Get Rid of a Ganglion- Painlessly

If you have a ganglion cyst* on your hand or foot, the treatments can be painful, if not dire:

 you can go to your doctor who will insert a big needle and drain the cyst (ouch!),
you can have surgery- expensive and painful – double ouch
or the old folk remedy is to hit it with the family bible – triple ouch!

I haven’t tried the surgery or the family bible remedy, but I have had a ganglion drained- it wasn’t fun, and it did grow back after about a year.

The next time it appeared, I worked out my own remedy- cheap, relatively painless, and effective- the ganglion hasn’t re-appeared and it’s been a few years now.

* Of course, you need to go to your doctor to get any lump checked- don't just assume it's a ganglion.

 For more information on ganglia, check with your doctor or on the internet. The main image I have used here is from Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganglion_cyst (I can’t photograph mine as I don’t have it any more!). Remember that information on the internet is just someone's opinion and may not be accurate!

Step 1: What I Used

What I used:

i. an old eraser with worn edges, large enough to cover the ganglion* (you’re going to press in against your skin so it should be firm but not hard, with rounded edges so they won’t dig in).

ii. a bandage (stretchy is best) and closure/safety pins

* If your ganglion is huge, it’s probably gone too far for this method to work- best to treat it while it’s still small. Remember that this method may not be right for you.; check with your health professional.

Step 2: The Method

NOTE- if you are not sure about this, check with your doctor- I have no medical training! The ganglion is likely to grow back without surgery, but you can repeat the treatment easily if it does.

Here's the method I used-

i.Check that the edges of the eraser are rounded- wear them down by rubbing on a scrap of cardboard if they are a bit "sharp".

ii. Place the worn eraser over the ganglion and
iii. bandage firmly, ensuring that circulation is not cut off with the bandage.

Leave it on overnight. Check in the morning and repeat the next night if necessary.

Step 3: The Results

The fluid was pressed back into the tissue, leaving my skin smooth(ish) again.

Notes:

A ganglion cyst is formed when fluid leaks into the sheath around the tendon/joint.

Hitting it with a heavy object will rupture the cyst and let the fluid drain into the surrounding tissue.

My method was more gentle and allowed a more natural reversal of the problem, forcing the fluid back out of the cyst gradually without damaging the surrounding area – but as I say, I’m not a doctor so get medical opinion for diagnosis and advice if you’re not sure what to do.

Comments

[mara420]

I tried this method last night and it shrunk my ganglion cyst by at least half, maybe more. Will do it again for several nights and then will continue to keep compressed for a few weeks to keep it from coming back as I have read helps from others.

NOTE: I did not have an eraser so I used a big clove of garlic instead of an eraser. I picked a less than fresh piece so that I could squish it a little but not so much that it burst apart like fresh garlic cloves. I also combined this method with another persons suggestion of using Bengay. I didn't have Bengay but did have Tiger Balm which are similar ingredients so I applied that overnight as well.

First I put large bandaid over the cyst with Tiger Balm on the gauze part of the bandaid. I then used first aid fabric tape to tape the garlic clove on top of the cyst over the bandaid. Then I wrapped in an ace bandage and slept overnight.

Thank you so much to the creator of this instructable! You have helped improve my quality of life and I am very grateful. Thanks!

[Puzzledd]

Thanks for your comment, I'm so glad it seems to be working for you; very creative use of the garlic :) I guess the Tiger Balm may heat the area a bit, maybe speed up the re-absorption of the cyst fluid into the surrounding tissue? I hope it keeps working for you!

[komal.1620patel]

Iam going to try this today,hope this will be useful🤞

[Puzzledd]

Hope it worked!

[komal.1620patel]

No😕, actually you suggested a balm or spray in comments somewhere IAM not finding it! Can you please say the name of balm or spray it was

[Noah Annayi]

I also removed it but it is back again. So I do not know what to do again. I feel severe pains after every heavy work but my doctor asked me to come for removal again. I will try the eraser method too and see

[Puzzledd]

If it's causing pain, it sounds as if it may be too big or in too difficult a spot for the eraser method; be careful if you try it. May be worth getting it removed by your doctor, then watching the site and bandaging if it starts to form again ;) Good luck, pain is no good!

