lymph node" on the medical paper. I don't remember him telling me these words to my face.
I looked up the topic online, and all I saw on the subject was the word cancer, which obviously scared me, so I sought a 2nd opinion, this time from a totally different OB whom I had never seen before.
She was thorough with the exam but came up with zippo; that is, she didn't see any problems, growths, bumps, etc. in the area. I felt reassured by this and went on my way, cyst in tow (unbeknownst to me, of course...
:rolleyes: )
Fast forward to now: In December of 2005, I had a cat scan to confirm a ventral/incisiona hernia that I incurred after my last c section. My surgery was in January 2006. The ct scan also revealed a dermoid cyst on my left ovary. That was surgically removed in March.
At my first post op visit with my new OB GYN, I brought up the subject of this 'mysterious' irritation in the gyno area, but he didn't take the time to look at it but mentioned something about prescribing [Diflucan, I think], although I didn't see how he could prescribe ANYTHING w/out first looking at the area in question (just a typical response that a lot of these doctors have...)
I got a new doc because I didn't want to deal with the 'old' group, and I needed a doc who had privileges at the same city hospital where my hernia surgery took place at in the event both docs needed to work side by side in the operating room because I have hernia mesh inside of me...)
BTW, the general surgeon didn't need to assist...
Moving on...
This cyst was still active when I had my second post op visit with the new OB GYN. He did look at the area but actually seemed more concerned about taking a culture, which did not turn up yeast or bacteria.
However, he showed no signs of detecting any cysts. Amazing, isn't it? (insert sarcasm)
Well, he [automatically] prescribed Temovate, a very high-powered steroid cream and wrote down 'dermatitis.' Lots of previous online research had me wondering if this is what the problem was.
Well, let's try something, I thought. So I did.
During the first week/week and a half of the treatment, the skin felt a little better, and I had no ill effects from it. The 'warning' on the paperwork associated with this cream said that it could thin the skin, it could get into one's bloodstream (that might be if you used it beyond the time you were told to), which was 2 weeks tops and no longer, you are to report use of this cream (present or past use) to all of your doctors, and you should watch out for any of the side effects listed for up to 1 year after discontinuing it. Sounds kind of major, eh?
Well, towards the end of the treatment, I had made up my mind to ask the doctor about the subject of vulvodynia/see if he was knowledgeable about it and if he was willing to put up with some trials to see if they would help because the area was still sore, etc.
It never got to that point.
Guess why?
Well, 2 Sundays ago, the Sunday before Mother's Day, around 12 noon, I would notice that the area (the left side) started to HURT, which escalated into pain for over 2 hours. I finally took a peek with a mirror and a flashlight, and the area was red and extremely inflamed. A second look (and feel) revealed a large lump somewhere deep inside my skin.
This really got me going, and I was almost ready to go to the [city] hospital where I've had my 2 surgeries at.
It was Sunday; go figure.
I did soak in the tub, at the advice of a friend of mine who's a nursing supervisor at a local hospital, and the pain went down considerably, but the lump remained well into the next morning, good for the doctor to finally see.
I was fortunate enough to get a same-day appt. with him. I actually had to point to the area that was injured. He said right away that I had a cyst (imagine that! I've had a pilonidal cyst (tailbone) and the dermoid cyst on my ovary, and now a sebaceous cyst in the gyno region. Great, just great! :o )
He took a sample of fluid or something when he left the room. I thought for sure he was going to get his tools (he made it known that he wasn't going to do anything surgically rather quickly, though) and lance or extract the thing.
His philosophy (here it comes) was for me to either take sitz baths or have tub soaks to "try to get it to come to a head." Why in the world would it do that in one week if it hadn't done anything in nearly three years?? My mom didn't understand that theory, either.
I conceded and asked him what to expect from him in a week if this was still bothering me. He said that he'd lance it (he wasn't looking at me when he said it, like he was arguing with himself in an effort to provide me with an answer).
One thing (there is more than one) that bugs me is that he revealed to me that he usually "sees 2-3 of these a day" when women have their yearly exams and asks THEM if they know that they have one/does it bother THEM? Why didn't he see mine in January when I had my exam or the other day then?
The jury's still out on that one...:rolleyes:
Well, I went ahead and made my appt. ahead of time, that Thursday, for the visit that took place this past Thursday, May 18, with the full intent that the cyst was "going down..." ha ha
No such luck!
Got in there, told his medical assistant that it was still bothering me, he came into the room when I only had gotten my shoes off (any other time he seems to take his time...), and he looked at it, almost didn't 'find' it, and, from the way he was acting/talking, it was evident that nothing surgically was going to take place! Can you believe it??
He said that
1) It's small and deep rooted (knew that).
2) It's not infected or inflamed.
3) It's 4 mm in size
4) It's sebaceous in nature (so what?!) and, because it freely moves around and is not of a malignant nature, that there's no need to "do overkill" on it.
5) Said that it's here to stay. :confused:
I think he's a good doctor; he's a patient doctor (he'd have to be to deal with a 2-hour dermoid cyst removal and saved my ovary in the process! LOL), and I think, once he knows the game plan, he's the guy to have on one's 'team,' but I had already figured out for myself that he's on the side of the "conservative camp." :rolleyes:
I asked him what am I supposed to do if it flares up again? He said, "I'm a surgeon (duh!), and people think of surgeons as knife happy (not his words but mine), and I'll be more than happy to get out my tools then..." blah blah
From what I've been reading online, a doctor doesn't want to lance/excise something if the area is infected. Is this the norm?
Is this solely an Ob/gyn's territory, or could a dermatologist handle it due to it involving the skin? This is what I'm confused about.
I made an appt. with a diferent ob/gyn in the city for 2 weeks (I can't get in any sooner) for a 2nd opinion on the matter. If he doesn't want to do anything with it, I don't know what I'll do. My spouse's job will be ending in the middle of July, and we won't have health insurance coverage after that date. I made this known to my present ob/gyn because I was trying to relay to him that I'm trying to take care of this thing NOW.
I can't understand why he would retreat, not doing anything, when he knew full well that we were 'in agreement' about the plan. I don't know how much experience he has with these, as I think this is his first ob/gyn job (he's in a group practice).
Thoughts welcome,
Hoosier
Have any of you ladies experienced a similar situation?
P.S. I wanted it excised, as I know that all a lancing is involves an incision and drainage, and that doesn't remove the sac/cavity that the cyst is in, and the cyst would recur/still be there, etc.
