American tennis great, Serena Williams, has revealed she recently had a cyst the size of a small grapefruit removed from her neck and she’s on her recovery journey.
The 43-year-old shared a video on social media to reveal she found the lump on her neck back in May. “I immediately went to the doc got a MRI and was told I have a brachial cyst,” she wrote.
Serena Williams said she was “mortified” by the lump, explaining that the doctors initially said she didn’t need to get it removed. But it kept growing and she underwent more testing and a biopsy.
Brachial cleft cysts are small sacs filled with fluid that look like lumps under the skin on the side of the neck, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
They can appear at any age, though they are most often found in children. Though they are typically benign, meaning noncancerous, doctors may recommend surgery to remove them.
Doctors found the cyst in Serena Williams’ neck was “still negative,” but this time they advised for her to remove it as “it was the size of a small grapefruit and it could get infected or worse, leak.”