Hi, my sister has a benign lipoma in her left wrist. She has had it since she was little and she s now 28. She has had surgery on it three times now, but doctors haven t been able to remove it because it s intertwined with nerves. Earlier today, it started to hurt more than usual and get really hot. She tried putting ice on it to cool it down, but it only helped a little and it quickly got hot again after the ice was taken off. Is this something we should be concerned about? Or is there something we can do for it?
Hi. Thanks for your query. If the swelling is recurrent-coming again and again after surgery and is on the wrist-this is not a lipoma. Most probably this will be a ganglion. As the ganglion is connected to the wrist joint, it comes again.Now-at the moment this looks to be infected, so got painful and red. I would advise visiting an Orthopedic Surgeon and start antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medicines. It is possible that you may have to take antibiotics for a long time. This may itself get a cure due to infection in the sac. IF you wish you can go for an MRI - as this gives the diagnosis, connection to the joint, relation to the nerves and other important structure, and make easy for a final treatment.