Hand osteoarthritis with mucous cysts

@wvfem Just saw this I have a cyst behind my knee A friend had same symptoms She used the black salve Ichthammol it does work my leg feels better

@lioness I don't know a lot, but I would think behind your knee it could be a synovial cyst since that's where you have synovial fluid. I'm glad you found something that helped.
So far, my thumb looks OK, it does not seem to be coming back. I have no idea what could have caused it since apparently often it is when a person has arthritis in their hands, and I do not. I only have had arthritis in my knees.
JK

How do I know if this is a cyst or a contagious wort? They look exactly the same, apparently.

I also have a few of these. I had one on my middle finger between the cuticle and the joint, but no arthritis in that finger. I was full of clear gel and would rupture and regrow. My dermatologist called it a wort caused by bacteria and froze it. I googled "blister wort" and found someone with them all over the backs of their hands, and looked very similar to mine, but it also looks exactly like the mucous cysts. I went back for 5 freezes on that same location over a few months. Finally, it quit coming back. That was about a year ago. Now I have one on my index finger on top of my arthritis knob. I went back to my dermatologist, and this time he called it a cyst and a wort in the same sentence. He froze it, and it didn't really go away. I hate the liquid nitrogen, it's painful and leaves you with a nasty sore that lasts for a weeks, so I decided to try to handle it on my own. I used the duct tape treatment that works for other types of worts, and after about 3 weeks of that it got smaller but hasn't gone away. I also have another one on my other index finger which also has an arthritis knob. I am currently trying soaking my finger in Epsom salt water, and I will also try the various ointments that I have seen here. If none of that works, it's back to Mr. Freeze.

I also had cyst in finger joint, drained and promptly returned. No choice other than surgical removal of affected joint and replacement screw. Several years have passed without any more cysts occurring. Recovery was ok and I have never had any problems with the screw or even missing the joint. Finger works fine.

update: the cyst kept coming back with this treatment. I'm now using Ichthammol Ointment 20%, which works much better.

Hi John and @bonnieh218 ~
I've been scanning the Mayo connect tonight and looking at my past posts, etc.. I saw this and decided I can contribute because I just had a diagnosis last week of a cyst on my left hand middle finger which is just below the nail and cuticle . I had been noticing it as a depression at first and it looked also like the skin was shiny, and it was like the skn is irritated there and just not right... So I think this was many many months ago. My recollection isn't good on this but okay, so I have some ointment for when I get any open spot for me to put on to avoid infections. It's called Mupirocin. My dermatologist is the Dr who I showed it to and he said it is a cyst. I don't recall the name of it though. But he did use a type of syringe to extract the clear gel that was in it. Then he put some kind of steroid in it to help. He wants to recheck in a month..then after another couple times of extracting the gel, he says he will be referring me to a HAND surgeon. John, its not a gangleon cyst, the dermatologist told me this when I asked about my finger. But i cant remember what he called it...However, I did have a Gangleon cyst on my right wrist that got so large I had to have it removed by a hand surgeon and that was in 2003. That was not ever conveyed to me at all that either one was related to the Osteoarthritis in my hands. At the time of the wrist cyst I hadn't been diagnosed yet with osteoarthritis. So.the Hand Surgeon just told me that some people get them and are prone to cysts more than others. Gangleon cysts are not malignant and are also filled with a clear gel just like this one I have on myfinger now. Hope that you get some help. If you find out more about this finger cyst then please post it here Thanks.
Darla

Hi, I have a mucous cyst on my index finger that needs to be removed. I would have done it earlier this year but had to postpone it for other health issues, Also it would have interfered with my surfing and physical activity but now needs to be removed. I have had it drained once in a doctors office and I have drained it twice myself (which I am not supposed to do because of possible infection). Mine started in February this year and gets inflamed and swollen about every 2 weeks. My fingernail is deformed and getting worse. It isn’t real painful but it is time to get it removed. My doctor said it positively needs to be removed. He said draining it 90% of the time it will come back which is exactly what is has done. I attempted to pull up old photos with it more inflamed but just took one right now so you can see nail damage. Area above nail get inflamed with pus regularly.