Endometriosis is a painful condition in which tissue that normally lines the uterus (the endometrium) grows outside of the uterus. There are more than 200,000 new cases of Endometriosis each year in the United States alone.
The most common type of surgery to remove Endometriosis is called Laparoscopy. This is where surgeons make tiny incisions instead of the large incisions commonly found in other surgeries. These small incisions allow Doctors to insert a tiny camera inside the body as well as tiny instruments they can use to cut out any endometriosis or scar tissue. The small cuts work well because it decreases the amount of the body open to the outside. It also proves great for recovery as the small incisions don’t require too many stitches and usually leaves little or no scarring.
There are several reasons why one might have this surgery:
- The endometriosis and scar tissue is interfering with internal organs
- Severe pain
- The presence of an Endometriosis cyst on an ovary
- To try to increase the chances of fertility by removing any visible implants and scar tissue
In the pictures on this post, the surgeon accidentally pierced a blood vessel causing this brave endo warrior to bleed internally for two and a half weeks 🙁
The surgery might require a 1-day hospital stay and you should find yourself able to get back to normal activity in about a week. Sometimes multiple surgeries are required as the endometriosis pops back up throughout the years. About 50% of women have symptoms that return in 2 years after surgery.
The risks of this surgery include pelvic infection, uncontrolled bleeding that requires additional surgery to stop, scar tissue, and damage to the internal organs such as the bowel, bladder, or ureters(the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder).
We were given permission to use these images as part of our blog and we thank the Endo warrior that sent them to us.
Source: www.webmd.com/women/endometriosis/laparoscopic-surgery-for-endometriosis
