So my 15 year old son was just diagnosed with a ganglion cyst on his right wrist. He is in a lot of pain and we see the specialist tomorrow. From there they will decide if they will drain it or if he will require surgery to remove it. I know all of the medical stuff on it - what it is how they remove it etc - just looking for someone with first hand experience with one so I can tell him what to expect.

I had one when I was in graduate school many eons ago. It was a little half-inch bump on my wrist that hurt like crazy. If I remember correctly, the doctor wrapped my wrist so I couldn't move it and the ganglion went away. It came back again about fifteen years later, when I worked in an office with very heavy doors. The action of turning the doorknob and pushing the door aggravated it. Once again they wrapped the wrist to immobilize it and the ganglion went away on its own.

Andie had one that she had removed. The just did a local anesthetic and put a couple suture in it and a few days later she was fine. Not a big deal for her.

I had one when I was younger on my left wrist. Looked like a bone popping out. It was a little sore and uncomfortable, but not very painful. I had gone to the doctor, gotten pre-surgical blood work done, scheduled the surgery and 2 days before, it went away on it's own. I remember the doctor saying that some people have them surgically removed and they sometimes still come back. Something with the fluid between the wrist bones leaking out and collecting into a lump.

They can be very painful. I had one on my left wrist for years and while I was working in the OR I had one of the doc, inject a steroid(celestone) and marcaine ( anesthetic) into it and 5 years later no problems.

I have one on my palm right below my middle finger, it's never caused any pain so nothing has been done for it. The Doctor said in bad cases it will join to the ligament and I won't be able to bend my finger.. luckily that's never happened lol. My aunt has one in her wrist but it hasn't bothered her either so she's left it alone as well

Hopefully you're son will heal quickly, I can't imagine it would be a big surgery so hopefully it doesn't cause too much pain!

I have one on each wrist. When I was 16 I had one removed on my right wrist and it grew back. I was hospitalized for it for about 2 days but that was ages ago, medically they have come really far. I need to have it removed again along with the other one cause they really hurt but I keep putting it off.
Some can be drained though. Good luck with the doctors appt.

just a quick update - they drained it in the office yesterday. He feels a whole lot better but they warned that it could come back so we have to wait and see. If it comes back they will drain it but if it returns a third time they will do the surgery. They showed us the fluid that comes out and it is basically joint fluid so it is about the thickness of hair gel. Amazing that such a small amount of fluid was causing so much pain.

Hopefully this is the end of it - thanks for your input everyone.

My father-in-law was a physician, and he called them "Bible bumps" because he said that people used to smash them with a big book. I've never had one, but I understand they are harmless and easy to treat.

I have one on my left wrist. I had it drained back in 2006 and I think draining it hurt worse then it does, but it got better and now it is flaring up again. At the time they didn't give me an alternative......it is quite painful, especially when it gets cold..

Matthew said it didn't hurt at all to drain it but they did use a freeze spray on it before they did it. His was very painful - it was sitting on a nerve cluster so it had to be drained. Hopefully it won't come back. He said other than being a little sore it felt great this morning - he hasn't said that in months.

Glad to hear its better; hopefully it will stay that way!

So glad Mathew's feeling better. No matter the age, no one likes to see the little ones in pain. I hope for both of you, it stays gone.

Wow. They are painful? I have one on each wrist. The one on my L wrist is bigger. But neither has ever caused pain. They offered to remove them but both have been fine all these years so I declined surgery.

I had a large one on my right wrist when I was roughly 17 yrs old. It went away on its own shortly after i let for Basic training in the army. I blame its disapearance on the many push-ups i did! LMAO!! I am 32 and so far it has yet to come back