Cysts are small bags of tissue that contain liquid inside of them. They can appear in many different places of our bodies, and most of them are harmless. They are caused by a variety of natural processes in our bodies and, in most cases, they disappear by themselves.
Our body absorbs the liquid inside them and they go away on their own. On rare occasions, a cyst can become infected, mutate into a tumor or harm our bodies in any other way, but it is not very usual. Ovaries are among the many places where you can develop cysts.
Most women develop ovarian cysts during their lifetime, and they often go unnoticed because they don’t cause any pain or symptoms, and often go away on their own. In rare cases, ovarian cysts can cause complications and require surgery or any other form of treatment, but they can be easily diagnosed with basic medical tests. Here is a list of lesser-known causes of ovarian cysts.
1. Hormonal imbalance
Many ovarian cysts develop as a consequence of an interruption or abnormality in the ovulation cycle. Ovaries release eggs in a process that takes about two weeks. The egg is stored inside the ovary from before birth and then matures during the month when it is going to be released into the oviducts. A follicle forms around it and the action of female hormones such as LH and FSH modulate and control the whole process.
A hormonal imbalance could disturb this natural process, and the egg inside the follicle could be retained instead of released. As a result, the follicle remains inside the ovary and could fill up with fluids and become a cyst. Lack of ovulation in itself is not harmful to the body, and most follicular cysts – such is the name of this type of cyst – are painless and disappear after a while.