Medications

Treatment with medicine may be useful if you have recurrent, painful functional ovarian cysts.

• Birth control pills (oral contraceptives) are used to prevent ovulation. Without ovulation, the chance that ovarian cysts will form is reduced and your symptoms may be relieved.
• Although birth control pills do not make ovarian cysts go away any faster, their use may prevent new cysts from forming.

Medication Choices

Birth control pills (oral contraceptives) to stop ovulation by controlling hormone levels in the body

What To Think About

Birth control pills have not been shown to get rid of or shrink ovarian cysts that have already formed. Some studies show that the cysts shrink at the same rate with or without birth control pill use.⁴