Single Women Beware - Chocolate Cyst

An inevitable excruciating pain that comes with your period can happen to any woman – especially a single woman will tend to experience this pain more than a woman who has already had a child.  The culprit is the menstrual blood.  If the pain is severe, they experience bloody urine or pain during intercourse.  This happens when blood from your period flows backward into your abdomen and causes endometriosis.  If the flow-back blood is trapped inside the ovaries for a length of time, it can turn into brown spots.

Menstrual Pain

This flow-back blood or retrograde menstruation causes menstrual pain.  Some women have a lot of pain due to the nearby nerves, while others may experience less discomfort.    Once the flow-back blood cells are broken down and trapped for a length of time, they will become endometriosis or uterine fibroids that attach the ovaries, uterus, and intestines together.  Ten percent of women is at risk of this condition.  If you have periods at the age of 15 and get married at 19, chances are you will have less menstrual pain.  Nowadays, however, more women are pursuing higher education and get married late. So, more women stand to experience menstrual pain as they will have accumulated more retrograde menstruation deposits in the pelvic, and the pain will start around the age of 18-19 years old.

When performing a pelvic exam, the gynecologist may find brown spots, or “chocolate cysts”, on the ovarian wall. These are the main cause of menstrual pain, infertility or miscarriages, and pain during intercourse; or they can become a catalyst of other women diseases.

Endometriosis

Endometriosis around ovary is a common area for chocolate cysts. They can cause severe menstrual pain, heavy menstruation, and infertility in women of reproductive age.

Endometriosis is the build-up of mucous membrane in the pelvic that causes pain during menstruation.  If it spreads to the bladder or large intestine, the patients may experience bloody urine or stool.  Some may also have irritable bowel, but many of them are likely to be infertile.

The most popular treatment for this condition is MIS – Advanced Minimal Invasive Surgery.  Some patients can drive home after 1 hour of treatment while others may need only a night stay at the hospital for observation in case there is any complication, but this is very rare because all of the procedure is performed through laparoscopy.  

The Benefits of MIS – Advanced Minimal Invasive Surgery

• No more than 1 cm incision 
• Less pain during and after surgery
• Short stay at the hospital
• Recover and can return to work quickly

At Bangkok Hospital, we use MIS (Advanced Minimal Invasive Surgery) whose camera provides a virtual reality display to help the surgeon perform effectively.  Do not be scared or alarmed if you discover you have chocolate cysts, because they are not a serious disease.  Although there is no known preventive measure, your annual medical checkup can help detect the condition and allow it to be promptly handled.