Mucous/Ganglion Cyst on Finger - Had One?

[Christine]

I just had a consult this afternoon for what I thought was a very simple mucous/ganglion cyst on my index finger up near the top joint.

I was given an option to have it surgically removed, aggressively treated with antiibiotics before and after the surgery, and the incision could be quite large do the fact that there's not excess skin on the finger.

What I"m wondering is if anyone has ever had one and what was YOUR course of treatment.

One option is to just let it go: it *could* disappear on its own or it could break and break the skin causing possible infection.

 

[Tozzie]

I just had a consult this afternoon for what I thought was a very simple mucous/ganglion cyst on my index finger up near the top joint.

I was given an option to have it surgically removed, aggressively treated with antiibiotics before and after the surgery, and the incision could be quite large do the fact that there's not excess skin on the finger.

What I"m wondering is if anyone has ever had one and what was YOUR course of treatment.

One option is to just let it go: it *could* disappear on its own or it could break and break the skin causing possible infection.

I think you need to get a second opinion! In 2002 I had ganglion cyst on the side of my finger at the knuckle. The doctor suggested removing t because if it kept growing it could affect the joint. I never took antibiotics either before or after the surgery. I have about a inch scar on the side of my finger, i had stitches, all in alll it took about 6 weeks to be 100 percent.

 

[Christine]

I think you need to get a second opinion! In 2002 I had ganglion cyst on the side of my finger at the knuckle. The doctor suggested removing t because if it kept growing it could affect the joint. I never took antibiotics either before or after the surgery. I have about a inch scar on the side of my finger, i had stitches, all in alll it took about 6 weeks to be 100 percent.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am definitely considering a second opinion. The doctor told me that he was aggressive with the antibiotics because he has seen these things become infected after surgery without them and, since it involves the joint, it's very scary and can be bad. So he never does it without.

I always have problems with antibiotics and will only ever use them if the risk of not using them is worse. This might be a case of that, but I just don't know.

 

[stsomewhere]

I had a ganglion cyst on my wrist. This was about 15 years ago.My doctor told me if I wanted it go away faster to drop a book on it or bang it on something.

It ended up going away on its own after a few months

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

I had one and had it surgically removed by a Hand Surgeon with no complications.

 

[Christine]

I had one and had it surgically removed by a Hand Surgeon with no complications.

Were you treated with IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics afterward?

 

[Shagley]

I had a digital myxoid cyst on my toe last year. My doctor said that the best way to remove it is to have surgery, but he could try to freeze it with liquid nitrogen and see if that would work. I opted to try the freezing method before I had surgery. The freezing seemed to work, it has been almost a year and it is still gone. However, the liquid nitrogen hurt like heck (he had to keep it on my toe for about 10 seconds so it would freeze all the way down to the joint). Plus, it also really hurt for about 2 more weeks when the toe blistered and turned black before it finally healed up. Surgery might have been a less painful option.

 

[BaxterSaysMeoww]

I just had a consult this afternoon for what I thought was a very simple mucous/ganglion cyst on my index finger up near the top joint. I was given an option to have it surgically removed, aggressively treated with antiibiotics before and after the surgery, and the incision could be quite large do the fact that there's not excess skin on the finger. What I"m wondering is if anyone has ever had one and what was YOUR course of treatment. One option is to just let it go: it *could* disappear on its own or it could break and break the skin causing possible infection.

I have a small cyst on my index finger as well although mine is at the bottom joint by the palm of my hand.. It started becoming painful to grab things and especially open doors so I went and got it checked it out and the doctor put a splint type thing on it, him saying the less I use my finger the faster it could go away on it's own. I wore it for like a week and it hasn't bothered me since and went down a lot in size. Everyone once in awhile I rub where it is to see if it's still there and it is but it's very small now and never hurts anymore.

If your doctor is suggesting surgery yours could be much worse than what I had but using the splint helped a lot, it could be something to try first to see if it helps.

 

[kkandaj]

I had a ganglion cyst removed from my wrist last August. It was on the top of my wrist closer to the bottom of my hand and caused lots of pain (could not put weight on it at all before the surgery). I did not take any antibiotics--via IV or oral.

I don't regret getting the cyst out at all. One he got it out, it was the size of a kids bouncy ball.

