The number of women who have fibroids in their uterus is staggering. Approximately 80 percent of women will have fibroids by age 50. Many of these women will have severe or abnormal bleeding, pelvic and back pain, difficulty going to the bathroom, and some may experience infertility. Women with a large fibroid (greater than 5 to 6 cm) or several fibroids have an increased risk of pregnancy complications, and are often told that they have to have open or robotic procedures to remove them, which is no longer true.
While there are several surgical treatments recommended for treatment of fibroids, the most definitive surgery is a hysterectomy. Since a hysterectomy means that a woman will no longer be able to have children, it’s important to fully understand all of the options.
Uterine-sparing fibroid surgery is called a myomectomy. This procedure removes fibroids while allowing a woman to retain her uterus for childbearing. This is a procedure that requires a highly skilled surgeon. The fibroids are removed from the uterus and then it must be reconstructed so that it can be viable for carrying a child after it heals. Myomectomies take longer to recover from than a hysterectomy. The surgery is more invasive and there is a high chance that fibroids will return 1-2 years after surgery.
As a comparison, a hysterectomy eliminates incisions that require healing in the muscle, and the pain is generally much less. Since the fibroids need to be removed through the abdominal wall in a myomectomy, incision size may be increased, and can lead to increased pain. In most cases of laparoscopic or vaginal hysterectomy, the uterus is removed through the vaginal defect, with much smaller incisions used in the abdomen.
For these reasons, it can be difficult to decide what is the best path. Unless a woman is done with childbearing, the idea of having a hysterectomy can be overwhelming, and the limitations for how the procedures are performed can also sway a woman’s choice.
At The Center for Innovative GYN Care our minimally invasive GYN surgeons take the worry out of hysterectomy and myomectomy procedures, and they work with each patient to understand her specific needs. Our advanced DualPortGYN and LAAM techniques are groundbreaking.
DualPortGYN makes it possible to have a hysterectomy with just 2 tiny incisions (and can be used to treat all GYN conditions). Many patients return to work in 7 days.
LAAM is the safest fibroid surgery available. It is the most minimally invasive myomectomy with just 2 small incisions, a major advancement for a procedure that is often performed by non-specialists in an open procedure.
Our GYN specialists perform hysterectomies and myomectomies in an outpatient setting, and patients return home the same day. The benefits of outpatient surgery at The Center for Innovative GYN include:
Learn more about our patient experience: Why We’re Different
Surgical specialists can often see patients sooner because they are focused entirely on surgery. Each patient gets detailed, in depth attention from Dr. Danilyants and Dr. MacKoul. This personalized care helps patients understand their condition and the recommended treatment so that they can have confidence from the very start. Our surgeons have performed over 20,000 GYN procedures and are constantly finding better ways to improve outcomes for patients.
Book a consultation today with Dr. Paul MacKoul, MD or Dr. Natalya Danilyants, MD.
Even if you are not from the DC area, many patients travel to The Center for Innovative GYN Care for our groundbreaking procedures. We treat women from around the world who suffer from complex GYN conditions.
Learn more in our travel program.
Schedule a consultation to learn more about how we can treat your condition today.
