Marsupialization Positive Experience!

I thought I'd share my experience with marsupialization of my bartholin cyst, since I read a lot of negative experiences before doing it and was very scared.

A little backstory, I had a bartholin cyst for a full year before I got it checked out/ knew what it was. It would get swollen and then go away and I mostly would just ignore it (which I don't recommend). Finally it got really bad and I went to the doctor, and they basically said there's not much they can do and told me to apply heat, etc. So I started doing that and just kind of dealt with it for a full year. Then one day it got extremely bad and nothing was helping. I ended up having to go to the ER so they could drain it. Turns out it was a bit infected, and they put a catheter to keep the wound open. The catheter was very very uncomfortable and after about 24 hours it fell out. And of course, the cyst came back and I had to go to the gyno to get it checked out again. By the time I had my appointment about a month after the ER trip, it was very swollen so I had to get it drained again. I said no to the catheter and instead she put in some sort of packing to keep the wound open. Surprisingly, that stayed in for a week, then she changed it out, and by the time I came back a week later it had fallen out and the cyst was back again. Feeling absolutely helpless, I agreed to get a marsupialization done when the gyno recommended it.

For the next two months I was constantly on reddit and other websites reading horror stories of this surgery. I was worried and stressed, and while this was all happening I was also in school with a full course load so that didn't help. Finally, I was able to get a surgery date which was about two weeks before I graduated college. Not the best timing but I said whatever I NEED to get this done so I went for it.

The surgery was a piece of cake. I couldn't eat or drink before, and they put me to sleep for the surgery so I had no idea what was going on. I woke up and felt fine and wasn't even in a lot of pain. After the surgery I was able to do a music performance four days later. I took it easy for those four days and honestly didn't feel much pain. I didn't touch it or look at it but the post surgery was so much easier than I had anticipated. The gyno put packing in the wound after the surgery and I went back after a week and she changed it, and a week later she took it out. I didn't even really feel the packing so it wasn't uncomfortable. After about 6 weeks I tried having sex and it was mostly fine, just a bit of stinging. But I was able to have it regularly after that and it wasn't painful at all and there were no issues. Yes, there is a permanent hole in the area, but it's supposed to be there and my gyno said if it's ever NOT there then that might mean it came back. The hole is extremely small and you can't even see it because it's inside. I occasionally will feel for it to make sure it's still there, but most of the time I just forget about it.

I am now 6 months post surgery and I've never felt better. My doctors were extremely proficient, and they wanted it gone almost as much as I did. They were very kind and did as much as they could to make sure it doesn't return. And it hasn't! So if anyone is thinking about getting it, I recommend to yes, do your research but also don't be too scared because it is so much better than having to deal with a cyst. I hope this helps someone! Bartholin cysts are the worst!!!!