Hi Phoebe I'm an African American female early twenties and i have just experienced my first bartholin cyst/abscess. I would like to say it was caused because i had unprotected sex with an uncircumcised guy and or from the birth control(implanon) That's been giving me all kinds of (hormonal) problems since i got it. I started off small i thought i had pulled a muscle or something, i did nothing about it thought it would wear off after a hot bath and no more sex it didn't so i started to massage the lump and it grew larger and painful, i mean i was in pure agony. Upon doing research finding out what was really going on i came across your remedy, i tried it the first time for thirty minutes and the pain and swelling went down instantly but only temporarily i actually moved to around from being closer to my thigh to lower closer to my anus. I used a heating pad to help with 2 more applications for about 5 or 6 hours to overnight the decrease in pain and swelling was permanent i also believe it is starting to drain in the form of vaginal discharge is that normalv