Ovarian Cyst Treatments Overview

Ovarian Cysts can be harmless, or a significant threat to the health of a woman.  The treatment on an Ovarian Cyst depends on the seriousness of the cyst.  Most ovarian cysts develop at the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle, and therefore typically go away on their own when the eggs are released into the fallopian tubes.

A serious problem of ovarian cysts, however, may be that blood supply is blocked to the ovaries.  Some ovarian cysts also contain cancerous cells.  If this is the case treatment is required to prevent worsening health or health problems.

Treatments for ovarian cysts can be thrown into two categories.  The first is traditional treatment, the second category is alternative treatment.  Some of the alternative types of treatement include diets with no red meat, diets that include homeopathic which contain plant and animal extracts, antioxidant supplements, and herbs,

While these treatments can reduce some of the symptoms that ovarian cysts create and may stop ovarian cysts from growing larger, they will not cure ovarian cysts.

The traditional treatment for ovarian cysts include oral contraceptives, a oophorectomy procedrure, and a cystectomy procedure.  A cystectomy procedure is when a surgeon removes part or all of the cystic structures that are causing the problems.  Traditionally cystectomy is used against non-cancerous ovarian cyst treatments.   This treatment method does not damage the ovaries and allows future childbearing.  As mentioned earlier, cystectomy procedures are not used to treat cancerous types of cysts.  If a cyst is cancerous or malignant, part of all of the affected ovaries must be removed.

An oophorectomy procedure will remove one or both of the patient’s ovaries.  It is, however, not as intrusive as a full hystrectomy.  An oophorectomy procedudure cannot be reversed, so it should not be considered unless absolutely necessary.  If both ovaries are removed women are unable to produce or regulat estorgen levels in a body, and therefore doctors generally prescribe hormone replacement therapy to these women after a oophorectomy procedure.  Hormone replacement therapy is also under scrutiny and has shown to be linked to cancer in some studies.

The last form of treatment are oral contraceptives.  Since birth control pills and contraceptives are designed to control a woman’s monthly cycle by regulating estrogen and progesterone.  If a woman (under doctor’s supervision) skips the week of placebo pills that triggers the ovulation, a woman can prevent her period.  This works because the ovaries are not releasing eggs and therefore ovarian cysts cannot be formed.