The question often comes after bathing time. The parent may note a slight pit or soft fullness just in front of the sternocleidomastoid muscle on one side, or a swelling in the midline that moves with swallowing by the child. The next trip to the Hawthorne clinic starts with “can you get a cyst in your neck?” The short answer: Yes. Many of those cysts are congenital, meaning they are present at birth, though not always noticed until later. I’ve seen them in clinic and when appropriate I’ve completely removed them in the operating room at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. Those stories are told in Breathless: Surgical Tales from the Brink (and Back), which is available on Amazon.