It will be difficult for you to perform daily tasks when you receive damage or injuries to your hands. The inability to hold or control objects can affect anyone, whether you’re a tradesperson or an office worker. That’s why it’s essential to keep them safe from harm.
Unfortunately, your hands can receive cuts, burns, and bruises from different sources even when you’re careful. However, a lump from under your skin can make it harder to find its cause. For instance, the painful bump on your wrist could be a ganglion cyst.
What are ganglion cysts?
These generally harmless sacs of ligament fluid can appear in both children and adults. They appear on the top or bottom sides of your wrist. You can almost miss it as it starts in the shape of a pea. However, they can grow larger, making it uncomfortable to have later on.
What do ganglion cysts do?
Ganglion cysts can come from minor trauma or damages in your wrist’s ligaments. It’s small enough to allow fluids to escape, which your body then wraps up with a protective wall to create a cyst. Pain comes from the pressing of the cyst against your wrist’s nerves. At best, it induces slight discomfort due to the pressure. At worst, it can push into your radial artery on your forearm, causing greater pain.
It’s common for adults’ ganglion cysts to go up and down in size, which makes them easy to misdiagnose that they’re gone. An enlarged cyst can cause pain when bending or straightening your wrist, making it a hassle to perform daily tasks.
How do I get treated for a ganglion cyst?
You can go through different methods to treat a ganglion cyst. One typical solution is to wear a splint to alleviate the pain. If you want to remove it, a physician can drain the fluids through a needle. Unfortunately, there’s a 50% chance that the cyst will return through this method. Unless you completely suck out all the contents, it will keep returning.
Surgery is a viable option to permanently remove it from your wrist. The cyst is surgically extracted from the base to prevent it from resurfacing. Although it’s safe to remove a ganglion cyst at the top of your wrist, it can be risky to remove it when closer to your radial artery. The good news is that it’s easy to repair damage to the radial artery if it were to occur.
Are ganglion cysts dangerous?
Many people who have ganglion cyst worry whether it’s benign or malignant. It’s highly uncommon for these types of cysts to be cancerous. However, it’s possible.
Physicians can perform different diagnostic techniques to detect abnormalities from it. The most straightforward process is transillumination, where the passage of light determines whether irregularities in your body contain fluids. As a general rule, cysts on the thumb side of the wrist that appear round and soft indicates that it’s a harmless build-up of fluid and not the beginnings of a tumor.
Conclusion
It’s normal to suddenly notice injuries or wounds on your body without knowing where they came from. If you’re not paying attention to your body, you may end missing symptoms that could lead to severe conditions.
If you need a hand specialist in Jacksonville, FL, to diagnose the severity of your ganglion cyst, our trained physicians can clarify your condition. Get in touch with us today to receive expert analysis and treatment for your hand-related injuries.
