If you soak through pads every few hours during your period or continually develop uterine polyps, you may be a candidate for endometrial ablation. 

What is endometriosis?

Endometriosis occurs when the tissue lining your uterus (endometrium) settles in places outside of your uterus. Basically, the endometrium is growing in places it shouldn’t, and that is often very painful. The tissue thickens, breaks down, and bleeds every menstrual cycle, but because your body doesn’t shed tissue growing outside of your uterus, those growths remain trapped inside your body. You can then develop scar tissue or adhesions, and it can even cause your organs and pelvic tissue to stick to one another.

Endometriosis is usually chronic and unpredictable. It can regress spontaneously, as well as spread further. Endometriosis pain can be severe and can even cause fertility problems. Fortunately, Dr. Spieldoch offers a minimally invasive procedure called endometrial ablation that destroys the endometrial lining of your uterus, ending pain and psychological distress. 

What is endometrial ablation?

The purpose of endometrial ablation is to treat irregular periods or stop heavy menstrual bleeding. 

Do you experience heavy bleeding requiring you to change a pad or tampon every two hours or less? Does your bleeding last more than eight days? You might be a candidate for endometrial ablation. A specialist may also recommend endometrial ablation if you have recurrent polyps that develop on the lining of your uterus.

If you’re nervous about surgery, you’ll be happy to know that endometrial ablation doesn’t require any incisions. Instead, your surgeon inserts specialized tools into your vagina to reach the endometrium. At McDowell Mountain Gynecology, our providers use several techniques to destroy tissue linings, such as electrosurgery, which uses heat energy, and cryoablation, which uses cold energy.

Immediately following endometrial ablation, you spend a short time recovering before you can return home. Generally, women return to their usual activities the next day, so you can expect very little downtime.

What’s recovery like?

After an endometrial ablation procedure, you can experience some cramping and the urge to urinate more often. Usually, over-the-counter (OTC) medicine will keep you comfortable.

You may also experience vaginal discharge for a few weeks, and it could be heavy and mixed with blood for a few days following your procedure. This decreases in time. Your periods will get lighter as time goes on, and some women won’t have a period again at all.

Talk to an expert today

Make an appointment with McDowell Mountain Gynecology online or by calling us today if you have heavy bleeding that’s affecting your quality of life. We also offer telehealth appointments.