How Much Do You Know About Your Gynecological Health?

A new study from The Center for Innovative GYN Care found that many women are in the dark when it comes to their gynecological health. Understanding your gynecological health is especially important because many women are affected by gynecological conditions and need to understand their treatment options. Because up to 80% of all women will  have fibroids in their lifetime and over five million women in America are living with endometriosis, understanding gynecologic anatomy, conditions and treatment options can help many women be empowered to make the best decisions for their health.

So how do you compare to the average woman when it comes to understanding your gynecological health? Read some of the findings from the survey below and see how you stack up.

• Sixty percent of women didn’t know that ovaries are responsible for producing estrogen, the hormone that affects fertility and menopause.
• Almost seventy percent of women incorrectly believed that a hysterectomy removes the ovaries and caused menopause (a partial hysterectomy removes only the cervix and uterus, leaving the ovaries in place and not causing menopause).
• A quarter of women believed that fibroids are cancerous. Over forty percent were not sure if fibroids were cancerous. Fibroids are non-cancerous tumors composed of muscle tissue.
• Almost eighty percent of women believed that they would need to take six weeks off work to recover from a hysterectomy. With minimally invasive hysterectomy, many women are back to work within a week.
• Sixty percent of women believed that sex would be less enjoyable after hysterectomy. Studies indicate that women are often more satisfied with sex after hysterectomy because they are no longer living with the painful condition that led to hysterectomy.
• Sixty percent of women were under the impression that fibroids always cause infertility. In fact, there are surgical treatment options for fibroids that can preserve a woman’s fertility.
• Six in ten women of childbearing age (62 percent) either do not know, or dispute the fact, that fibroids are a cause of infertility – a condition that can be treated while preserving the uterus.
• Over half of women incorrectly believed that fibroids would go away on their own after menopause. While fibroids may shrink following menopause, many women still need treatment or surgery to remove fibroids after menopause.

Content Sponsored by: MIRI Women – The Minimally Invasive Reproductive Surgery Institute (MIRI) brings together highly skilled, board-certified specialists who are focused on women’s health. Our team of professionals is trained in advanced gynecology, specifically hysterectomy surgery. Philosophically, our partner physicians take a “less is more” approach to health care, by first treating patients with the most conservative therapies. MIRI focuses on physical healing, while emphasizing that a patient’s emotional well-being is just as important.