Common Gynecologic Problems For Middle Aged Women

By Camilla C Hersh, MD

Virginia Women's Health Associates

. https://vawomenshealth.com/

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Common Gynecologic Problems For Middle Aged Women

For many women in mid-life, a variety of gynecologic problems can interfere with our busy lives. Periods often become extremely heavy, and after testing there is often a problem that may require intervention or even surgery. The problems often include fibroids (more than 50 percent of women have at least a few fibroids), endometriosis, and ovarian cysts. Sometimes the doctor will suggest surgery, maybe even a hysterectomy.

Thankfully we are living in a time when there are many great choices for treatment for these problems. We have choices our mothers and our aunts would never have dreamed of.

There have been amazing advances in the treatment of gynecological problems. There are new extremely low dose pills which can diminish menstrual flow. Several new outpatient techniques for endometrial ablation allow us to transform the uterine lining to a bland scar, to nearly eliminate periods altogether.

Happily, if and when surgery does become necessary minimally invasive surgery is becoming more available. In the past most surgery required a large open surgical procedure, with a disfiguring abdominal scar and six to eight weeks of initial recovery followed by months of slow final recovery. Then for a few years many gynecologic surgical procedures were done laparoscopically, using a simple camera through the umbilicus and two or more tubes. However those procedures use somewhat primitive instruments to do the surgery.

In the last few years, DaVinci robotic assisted laparoscopy has been added to the most state-of-the-art operating rooms. With this technique a sophisticated 3-D camera is placed through a tiny incision near the umbilicus, and then place long slender instruments with tiny double wristed hand-like tips into the abdomen and pelvis. This new technology allows the surgeon to magnify the inside of the body and operate with unprecedented delicacy and detail. The blood loss with this kind of surgery is tiny. Therefore, the risk of complication is decreased. Most women go home the day of or the day after surgery, can drive in a week, and go back to work in two weeks. When surgery is required, new techniques involve less pain, quicker recovery time, and a lower risk of scarring. This is not your mother’s surgery.