Out of curiosity, I just took an Exacto knife and poked a hole in a ganglion cyst to see what would happen and it is bleeding a lot (well, as much as can come out of a little hole in my skin). Is this normal?
If you are asking if it is normal to cut into abnormal tissue to see what happens, then no, that is not normal.
It wasn’t a cut, it was a little poke.
The bleeding has stopped now, don’t be alarmed.
How much does it cost to have a ganglion cyst removed? I’ve put up with one for awhile, but I have decided it is rather unsightly and would like to have it excised (or drained, if that’s all it takes).
This is possibly the best consecutive thread title set ever, by the same author!
“Ganglion Cyst Removal Cost”
“Bleeding cyst”
Of course, by replying, I’m destroying the consecutivity for everyone else, but tough luck…
God, I love this board.
The costs vary a lot depending on your insurance, where you are at, exactly what they need to do, etc.
I don’t know if I’d recommend it, but they used to call these things “Bible Bumps” and in the old days the treatment was to whack it with a really big book (typically a Bible, since most folks had one of those handy). I had a ganglion cyst on the back of my hand, and I accidentally whacked it on something, and over the period of about a month it slowly went away. That was many years ago and it and hasn’t come back.
There are probably much better treatments these days than the good old fashioned Bible thump, but if cost gets to be an issue, there you go. All I can tell you is that with my sample size of 1, it has a 100 percent success rate.
(Typical disclaimer - IANAD and this is just worthless internet advice, etc)
Speaking as a physician, I will say that it is very normal to bleed after poking a hole in oneself.
For accurate information about what’s going on with you, see a doctor.
“Doc, it hurts when I do this.”
“Don’t do that.”
You may have destroyed the consecutivity, but you left me with
“What are things that are generally considered “sexy” that you find unsexy?”
“Bleeding cyst”
::shudder::
I can’t speak to the cost because of insurance, but I had mine aspirated (drained with a needle) and it came back in a few months. It stayed gone for years after I broke it with pressure from my thumb, and when it came back a few years later I broke it again.
Well, I am so glad that was explained by an expert
Medical advice is better handled in IMHO than GQ. Also, I have merged two threads on the same subject.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Posts like this are why I have a Doper Crush on you, Doc.
i’ve had three taken out of my right hand, which is odd since i’m left-handed. you’d think the dominant hand would get them. :dubious:
they’re no big deal to remove. all of mine were taken out while under a local. i wanted to watch, but the surgeons would never let me, the party poopers. 
the pita part comes after, since you lose the use of that hand for a time while it heals. ever tried to button a shirt or pull on jeans with one hand? i wore a lot a sweats for a while.
insurance does vary, but none were especially expensive beyond what you’d pay for a root canal. none of the trio have ever returned and the oldest one was removed nearly 20 years ago.
Understand, I’m not recommending this, have no medical training other than basic first aid, and could be a spam bot for all you know.
My mother had one that she cleared up by banging it on her desk rather hard. It never came back. I believe this is a variation on the ‘bible thump’ method mentioned above.
Understand that the downside to either of these methods is that if they’re performed incorrectly the side effect is a broken wrist which is likely more annoying than the cyst is.
Hmmm, I wonder if that’s what I had on my knuckle. I had a bump for several weeks and accidentally knocked it on a door frame and it magically disappeared.
The use of Bibles, encyclopedias or the Yellow Pages to bash ganglion cysts is not considered standard of care these days.
“Massaging the ganglion. Rubbing the ganglion gently but often during the day may help move the fluid out of the sac. Do not smash a ganglion with a book or other heavy object. You may break a bone or otherwise injure your wrist by trying this folk remedy, and the ganglion may return anyway.”
I get to see a fair number of ganglion cysts in my pathology practice and I have to say they are microscopically very boring lesions. Which is probably a good thing.
That’s one of the things I would prefer - anything of mine that a pathologist looks at to be boring to him. I would much prefer that to, “Oh MY GOD! What the hell IS that?”
After I poked it with the Exacto knife yesterday, the cyst has mostly disappeared! It’s a miracle!