I am 22 years old, and 8 weeks pregnant with our 2nd child. During my first OB appointment, my doctor found pain and tenderness on my left side. After 4 ultrasounds and 1 trip to the ER they determined that i have a “Huge Dermoid Cyst” on my left ovary, rather engulfing my entire ovary. It is somewhat genetic, my mother lost an ovary and fallopian tube to a cyst, but still surprising. According to the doctor in the ER the cyst is almost the size of a softball. My Ob/GYN seems to think i should wait to have it removed, but im terrified of waiting. I dont want it to grow or hinder the growth of my unborn baby. Its already huge and causing pain, and I cannot live the next 9 months on vicoden. I have an 18 month old to care for. My questions: How bad is this? Should my OB/GYN be more concerned? What is standard precedure for removing this? Can it be done while pregnant? thank you so much!

Answer:

Dermoid cysts of the ovaries are widespread and very common at pregnant age. Because of a dermoid cyst cotains much fat, it can easily be identified and diagnosed by ultrasound. Because the cysts is twisting or it presses on surrounding structures, pain from a cyst can occur. Otherwise, the ovarian cysts can be quite large and does not cause pain or other problems.

For you should have a question: Why do you have pain? If you have pain from another cause (eg, ligament pain, improving the pregnancy continues, or a bladder or bowel problem), then it makes sense to leave the cyst alone.
On the other hand, if the pain is evident from the ovarian cyst, and not improve it, you should remove it.

In general we suggest to wait until the second trimester of pregnancy ( more than 12 weeks) to do surgery in pregnancy. All major organs are formed within the first 12 weeks. While anesthesia is probably safe during pregnancy, we use the fetus for all chemicals measured, if possible. Even the highest risk of miscarriage is time for the first 12 weeks.

You should go back and explore these issues with your doctor.

The reason your doctor ordered an ultrasound or sonography, is to see whether indeed a cyst and if it is really torn. If the cyst was torn, there would be liquid in the pond behind the uterus. If the cyst is not broken, it looked like a big black circle on the ultrasound screen.

If a cyst is present and greater than 5 or 6 cm, and if you have severe pain, sometimes we recommend a laparoscopy to remove the cyst. If it is broken, and your pain is getting better (as I suspect, sell or otherwise you would not ask questions via Internet), then we give painkillers and generally look to see what happens . If the pain does not begin to improve in a few hours, or if your number of drops of blood, then we need to do a laparoscopy, so you’re not bleeding internally. Sometimes the pill used to help reduce the chances of an ovarian cyst again. It is a common problem and can be easily updated by a gynecologist.

If your’re post-menopause and have an ovarian dermoid cyst, your surgeon will suggest you have surgery for removing the ovarian dermoid cyst. Ovarian cancer is scarce, but women in the age of 50 to 70 are at greatest risk. Women who are diagnosed at an early point do much better than women who are diagnosed later.

If your having periods, only mild symptoms and the cyst is functional, you perhaps won’t poverty to have surgery for the cysts. If it doesn’t go away after several menstrual periods, if it gets larger or if it doesn’t look like a functional cyst on the sonogram, your surgeon may suggest you have a sugery for ovarian dermoid cyst. There are many different types of ovarian cysts in women of childbearing age that do need surgery. Fortunately, ovarian dermoid cysts in women of this age are almost benign (noncancerous).

If the ovarian dermoid cyst is small and if it looks benign on the sonogram, your surgeon may suggest to do a laparoscopy. This surgery for ovarian dermoid cyst is done with a lighted instrument called a laparoscope that’s like a lean telescope. This is put into your abdomen through a small cut just above or just below your navel. With the laparoscope, your surgeon can see your organs. Often the carbuncle can be removed through small incisions at the pubic curls line.

If the ovarian dermoid cyst looks too large to detach with the laparoscope or if it looks suspicious in any way, your surgeon will perhaps do a laparotomy. A laparotomy uses a bigger slit to eradicate the cyst or probably the whole unnatural ovary and fallopian tube. While you are under common anesthesia (which puts you in a snooze-like stately) the ovarian dermoid cyst can be hardened to find out if it is tumor. If it scourge, your doctor may need to detach both of the ovaries, the uterus, a fold of oily bandanna called the omentum and some lymph nodes. It’s very important that you tell to your doctor about all this before the surgery for ovarian dermoid cyst. Your doctor would also tell you about the risks of each kind of surgery, how long you are supposed to be in the hospital and how long it will be before you can go back to your normal activities.