[ErichM21]

I tried this and it did not work. I left the rubber and bandage on overnight for a cyst on my thumb joint. After 3 hours of extreme pain shooting up my arm to my neck I had to take it off. The cyst had not deflated one millimetre but pressing it hurts like hell. If you think about it if this truck worked then massaging the cyst would do the same thing albeit after a longer period but nothing will work I think except surgery

[Puzzledd]

Oh, the pain doesn't sound good - lots of nerves there. I had a small cyst hidden in my thumb joint, so very difficult to access. I had it removed surgically (took the dr a while to find it) and that worked, though it took many months to heal the surgery wound - hope the surgery is successful for you.

[rockinrod.phillips]

I had painful annoying dime-sized ganglion on inside second toe. Doctor drained it twice over course of several months but it grew back the same. I took matters into my own hands and after trying different things I finally found a method that worked to eradicate the ganglion within a month. May not be doctor recommended but Here is what I did.

1. With a box cutter I cut through top layers of skin to drain the cyst. I watched my dr do it twice. I would sometimes have to squeeze hard and a thin membrane would actually pop like a pimple before I would see the clear gooey fluid release. Ok A bit of pain initially and a bit of blood but relief came soon.
2. I massaged into the wound hard for a couple minutes with the clear polysporin. (The white polysporin didn’t seem to work but rather irritated me a bit.)
3. I packed extra polysporin in a large bandaid and wrapped tight. I would massage polysporin and replace bandaid multiple times a day.
4. If I felt pain/pressure increasing again after week or so I would repeat steps 1-3. I probably did this 3 or 4 times until I found that if I keep up the polysporin routine for extended period of time, even if it felt better, then the ganglion finally never returned.

This was one of the most annoying conditions I have ever had and am so fortunate to have gotten rid of it. I felt needed to share and wish you well.

[Puzzledd]

Wow, glad that worked for you - thanks for sharing! I wouldn't be brave enough to cut into the cyst (my dr made sure my tetanus shot was updated before he used a sterile needle to drain it).
Mine still hasn't returned after all these years, but I do keep an eye on it and would do the bandaging method if it started to form again; hope yours is fixed for good!

[lenzo_]

Hey, dumb question but how do I know if mine is too big for this to work? i don’t really know if mine is regular sized or just big lol

[lenzo_]

it is bigger than the one in the picture tho

[Puzzledd]

If it's bigger than the one in the picture I would think there's too much fluid build-up to go back into the surrounding tissue easily - you'd have to bandage it for a while to help it to go down a bit... but I'm not any kind of expert. I'd be going to a doctor to get it drained and then keep an eye on the area to see if it starts to come back, then using the "eraser pressure" method to stop it growing again. Good luck!

[nayiri112]

Hello, does this method work for a 2.5 cm ganglion cyst on top of the foot?

[Puzzledd]

Hi, I think that would be too large to compress; better get it drained by a doctor and then keep an eye on it in case it starts to re-occur. I'd always recommend getting medical advice if unsure.

[sunnyyw]

I want to share another way to treat ganglion cyst, use Ultra Strength Bengay! Not only it helps with the pain, but after a few days, the ganglion also softens and goes away. I've had ganglion cyst reoccurring on my wrists multiple times over the past 2 years. Each time, applying Bengay makes it go away painlessly. I simply apply Bengay before going to sleep every night until it goes away.

[ryanjohngarden]

Thank you so much!!! Been having a lot of pain they last couple months and tried this last night and it's gone!

[ErikS178]

Often it doesn't take a genius to think of something usefull. Just a bright moment is enough. This is one of those cases. I've got a ganglion on the inner wrist at the base of the thumb and I've tried to wrap some bandage around it but that didnt give enough pressure where it was needed. Ofcourse putting something under the bandage right on the cyst is the solution. I'm gunna get rid of it this way now. Thanks for sharing your advise. You may not be a doctor but to be fair this is a medical complication doctors don't seem to know much about. Their treatments are draining or surgical removement. Draining is often just temporalily decreasing the pressure as the cyst will simply refill and surgery is obviously very destructive against the surrounding tissues. I'm glad I've found this page before trying to let it get drained.

[BraidenP]

Pretty common and the thumb can be rather painful. Been getting them on the base of thumb wrist for years. Have had cortisone injections to help but I’ve also shed treated. The most recent I used the edge of my cell phone to smack it hard enough it stung pretty bad and then I went and pressed it against a wall corner with all my weight while enduring astronomical pain and within minutes it was alleviated and the pain went away. Pain was so bad I couldn’t move my thumb for the past week. Should’ve did this a week ago it was fast but it was too small to recognize at first so had to be certain it was a reoccurring issue.