Small but Painful: Bartholin's Cyst Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe Bartholin's cysts and abscesses, the swellings beside the vaginal opening. Many first mistook theirs for a spot, an ingrown hair or something caught from a partner, and one found hers only at a routine smear test. The writers include a school accountant in Pune who told no one for five days, a hairdresser in Lagos, a vegetable seller in Kampala, a call-centre worker whose fever began on a night shift, a long-haul trucker, a samba teacher, a baker in Lima, a nurse who ignored her own advice, a student at her first gynaecologist visit and a widow returning after twenty years. Ages run from 21 to 71, from Houston to Osaka and from Lusaka to Oslo. They describe warm baths, emergency department visits, drainage, four weeks with a small catheter in place, daily dressing changes, silver nitrate, laser, marsupialisation and surgery after repeated flares. Some managed alongside pregnancy, a six-week-old baby, diabetes, a penicillin allergy or the Ramadan fast. A husband writes about what he learned at his wife's side, and a mother about talking to her daughter early. Not every story is quick: one woman had five infections in two years, another had her operation cancelled twice, and a 63-year-old waited on a biopsy before being reassured.

Who it's for

For any woman who has found a painful lump in a private place and is too embarrassed to mention it, and for the partners, mothers and friends who want to help.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 245 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.