Do dermoids effect the ovaries ability to ovulate?
When dermoids are small they don’t affect ovulation that I know of. I think at 3 cm it’s unlikely to alter anything. As they get larger, they compress the other ovarian tissue and some follicles are lost. The ovaries are quite adaptive, however, in that if one doesn’t work, the other takes over. In that way, the dermoid will probably not affect your ovulation to get pregnant. Where I have seen it affect ovulation is when a 2nd dermoid is removed by cystectomy when the first ovary has previously been removed because the dermoid was too big to just do a cystectomy. In this case, the woman often undergoes premature menopause (ovarian failure) because there are not enough follicles left in the remaining ovary from which the dermoid has been removed. I have seen this enough times to know that dermoids do destroy follicles if they get big. Again, what is big is probably variable but after 5-6 cm I think follicle destruction begins.
