FIBROID: 70 percent of women below 50 years at risk – Dr Abayomi Ajayi
HEALTH DIGEST – Over 70 percent of women below 50 years are at risk of fibroid, a foremost fertility specialist, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, has said. Ajayi, who disclosed this during a virtual session, tagged: “Hangout on Infertility and Fibroids”, also said women who using birth control pills and those that experience early menstrual periods were susceptible to fibroids.
While admonishing women not to panick upon discovery that they have fibroids, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nordica Fertility Centre, said there were many treatment options to fibroid besides open surgery. Even as he noted that, “There are some drugs that can be used to treat fibroid”, he warned women who still want to have babies to avoid the option, saying “you cannot use drugs if you still want to have a baby because the drugs will not allow you to get pregnant.”
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Dr Ajayi said at the moment, another treatment option for fibroids has been developed, explaining that the method which he called High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment, has been adjudged as the safest and most effective way to remove the fibroid, with minimal risk. It is not every treatment of fibroid that demanded open surgery known to be mostly bloody and sometimes resulting in complications, he added.
Describing fibroids as benign masses or growth in or on the uterus, Ajayi, who noted that, “They are so common”, explained that “it is not every fibroid that needs to be treated.”
“The fact that you find out that you have fibroids, it is not the end of the world. Even if you need treatment, in 2022, there are so many treatment options that are available that do not involve surgery
“People who see their menstrual periods earlier in life are also more predisposed to fibroid. People who are using birth control pills are also at risk of having fibroid,” he said.
According to the fertility expert, not every fibroid that requires treatment. This he explained was due to family history.
He said: “The most important factor is the family history. So many people are carrying fibroids around and they do not know they have it because there are no symptoms at all. The commonest symptom is the menstrual flow – when you notice that the number of sanitary towels you use have increased or your menstrual flow increases by days. Some people even bleed between periods.”
