Skip to main content

Uterine Fibroids: Should I Have Surgery?

You may want to have a say in this decision, or you may simply want to follow your doctor's recommendation. Either way, this information will help you understand what your choices are so that you can talk to your doctor about them.

Uterine Fibroids: Should I Have Surgery?

Here's a record of your answers. You can use it to talk with your doctor or loved ones about your decision.

Get the facts

Your options

  • Have surgery to take out just your fibroids or to take out your uterus.
  • Don't have surgery. You can choose another treatment, such as over-the-counter pain medicine, hormones, or fibroid embolization.

This decision aid is for people who have decided to treat their uterine fibroids. Many fibroids do not need treatment.

Key points to remember

  • You might want to choose surgery if fibroids are making it hard for you to get pregnant or if you have other symptoms that affect your quality of life, and other treatments have not worked for you. There are two surgical treatments for fibroids: taking fibroids out of the uterus (myomectomy) and removing the uterus (hysterectomy).
  • After menopause, fibroids usually get smaller or go away. If you are close to menopause, you could take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (such as ibuprofen or naproxen) for pain or have fibroid embolization, Opens dialog. You also could try birth control hormones, get a certain type of IUD, Opens dialog, or take hormone therapy (GnRH-a) for a limited time if you have bad symptoms.
  • If you want to get pregnant, taking out just the fibroids may improve your chance of getting pregnant. But this type of surgery may increase your risk for certain problems during pregnancy.
  • Taking out the uterus can cure uterine fibroids. But it's not a good choice if you want to get pregnant in the future. You can't get pregnant after your uterus is taken out.
  • Both types of surgery have short-term risks, such as blood loss and infection. Both surgeries also can cause scar tissue, which can cause pelvic pain and infertility.

FAQs

Incomplete section

Current as of: April 30, 2024

Author: Ignite Healthwise, LLC Staff

Clinical Review Board
All Healthwise education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.

 
 

PeaceHealth endeavors to provide comprehensive health care information, however some topics in this database describe services and procedures not offered by our providers or within our facilities because they do not comply with, nor are they condoned by, the ethics policies of our organization.