Bartholins gland/cyst removal?

Had the bartholin gland removed on Monday. It was extremely painful.  In fact though it is an outpatient procedure they kept me overnight because of the amount of pain I was in. My husband had no idea what level of pain I had been in with having the cyst so in a weird way I was glad he was able to really see and understand what I was going through.

I came home yesterday with pain meds, nausea meds and antibiotics which I am taking as I should.  There is pain, I won't lie about that. But the difference between yesterday morning and this morning was unbelievable. Am still in pain, still icing the wound but the pain is so much better.

Still looking at a few weeks of recovery I am sure with drainage and pain, but am glad I have done this. to know i won't have that cyst again.

 

mine is very swollen, black and blue. am eating a low residue diet so that i don't have to strain to go to the bathroom. it does sound like you had the gland removed.

Hi Ladies. I need some advice/support. I found my 5th Bartholin cyst this morning. After my third over a year and a half ago my DR. said I might be a candidate for entire cyst removal surgery if I have a fourth one. Well, I had the fourth cyst in late June of this year. He lanced the cyst and said we would visit the discussion cyst removal surgery once I heal completely.             I felt "weird" down there last week, stinging feeling & itchy where I had the last lancing. Dr. checked me, there seemed to be no cyst so no problem. Until this morning. I woke up with my 5th Bartholin cyst.  I can't continue to live like this, never knowing when or where I will be when I get a cyst. 

To those who have had the Bartholin Cyst removal surgery...How long is the recovery? I am a Kindergarten Teacher (a very active job) so and I need to know if I will miss a week / 10 days...more of work? My doctor says I will be down a week, but from people on here they say it might be longer. Today is Sunday so I haven't even gotten in to my doctor's yet. I'm scared that the surgery will be what he opts to do in the next couple days....Cross your fingers for me. I am prepared by all of your posts on here that I will be in pain and uncomfortbale. I just want to wrap my head around the idea of how long??? Help please!

Hi Larenn. I am dealing with my 5th cyst currently. I am most likely going to have to have my Bartholin Gland removed, though my doctor has been apprehensive to do the surgery. We'll see what he says when I walk in his office tomorrow with this current cyst. I believe I am going request the surgery simply because (as you would understand) I can't imagine living like this forever. The stress of waking up to another cyst is depressing, not to mention painful and inconvenient! Thank you for sharing your experience on the surgery with everyone. It is helping me understand what I need to prepare for. Just a question:
How long were you "down", unable to get out of the house. And if you work...how many days were you home in recovery before you were able to go back to work? I am a Kindergarten teacher. I have a very active job, so I'm really worried about the "down time" I will need before I can go back to work. Thank you in advance for your help! Kmarie

Hi Ladies - also this may be long... sorry!

I just wanted to share my experience with my bartholins gland problems and my surgery to have the cyst and gland removed. I never knew I had a swollen barthollin gland until one day about 4 years ago the gland started to swell while I was at work. My vagina just felt very tender and I developed a fever. I left work early, came home and during the night I felt worse. By the middle of the night I couldn't take it anymore... I could barely walk, I was in intense pain and running a high fever. I had my hubs call my doctor and she told me to come into her office at 6 am! The gland was so swollen I couldn't walk... my husband and my son actually had to carry me in. Once there my doctor let me know it was my bartholins gland and that it was infected... so thats why it was swollen and I had the fever. She let me know that she would have to lance and drain it. At that point I didnt care what she had to do I just wanted the pain to go.

As some of you may know... lancing the cyst involved a needle to that area (YIKES!!!) and the doctor applying pressure to remove the fluids. Because of the infection the smell was awful but as soon as she removed the fluids I felt immediate relief. I had to take some anti-biotics because of the infection and I missed a few days off of work. My doctor did inform me that the swelling may come back and sure enough it did. The good thing was that every other time they came back there was no pain, only swelling. My gland would swell to the size of a small egg. Every few months I would go to my doctor to drain it. This past month (August) my doctor suggested removing the gland which we did yesterday (9-11-14).

I'm going to give my 100% honest account of the surgery I had yesterday. It was not as painful as I thought it was going to be. The surgery took about 35 mins and it was same day surgery. On a scale of 1-10 I would say the pain after the surgery was a 7, my dr prescribed percocets and when I took one at home the pain scaled back to a 3. My dr did pack the area where she removed the cyst and gland with gauze and I had to remove it myself at home... I just couldnt do it myself (im so squeamish) so I had my hubs remove it for me.

Today is the day after my surgery, I woke up early in some pain so I took another percocet. I am able to walk around, I took a nice hot shower and that made me feel a bit better. I honestly thought that I would be feeling a lot worse. The pain isnt unbearable and there isnt a lot of bleeding. From reading this forum I expected a lot worse, my experience wasn't that bad. In fact I'd say it was pretty easy. I'm able to walk around, the pain is minimal (tho the meds do help) and I have 2 weeks off from work to really recuperate.

I will say ladies, if you are a candidate for gland removal I suggest doing it. But don't read this forum first, some of the stories here will scare the daylights out of you, I know it terrified me. But now that I've went through with it I just want to let the readers know its not all bad.

I feel like I'm leaving a lot out but if anyone has any questions, just let me know.

Hi how long was your downtime, need to have the surgery and also need to work, hairstylist!

