The Last Post Surgery Update

Back in May, I wrote about Angelica's experience having a dermoid cyst removed from her eye at 11 months old. I've noticed that a few people have landed on Minute for Mom looking for information about this subject, so I thought I'd post another update to let everyone know how things went in the days and months that have followed. Let me preface this by saying -- it has all been good news!

We first noticed the cyst when she was about four months old and it continued to grow with her as she got bigger. She saw a pediatric neurosurgeon to have it evaluated...we kept an eye on it from 4 months until 10 months when it was reevaluated and determined that it would not go away on its own. The neurosurgeon then had us have a CT scan (to determine if it really was a cyst, as well as figure out it's the exact position and if it was infringing on any important nerves or bone structures) and then we scheduled the surgery, which was performed at 11 months.

[caption id="attachment_251" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="At 4 months old"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_250" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Photo taken the day of her first appt. to have the cyst evaluated."][/caption]

This was Angelica the day before we went into surgery, at 11 months old:


If you ignore the messy yogurt face and notice above her right eye (on your left) there is a lump...that was what the cyst looked like. The surgery itself only took about an hour.

Here is what followed in the days after surgery (from this you can see what a truly happy kid I have...I've never been this happy so soon after surgery!):

[caption id="attachment_236" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Eight hours after surgery."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="Two days after surgery."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_238" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="3 days after surgery."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_239" align="alignleft" width="214" caption="2 1/2 weeks after surgery."][/caption]

In the days that followed, her eye, which was initially very swollen and bruised, started to heal. I was actually really surprised at how swollen and black and blue it was at first, but it healed pretty quickly and she didn't seem that bothered by it! They gave her a dose of pain medication before we left the hospital on the day of the surgery, and from there she had Tylenol for the next few days.

About two and a half weeks later, she turned one! By this point, the bruising and swelling was completely gone, the incision was healed except for a scar that's about 1/2 an inch long.

Fast forward to today...this was how it looked about two weeks ago:


Barely noticeable, right? It doesn't show up well in photographs at all anymore. Scott and I still notice it, and occasionally we'll get a comment from a stranger, like "Oh she must be walking now, look at that little scratch on her eyebrow! Does she trip and fall a lot?" For the most part it's barely noticeable and as she gets older, the neurosurgeon says it should disappear completely.

During the surgery, they were able to remove all of the cyst and did testing to confirm that it was a dermoid. They are also confident that it won't recur.

If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments section or email me at andrea@minuteformom.com. Keep in mind that I'm not a medical professional, so I can't give medical advice, so none of what I say should be mistaken for a doctor's opinion - I can just relay what our experience was and if you're truly concerned, ask your pediatrician because they'll know best. That's what we did!