I have a small painful Bartholin's cyst with translucent discharge. Is biopsy required?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am 44 years old. I have Bartholin's cyst for the past eight months. It is small but painful daily and has a very tiny pinprick hole on the hymen that seeps a translucent, non-offensive discharge after I bathe or massage the lump. The lump is deep under the labia majora, pea-sized. According to MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), it is 10×8×4 mm. Please tell me;

Will a gynecologist operate on it?
Being so small, does it require a biopsy at my age?

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have gone through your description, and the details you mentioned definitely suggest there must be some infection in the Bartholin's gland. As you have mentioned, it has been painful for eight months. I would like to know if you took any course of antibiotics to address the infection. In your case, you can try that as the cyst is still very small. Although the definitive treatment for a Bartholin's abscess is excision and marsupialization of the cyst, for mild cases, a course of antibiotics may provide some relief for some time. But there can be a recurrence of infection in such cases in the future. If the lesion is persistent or size increases, excision of the same is recommended. And it is usually a very minor procedure and not that painful either. So please do follow up with your gynecologist in case you face any such issues.

I hope this information helps you.

Feel free to ask further queries.

Thank you.