conjunctival cyst

[jo70605]

Will conjunctival cysts go away on their own or is topical or surgical treatment recommended?

[JohnHaganMD]

Of course your ophthalmologist needs to tell you but for our patients we really don't restrict wearing contacts at all after draining cyst  JCH MD

[lalena75]

I'm getting ready to seek treatment for this as mine is still here after 2 yrs with no treatment. In the past month it has become sore and irritating. I was wearing contacts because they are easier for me to see for my job. However I don't want them to be making it worse. What is the healing time after treatment before I can wear my contacts again?

[JohnHaganMD]

FIrst of all subconjuctival cysts (SCC) are extremely common, almost normal and many people have them without feeling them. They often go away spontaneously. There is no reason to expect any medicine to make them go away.

Sometimes insurance companies refuse to authorize removal since it's generally cosmetic.   In those instances where its bothering a patient we have our staff seek "pre-authorization" which means the insurance companies agree ahead of time to pay for removal. If they do no problem. If they don't we offer the patient the opportunity to pay cash for the removal. We charge the discounted amount that people with insurance or medicare would pay.

This is the deal. the first time or two we don't excise the cyst. We instill a drop of topical anesthetic, ask the patient to sit still at the slit lamp and we run a 19 or 20 gage hypodermic needle through both sides. It is painless and takes maybe 10-15 seconds. We then ask the patient to use artificial tears and massage over the cyst for 7-10 days.  95% do not re-occur.  If they do we repeat the process. Only if it came back again would we do an actual excision where the cyst is grasp, elevated and excised with scissors. In literally hundreds of these I've removed only one or two had to be excised.

If your current ophthalmologist will not do this find another that will.


JCH MD

[shalom900]

ever since having PRK for a second time i have a conjunctiva cyst that WILL NOT GO AWAY. 8 months now. tried everything under the sun, tobradex ointment, eye drops, ALPHAGAN,  EVERYTHING. i believe its a trauma cyst. and i badly badly NEED IT REMOVED! PLEASE HELP ME! I'm begging someone, anyone to remove this thing. my current eye doctor says "it's too small to remove" but it feels like a massive pebble to me. please any doctor help me I'm begging you. I can't live with this for my whole life I'm so scared. 24/male. Help? please? :'[

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

-

[Nick222638]

Hi. When your eye cyst popped did it leave a sore on the surface of your eye? That is whats happened to mine and it won't go. It popped 3 months ago and I have has the cyst removed, but the sore on the surface remains. It looks very red and won't heal. Thanks

[kelbel64]

I also have conjunctival cysts in my eye, though they referred to it as a hystine cyst?  I am being treated by an opthamologist,  initially with steriod drops but the cyst did not disappear but did reduce in size after popping (?).  After a 3rd visit I was advised to use the steriod drops for 2 weeks, followed by a hystine (sp?) drop for 3 weeks. I am currently on the hystine drop portion of the treatment, but the cyst is just as big as it normally gets (I thought the steriod drop would have shrunk it?) and is starting to irritate the edge of my eye lid and white portion of my eye is getting bloodshot.  It is probably getting ready to pop again as it seems to do about every 6-8 weeks.   I noticed the other day that I am getting a 2nd one on the extreme inside part of my eye as well, muscle area?  
Do these tend to multiply?  Should I seek another Dr's opinion?  Are they contagious?  Both my husband and a friend had one recently, my husband's disappeared, my friend went to the dr. they gave her steriod drops and on her return visit since it was still present, they drained it with a needle and advised if it came back they would consider cutting it out?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

such cysts are very common , often but now always go away on their own, and only need to be treated if very large and causing symptoms. Reoccurence is not infrequent.

JCH II MD