Treatments for Women's Health Issues
Throughout adulthood, women can face a variety of gynecologic challenges, including endometriosis, gynecologic cancer, heavy and painful periods, uterine fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease, and more. Our team of women’s health experts at UK HealthCare can help you manage these conditions with treatment plans tailored to your unique needs.
Our providers offer a wide array of treatments, ranging from minor treatments that may only require medication to more in-depth treatment that may involve minimally invasive or open surgery. Whatever treatment your provider recommends, know that you’re in good hands with UK HealthCare.
Birth Control Solutions
Birth control medication has more benefits than just contraception. Specifically, it may be utilized as a tool to help manage various conditions by balancing your hormone levels. Women’s health experts at UK HealthCare can work with you to determine whether your particular condition would benefit from taking birth control pills or using a birth control patch or ring. If so, they can prescribe an option that you feel most comfortable about using.
Conditions that can be treated with birth control include:
- Endometriosis
- Heavy, irregular or painful periods (menstrual disorders)
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), an intense form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
Birth control can also be used to reduce your risk for anemia, ovarian and uterine cancer, and ovarian cysts.
Gynecologic Surgery
Depending on your gynecological condition, an operation may be a necessary form of treatment. Our surgical team at UK HealthCare is trained in a wide array of [gynecologic surgery], including:
- Cervical cryosurgery — If you have abnormal cervical cells that could be precancerous, you have a condition known as cervical dysplasia. To remove these cells, a surgeon may perform cervical cryosurgery to destroy these cells by freezing a portion of your cervix.
- Dilation and curettage (D&C) — If your doctor suspects a condition that affects your uterus, such as uterine cancer, uterine polyps or endometrial hyperplasia, which could lead to cancer, he may perform D&C. To perform this procedure, your doctor will surgically remove the lining of your uterus. This procedure may also be used if a miscarriage has occurred, to remove the placenta after having a baby, or to help treat uterine fibroid tumors.
- Hysterectomy — If you have endometriosis, fibroids, gynecological cancer, uterine prolapse or vaginal bleeding that is uncontrollable, your doctor may recommend a hysterectomy. This procedure involves removing the uterus, and, possibly, also the fallopian tubes and the ovaries.
- Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) — If you have abnormal cells on your cervix, your doctor may perform LEEP to extract and remove abnormal tissue. This procedure works by cutting with a thin loop of wire that is electrically charged.