Surgery may be avoided in some cases, by adopting alternative natural and holistic remedies in curing and preventing a re-occurrence of ovarian dermoid cysts. Read more about ovarian dermoid cyst treatment >>

Abdominal pain is often the first ovarian dermoid cyst symptom. You may have pain or feels pressure or heaviness in the lower abdomen, if the cyst is large enough. Ovarian dermoid cysts can often bring on lower abdominal pain during intercourse. A process called “torsion” is another possible cause of pain. In this situation, the stem that forms on some ovarian dermoid cysts becomes twisted, normal flow of blood is stopped, which cause severe pain. Ruptured ovarian dermoid cysts can cause severe lower abdominal pain. You may feel nausea and vomiting. If these pains are severe enough, you should immediately go to hospital.

There are other less daunting ovarian dermoid cyst symptoms. For example, a cyst can press on the rectum, causing constipation, or on the bladder, creating an urge to urinate. Don’t ignore these lesser symptoms. They could also be signs of a gastrointestinal disturbance or a bladder infection. Severe abdominal pain itself could also be due to appendicitis, an infection in the uterus or fallopian tubes, or an ectopic pregnancy.

Irregular periods is another ovarian dermoid cyst symptom. Particularly, it occurs in a condition call polycystic ovaries in which the hormonal system that regulates the ovaries is disturbed, causing them to form a large number of cysts.

When you have the symptoms above, you should consult with your doctor and have some tests and exams. Surgery may be avoided in some cases, by adopting alternative natural and holistic remedies in curing and preventing a re-occurrence of ovarian dermoid cysts. Read more about ovarian dermoid cyst treatment >>

Rather than other dermoid cysts, Ovarian dermoid cyst removal requires special techniques and training. These dermoid cysts can be removed with either conventional surgery or laparoscopy.

In the Laparoscopic surgery of ovarian dermoid cyst removal, the surgeon fills a woman’s abdomen with a gas and makes small incisions through which a thin scope (laparoscope) can pass into the abdomen. The surgeon identifies the dermoid cyst through the scope and may remove the cyst or take a sample from it. Laparoscopy leaves less scarring than traditional surgery because of the smaller incisions, and there is also less pain, blood loss and recovery time necessary for dermoid cyst patients.

An ovarian cyst may twist and cause severe abdominal pain as well as nausea and vomiting. An Ovarian dermoid cyst removal surgery is required to correct the torsion. This is an emergency.

Surgery may be avoided in some cases, by adopting alternative natural and holistic remedies in curing and preventing a re-occurrence of ovarian dermoid cysts. Read more about ovarian dermoid cyst treatment >>

An ovarian dermoid cyst develops from a totipotential germ cell (a primary oocyte) that is retained within the egg sac (ovary). Being totipotential, that cell can give rise to all orders of cells necessary to form mature tissues and often recognizable structures such as hair, bone and sebaceous (oily) material, neural tissue and teeth.

Ovarian dermoid cyst is common, constituting about one-third of all benign ovarian tumors. They are often found in young women. Ovarian dermoid cyst may occur at any age but the prime age of detection is in the childbearing years. The average age is 30. Up to 15% of women with ovarian teratomas have them in both ovaries. Ovarian dermoid cyst can range in size from a centimeter (less than a half inch) up to 45 cm (about 17 inches) in diameter. Although the large majority (about 98%) of these tumors are benign, the remaining fraction (about 2%) becomes cancerous (malignant).

Ovarian dermoid cyst often causes no symptoms and is noted as an enlargement of the ovary on a routine pelvic exam. However, these cysts can cause the ovary to twist (torsion) and severe pain, and imperil its blood supply. The larger the ovarian dermoid cyst, the greater the risk of rupture with spillage of the greasy contents which can create problems with adhesions, pain etc.

Removal of the ovarian dermoid cyst is usually the treatment of choice. This can be done by laparotomy (open surgery) or laparoscopy (with a scope). Torsion (twisting) of the ovary by the cyst is an emergency and calls for urgent surgery. The surgery will involve removing the ovarian dermoid cyst itself; unless it involves the entire ovary, the rest of the ovary is left behind.

Surgery may be avoided in some cases, by adopting alternative natural and holistic remedies in curing and preventing a re-occurrence of ovarian dermoid cysts. Read more about ovarian dermoid cyst treatment >>