My doctor signed me out of work for 2 weeks and to be honest with you you really need that time to recuperate. The first week after the surgery there was pain, tho the pain meds really do work. I don't think you'll be able to go back to work right away, between the tenderness and the pain medication it's better to stay at home at least a week IMO.

It's now 17 days post surgery and I'm now back to 100%! The sutures are fully healed, there's no more pain and my vagina looks so good! LOL my doctor explained to me that there would be minimal to no scarring since the sutures were done inside my vagina.


So, in summary I'd suggest you should at least take a week off since the first few days after the surgery you will have some pain, the pain meds are strong and you're going to need some time to rest.

How are you doing now? Need to have this surgery done.

Thank you for this info, you gave me confidence to go forward!

Today is my first day back to work, had the surgery on 9/11. I was so nervous coming back to work since I commute on the subway and most of my work day is sitting at my desk. After being here at work most of the day, I can honestly say there is NO pain whatsoever from the surgery! After reading so many horror stories about bartholin's gland removal surgery I was terrified going into the surgery. But now that I'm 3 weeks out and fully recovered (tho I haven't had sex with my hubs yet, we're going to wait a full month just to be safe!) I would suggest gland excision for all Bartholin's gland sufferers. NOT a marsupialization!

I don't think I'm a special snowflake, I don't know why I haven't had some of the problems a lot of the posters here seem to be having but I strongly suggest if you can get that gland excised DO IT!!!! The first week is probably the hardest part of recovery but in my experience I was still able to walk (tho not a lot, I definitely couldn't work the first week). I saw earlier in this thread that someone said its a bloody operation but I didnt experience a ton of bleeding, in fact the amount of bleeding I did experience was about the same as having my period. Honestly, looking back at the surgery 3 weeks post op... I'd compare it to when I had my kids and the doctor did an episiotomy on me.

So to all the ladies who come here... hopefully you'll make it to the end of this endless thread and see my message. The posts here will scare the living daylights out of you and if/when you get to mine I hope (at minimum) youll see its not all bad. Not every one's experience was awful, there's some women who's gland excision surgery went extremely well and they're just fine. Just like you'll be if and when you have to have this surgery. Good luck ladies!

I just wrote another long post about my surgery and recovery. Hopefully you'll see it!

I'm sending good vibes your way for your surgery! *hugs*

I'm 2 weeks out from emergency surgery to remove the Bartholin gland due to a cyst (the size of a medium grapefruit) and laproscopic removal of the right ovary due to another cyst (the size of a small grapefruit).  I had a hysterectomy 7 years ago, and have had the same bartholin gland drained at least 3 times in 2 years (the last time being 3 years ago) so I'm no stranger to gyn surgery.  However, in the first week after the surgery I was surprised that it was the incisions from the bartholin gland removal that was more painful, I had expected the opposite.  But in fact after some post-surgery research it makes sense that the barotholin incision is more painful, mainly due to the large amount of blood supply in that area.  I attempted to go back to work 2 days ago, only to be laid up again mainly due to swelling.  Considering the size of the cyst they removed, again I shouldn't be surprised.  The doctor did tell me that he had to do extensive reconstructive surgery after the cystic gland was removed.  I'm still dealing with the 'pinching pain" and a bit of swelling for which sitz baths help, as well as pain meds.  I suspect at this point my healing time will be more like others that have posted in the timeframe of 8 - 10 weeks, or longer and not the 4 - 6 weeks like my doctor orginally told me prior to him visualizing the extensive size of the cystic gland.  While I'm frustrated with the length of the healing process, I'm not sorry I had the surgery.  My Bartholin cyst became so large simply because I put off the procedure for 2 years; had I have had the surgery done when orginially advised to, it would not have been as large or as complicated a surgurical procedure that it ended up being.  Bottom line: if your doctor tells you that you need to have the Bartholin gland removed, don't do what I did and put it off because in the end it will only be worse than need be. 

Oh and in case you were curious the laproscopic surgery to have my right cystic ovary removed was a piece of cake, even though by the time of the procedure the ovarian cyst had started to rupture.  Once it was removed, the pain was gone other than very mild discomfort from the laproscopic incisions. 

Just a little tip: With either procedure, it is vital to use the stool softeners they tell you too.  Even with using them, expect to develop a hemmoroid, mainly because the pain meds cause constipation but also it's strange trying to push without actually pushing from either numbnesss or fear of pain. 

Sending well wishes to anyone else experiencing this.

Did you experience any vaginal dryness post surgery

Hello Bvictim,
I would love to know your doc's name who did the surgery, I am looking for one in NYC area?

Hello Nyc_lady!
Would you tell me your doc's name who did the surgery. I have been suffering from this for 2 year and my OB suggested to get the glands removed. He referred me to a surgeon but I am not sure about going to him so I am looking for someone else.
Please help,

Thanks,

I first had my cyst flair up when I was about 16 but then I didn't have any problems again until I was 25 and pregnant with my second. It was terrible, the pain and I kept getting them about every 3 months. Finally about a year after the baby was born I had it removed. I am fairly healthy and I think the recovery went really well. With any surgery, it seems like there's some numbness in the area for awhile. I am about a year out and almost all of the numbness is gone.

I honestly recommend it. Although, I had a great doctor and I recover well from things. The temperary pain from recovery wasn't near as bad as the pain of an actual swollen cyst.