I have had a ganglion cyst on my left wrist for about five years. It has been mostly pain free and hasn't given me any problems other than the occasional flare up and bump on the top of my wrist, so I've been ignoring it.

The last month or so, it's gotten a lot bigger, hurt more, and now I'm losing grip strength in the affected hand. I'm going to have to have it removed.

Has anyone had this done? The surgery is outpatient, and from what I'm being told fairly non-invasive. How long before I can return to flying?

Thank you,

EM

My wife had one removed from her wrist. There was minimal pain and no real loss of function. As to how it would relate to aviation, obviously that's up to your flight doc, but I'd expect no more than a handful of days off.

Good luck with it.

Ditto here. My wife had one removed and she is a violin player. She wasn't out too long.

Probably very little time since it's not an integral part of the functional structure of your wrist but rather just something extra that's being removed. The only thing that needs to heal is the incision.

I cut my hand pretty good last year and took a few days off not because of loss of function but because I didn't want to get all manner of airplane germs, fungus, and cooties on the stitches.

Thanks gents!

Do it yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO4iOTD2_ek

Google 'ganglion cyst smash'

Sad to admit...I did this. It comes back bigger and much more solid.

I had this outpatient surgery about three years ago. I waited a long time to finally do it. I had a lot of pain and trouble making a fist. I took off three weeks of work. I could have gone back after about ten days. I had to go back after a week to get the stitches removed and then a few days after I was able to fly.

I do not recommend slamming a book on it. I did that once and it did come back bigger and more painful.