A dermoid cyst is a twin who died. The person in whose body the cyst remains is a womb twin survivor. When a twin dies before birth, the sole survivr needs help and understanding. However the medical profession at a whole seems to be ignoring the simple fact that a dermoid cyst is all the remains of a lost twin.
A STORY
I was kept immobile for first 24 hours of life. Kept getting high temperatures till 10. At age 10 suddenly felt excruciating pain, was rushed into hospital and my twin, which had been floating round inside me complete with its own umbilical cord was removed together with one ovary. Since 6 years old imagined my older twin sister keeping me company whenever I was in bed (I was ill and in bed frequently till 10 years old). I still can imagine my older twin sister keeping me whenever I am sad or in pain.
I had 3 daughters one year after another - no complications. Middle one had dermoid cyst and an ovary removed in her 20s. Now have another dermoid cyst, too small and too dangerously near to a main blood vessel to treat. I get fever when this happens I have to go into Emergency Department for strong antibiotic treatment.
What do think? Is a dermoid cyst a lost twin? If so, why do the doctors totally ignore this fact?
When a twin dies before birth, the sole survivor needs help and understanding. Womb twin survivors are the sole survivors of a twin or multiple pregnancy. This group, 1 in 10 of the population, includes survivors of a stillbirth, miscarriage, abortion and a "vanishing twin" pregnancy. It is a story of a twin bond broken by death, leaving a lonely survivor.
Maybe because not all dermoid cysts are alike. They may be caused by two fetuse smerging, thus creating a "fetus in fetu", but they may also be the result of a single zygote developing and creating a teratoma. State of art now is for doctors to surmise the latter. I read an article in which a doctor said he deliberately does not discuss psychological issues with patient so as "not to disturb them". This is exactly the same argument doctors used back in the 1960s when not telling a woman she had a fetus papyracaeus at birh, the clearly visible remnants of a prenatally deceased baby. Sometimes they would even conceal stillbirths, e.g. after a cesarean, to "not disturb" the mother. Still, I don't think it is helpful to state "all dermoic cysts are vanishing twins".
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