Swelling on the palm of hand?

Question

Swelling is on the pinky side of the palm close to the wrist. It's been there for about three weeks. It feels kind of like there's liquid inside the swelling or inflammation.

Interesting thing is I had the same swelling on the same spot on the palm five years ago. Wen to a doc back then who did an MRI, but by the MRI time, swelling had gone down, so MRI found nothing wrong. Therefore doc couldn't find anything wrong on my palm. 5 years elapsed during which time no problem with palm were experience, and about 3 weeks ago it came back.

Recently, the swelling has been going down, and so had accompanying pain.

What do you think? Will a family doctor be able to detect any problem if I go to one now?

Answer 1

It sounds like a cyst that is draining and refilling periodically.  If it fills and remains filled it can cause pressure on surrounding nerves causing pain issues.  Certainly you'll need to see your doctor when it is fluid filled so that they can see what it is and test the fluid.  He won't be able to detect it otherwise.  Chances are though that all they'll want to do at this point is drain it, which it appears to be doing by itself.  But if it remains filled and becomes an ongoing problem, you might wish to just have it removed.