I also had a Bartholins cyst for the first time a few weeks ago and I was completely freaked out! I had never even heard of one before until I woke up with a large painful lump next to my vagina. I couldn't go to the doctor right away so I started doing research on the net. Thanks to this AMAZINGLY helpful forum I saw that a few people had tried the calamine lotion, tea tree oil, witch hazel mixture with positive results. I live in Bali so I wasn't able to find the witch Hazel but I bought the tea tree oil and calamine lotion - mixed them up in a little bowl and then soaked them in a cotton ball and applied it directly over the painful lump overnight. Viola!!! The next morning the lump was half the size. I was thrilled! When I went to my gynocologist the next day, he confirmed that it was indeed a bartholins cysts and I told him about the special mixture and he just looked at me as if I was talking in tongues. He had never heard of it and wanted to prescribe other meds to me. I told him forget it! That night I applied the mixture again and like magic...it was completely gone the next day. TRY IT! IT WORKS!!!