ETA: A plastic surgeon that also specializes in hand surgeries did my operation.

 

[Chikabowa]

I had one removed from the bottom of my index finger, inside my palm. It was right on the outer edge of the palm.

I saw a hand specialist and all she did was numb it, placed a thin needle inside and filled the cyst with saline. It eventually burst as she did that. It didn't hurt, but it felt uncomfortably odd. As the Novocain wore off it burned.

Later that afternoon I was back in the gym and I had no residue issues.

 

[Tozzie]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am definitely considering a second opinion. The doctor told me that he was aggressive with the antibiotics because he has seen these things become infected after surgery without them and, since it involves the joint, it's very scary and can be bad. So he never does it without.

I always have problems with antibiotics and will only ever use them if the risk of not using them is worse. This might be a case of that, but I just don't know.

I only relayed my finger because that is what you asked about but just so you know, I have had 3 ganglion cysts removed at different times and surgery to move the nerve in my elbow. All the surgeries were done by hand/upper extremity surgeons and due to the time in between my problems I have had 3 different surgeons, I didn't take anitbiotics at all for any of the surgeries. In fact nowadays due to drug resistant bacteria they try not to prescribe antibiotics for a lot of surgeries so not to increase the drug resistence.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I just had one of those removed from my upper foot.

The podiatrist numbed the area with a spray, gave me a few numbing shots, and went in and drained it. He said it was one of the larger ones he has drained - 2.5mm x 3.5mm. After he drained it, he squeezed it a bit, gave me a cortisone shot to produce scar tissue (it has a 90% chance of coming back - the cortisone shot helps to prevent that) stuck a bandaid on it, and wrapped it in gauze, which will be removed either tonight or tomorrow.

Does yours have to be surgically removed, or can it be drained?

My foot was going numb, swelling, and feeling uncomfortable, as the cyst was on 3 major nerves.

 

[lsyorke]

Were you treated with IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics afterward?

IV antibiotics for a ganglion? Wow, that's crazy overkill. I had an involved ganglion in the wrist, surgery fixed it and no antibiotics required.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

Were you treated with IV antibiotics and oral antibiotics afterward?

No antibiotics, it was about 25 years ago.
My regular Doctor did recommend going to a Hand Surgeon

 

[Christine]

Does yours have to be surgically removed, or can it be drained?

Mine is very tiny; however, apparently the recurrence for draining one on the finger is almost 90% so they don't do it. Also the chance for infection is very high. Has something to do with it being on the finger.

 

[Christine]

IV antibiotics for a ganglion? Wow, that's crazy overkill. I had an involved ganglion in the wrist, surgery fixed it and no antibiotics required.

I'm reading that it's something about the finger. The affected joint is very close to the surface and can easily become infected. That's not necessarily so with other ganglion cysts.

Still, I am definitely going to get another opinion. I can't deal with those antibiotics.

 

[Julia205]

I think you need to get a second opinion! In 2002 I had ganglion cyst on the side of my finger at the knuckle. The doctor suggested removing t because if it kept growing it could affect the joint. I never took antibiotics either before or after the surgery. I have about a inch scar on the side of my finger, i had stitches, all in alll it took about 6 weeks to be 100 percent.

Same is happening to my mum, its been 10 days now since she had cyst removed from her finger. Stitches are still there of course, but it's inflamed! Did you have any kind of inflammation which is persistent after surgery? Is it normal? I read it can be an allergy to the injections received before surgery to numb the area... Mum is applying cream but to no avail for now.

 

[Darcy03231]

I had one removed from my interior left wrist. It started out small and wasn't bothering me so I left it alone. When it grew to a size that it began pressing on a nerve(s) and interfering with my hand, I had it surgically removed. I didn't have to take any antibiotics either pre or post surgery. After surgery there was some slight discomfort/swelling, but it went away very quickly.

 

[Dancind]

Oh, I think that's what I have! It is below the surface and I thought it was just an arthritic joint, lately seems more like a tumor. I have one on my forehead too, but it's never grown or even hurt. I'd like the use of my index finger back, so thanks.

 

[DVC-Don]

Got one several years ago. I took the "do nothing" option. It calmed down later and all I have is a small bump on one of my knuckles.