Bursitis of elbow

[bananaskin123]

Noticed last week when taking a sweater off a swelling at the elbow. No pain at all but a round squidgy swelling about the size of a golf ball. No idea how it happened . Sent pic to surgery and have a telephone appointment in ten days. Anyone else had similar. Think it may have gone down slightly but not really sure. I've googled but they mention pain etc but I have no pain at all just the swelling.

Same here but on my knee!

no idea how it’s happened. I do have a bit of pain. Going to see what happens before trying the GP

Rest, antinflammatories.

Bursitis is common, usually trivial trauma or repetitive action like kneeling.

Watch out if there's a puncture wound, leaking or cellulitis as these may get infected.

Ooooh, I know a bit about this..........I have had bursitis on both knees on separate occasions. On one of my knees, the doctor told me to wait for 9 months and come back if it hadn't gone down (which it did).
When I developed one on the other knee, I waited a good while before going to the doctor who referred me to the local hospital. On the day of my appointment with the knee specialist, he swiftly & painlessly drained the knee. He did say that it might come back over time & if it did, he could do a simple operation to "whip it off"
Fast forward a few years & yes, it came back so off I went to the doctor (after waiting some months to see if it went by itself). This time, I was referred to a different NHS trust who had no records of my last treatment and somehow they then referred me on to see a consultant at a private hospital.
The consultant there categorically told me that there was no way he would drain a bursa as it was an unnecessary infection risk. He said that surgery was an option but did not advise it at all because it would leave a nasty scar & a possibility of numbness in the area of the scar. He also said that my knee might grow another bursa sac and fill up again and then I'd have an unsightly lump and a massive scar on my knee!!!
Now, I am not a massively vain person but I did look like I had an extra kneecap sticking out of my existing knee
So.....
I had the whole bursa surgically removed from my knee last week.
Don't know what my knee looks like yet because it's still bandaged but the stitches come out next week. What I will say though is that the operation wasn't as simple as I thought and recovery is slower.

The moral of this long (and probably quite boring tale) is that consultants consider knee & elbow bursitis to be a cosmetic issue and would rather not interfere with it nowadays. If yours persists though and is really bothering you, it is possible to be insistent and get it removed.
I do also know someone who had bursitis on their elbow and it did go down by itself and never recurred - I could just be really unlucky with my comedy looking lumps on my knees!

@HeySeamus , I had knee bursitis drained in Feb but the fluid came back within a few days. I have had bursitis since Jan. How long did your bursisits take to drain naturally? Is it true that it can go away within nine months? It's not painful so I don't want to mess with it again if it does drain naturally.

If it's been drained already and come back quickly then it looks like it here to stay. If you can get referred to a knee specialist, then they'll tell you for sure. I was told by the most recent specialist that I saw that mine was here to stay unless I had it removed.
Here's a delightful picture of my knee 3 weeks post removal. Still quite sore but healing well & I would much prefer the scar to the massive lump I did have.
That being said, if it doesn't hurt & doesn't bother you, you may as well leave it be.

@HeySeamus , I was hoping it will drain naturally. It doesn't hurt unless I kneel on it. My GP said if it does come back he can give me a steroid injection. I refused so my knee is still looking big.