Can Lift Uterine Surgery Cause Early Menopause?

Menopause is a sign that a woman is no longer active in reproducing. That is, the woman can no longer have children. Usually menopause occurs in women aged over 41 years to 55 years. In some cases, there are also women who experience menopause faster than the average age.

This condition is called early menopause or premature menopause. The causes vary, ranging from genetics (offspring), unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, and also due to certain medical conditions. Well, according to research, women who have had uterine lifting surgery have a greater risk of experiencing early menopause.

How can menopause occur?

Women have ovaries that produce estrogen and progesterone hormones. Both sex hormones control the ovulation cycle (release of eggs from the ovaries) and menstruation.

When menopause occurs, the ovaries no longer produce the hormones estrogen and progesterone so that the egg cells are no longer released and they will not occur. Women who experience this condition no longer have eggs in the walls of the uterus so that after intercourse, the incoming sperm cannot meet the egg. Finally, conception cannot be done and pregnancy cannot occur.

Risk of early menopause in women with uterine lifting surgery.

Menopause normally occurs in women over 41 years of age. However, there are some women who experience menopause faster than that age. Reporting from Healthline, women who undergo a surgical process such as hysterectomy (uterine lift surgery) and oophorectomy (ovary lift surgery, both one and two ovaries) have a higher risk of experiencing premature menopause.

Then, Dr. Patricia G. Moorman, a Duke University lecturer and her colleagues conducted a study on the side effects of hysterectomy, namely early menopause in women aged 30 to 47 years, as reported by Obgyn. The researchers looked at 406 women who underwent a hysterectomy and compared it to 465 healthy women. Researchers collected blood samples and gave questionnaires to these women every year for 5 years.

The results showed that women experienced ovarian malfunction of 14.8 percent in women with hysterectomy, while healthy women had a risk of 8 percent. The risk of early menopause is indeed higher in women who undergo surgical removal of the uterus as well as with the ovaries. However, the risk also remains high in women with a hysterectomy whose second ovary is still maintained.

Oophorectomy can indeed cause menopause to occur more quickly, because the place where sex hormones are produced is eliminated. The procedure for removing one ovary (a single oophorectomy) causes the number of sex hormones to be reduced, causing menopause to occur more quickly. While the surgical removal of two ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy) indicates that sex hormone production actually stops and menopause can occur immediately.

Then what about early menopause in women with hysterectomy? Based on research conducted by Moorman, hysterectomy affects blood flow to the ovaries which is likely to cause the production of sex hormones to decrease so that the ovaries fail to perform normal functions. In addition, hysterectomy can cause levels of FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) to increase so as to accelerate follicular thinning, which is a factor causing menopause.

Is early menopause dangerous?

In addition to the uncomfortable symptoms of hot flashes, dry vagina, or insomnia, early menopause turns out to be quite dangerous. This condition according to the study is associated with various complications such as osteoporosis and heart disease which can cause premature death in women.