Every year around 600,000 American women have hysterectomies. It’s one of the most common women’s health surgeries today. It’s rarely performed as an emergency, which means that you have plenty of time to consider your options and make the best decision for your health.
At Apple Hill Gynecology, in York, Pennsylvania, Marsha D. Bornt, MD, and Donna Lamson, CRNP, MSN, WHNP-BC, and our all-women team educate and empower women to make the best choices for their health.
We treat a comprehensive range of women’s health issues, and when necessary, we recommend a hysterectomy. These are some of the reasons we might suggest you consider a hysterectomy.
Endometriosis is a painful women’s health issue that occurs when endometrial tissue grows on organs and muscles outside of your uterus. It can develop anywhere in your body, but we most often find it in the pelvic region, on the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, the outside of the uterus, bladder, and bowel.
Pain is the hallmark symptom of endometriosis: pelvic pain, painful periods, and painful sex. We usually try to treat endometriosis with medication or minimally invasive procedures to remove the displaced endometrial tissue and resultant scar tissue from your body. However, if other treatments aren’t effective, a hysterectomy might be your best treatment option.
Up to 80% of American women may have uterine fibroids. Fortunately, most women don’t have any symptoms or even know that they have a benign growth in their uterus. However, if you have a large fibroid or several fibroids that cause symptoms, including pelvic pain, heavy periods, pain during sex, and low back pain.
We offer a variety of treatment options for uterine fibroids. Still, if you have chronic fibroids that continue to grow, despite treatments to remove them, we might recommend a hysterectomy.
You might also need to consider a hysterectomy if you have cancer of the uterus, endometrium, cervix, or ovaries. Other treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation, can treat cancer. Depending on your condition and the stage of the cancer, removing your uterus and other reproductive organs might be the best way to get rid of the cancer and restore your health.
The physical stress of pregnancy and childbirth, combined with the physical changes triggered by the hormonal decline of menopause, can weaken your pelvic floor muscles. These changes are a common cause of urinary incontinence, but can also contribute to uterine prolapse.
Uterine prolapse occurs when your pelvic floor doesn’t support your uterus, and it slips out of place, descending into your vagina. It causes pelvic pain, painful sex, and several other disruptive symptoms. There are different procedures to put your uterus back in place and increase the support of your pelvic floor, but a hysterectomy is often the most effective procedure.
Whenever possible, we offer state-of-the-art, minimally invasive hysterectomies with robotically-assisted laparoscopy. You have general anesthesia, but we make only a few small incisions in your abdomen to access your uterus.
Typically, you have some post-operative discomfort after your hysterectomy, but the pain from whichever condition led to your surgery is gone. In fact, if you have a laparoscopic hysterectomy, you can get back to most of your regular activities in two weeks, instead of the two months needed to recover from a more invasive open surgery.
If you live with a painful women’s health issue that interferes with your quality of life, call us, or make an appointment online today. We’re committed to providing the best possible, personalized women’s health care services.
