Fibroids - Treatments
- Previous page
- page
In this section
Fibroids are lumps that grow in your womb. They aren't cancer and they don't turn into cancer. In fact, they're usually harmless. But they can cause heavy or painful periods or a feeling of fullness or discomfort in your pelvis.
If you have fibroids and they're causing problems, you have a choice of good treatments. The ones that work best involve surgery. But if you're getting close to the menopause, you may choose to wait. Fibroids usually get better on their own at that time.
Key points about treating fibroids
- Your fibroids can be treated with hormone treatments, surgery or both.
- Hormone treatments will probably make your fibroids shrink and help your symptoms, but they have side effects. You can't take them for more than six months, and your fibroids will probably grow back afterwards.
- You can have surgery to take out just your fibroids (a myomectomy) or surgery to take out your womb (a hysterectomy), with the fibroids in it.
- Taking hormone treatments before surgery may make these operations easier.
- Fibroids don't usually grow back after they've been removed.
- You'll have less pain after keyhole surgery to remove your fibroids (laparoscopic myomectomy) than after an operation that is done through a bigger cut (abdominal myomectomy). You should recover faster too.
- Your fibroids won't grow back after a hysterectomy. But it's a big operation, and you can't have children afterwards.
Treatments for fibroids
Which treatments work best? We've carefully weighed up the research and divided the treatments for fibroids into the following categories. You can find out more about each treatment by clicking on the links below.
For help in deciding what treatment is best for you, see .
Treatments that work
- Surgery to remove your fibroids: This operation is called a myomectomy. It lets you keep your womb, so you can still have children. More...
Treatments that are likely to work
- Hormone treatments: These drugs, known as gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues, make your fibroids shrink. Examples (and brand names) are goserelin (Zoladex), leuprorelin (Prostap SR), buserelin (Suprecur) and nafarelin (Synarel). Taking progestogen hormone replacement therapy, a drug called raloxifene (Evista), or tibolone (Livial) at the same time reduces the chances that you'll get side effects from taking GnRH analogues. More...
- Surgery to remove your womb: This operation is called a hysterectomy. You can't have children afterwards. Your doctor may suggest it if other treatments haven't worked. More...
- Hormone treatments before surgery: These are drugs that shrink your fibroids, making surgery easier. More...
Treatments that need further study
- Surgery to remove the lining of your womb: This operation is called endometrial ablation or endometrial resection. There are various ways of doing this surgery, including thermal balloon endometrial ablation. It uses a hot balloon to destroy the lining of your womb. It may make your periods lighter or make them stop completely. More...
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): These drugs ease pain and can lighten blood flow during some kinds of heavy periods. Some examples (and brand names) are ibuprofen (Nurofen) and ketoprofen (Orudis). More...
- Having a coil fitted: This is also called an intrauterine device. The brand name is Mirena. It can make your periods lighter.
- Getting rid of fibroids with ultrasound: This treatment uses high-energy sound waves to destroy fibroids. It's not available in the UK. More...
- Getting rid of fibroids with a laser: This treatment uses lasers to destroy fibroids. It is only available in a few specialist treatment centres in the UK. More...
Other treatments
The following treatment hasn't been studied to the same scientific standards that we use to judge other treatments on our site. (To learn more, see .) But we cover it because you may have questions about it. As you read this information, bear in mind that more research is needed to say whether this treatment works.
- Uterine embolisation: This treatment blocks the blood supply to fibroids with the aim of making them shrink. More...
Glossary
- menopause
- When a woman stops having periods, it is called the menopause. This usually happens around the age of 50.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited ("BMJ Group") 2007. All rights reserved
This information does not replace medical advice. If you are concerned you might have a medical problem please ask your Boots pharmacy team in your local Boots store, or see your doctor.
