How Not to Get Pregnant: Radical and Total Hysterectomy

Hysterectomy is an abdominal surgery; a doctor removes your entire uterus, or, if you have a subtotal hysterectomy, only part of your womb. It is one of the very rare how not to get pregnant methods that are absolutely 100% safe. At least, radical hysterectomy and total hysterectomy are safe, unlike subtotal hysterectomy. Both radical and total hysterectomy means that you have your womb removed, so a fetus will not have a place to grow in your body. It is a how not to get pregnant method that will last for the rest of your life. It is irreversible. There is one option of having a child without having a womb: in case your doctor has left your ovaries intact, you can produce an egg and a surrogate mother can bear your biological child. For medical and legal reasons, this alternative is not very feasible, so think twice before you decide to get this abdominal surgery. First of all, consider the possible disadvantages. Gynecologists usually do not recommend hysterectomy as a how not to get pregnant method – they perform this kind of abdominal surgery to cure serious conditions or, at least, problems like excessive bleeding.

Hysterectomy as a how not to get pregnant method is quite rare and unusual. It is a major abdominal surgery that has its risks.

On the other hand, women who have had hysterectomy are less likely to suffer from ovarian cancer, even if their ovaries were spared.

Types of Hysterectomy

Your uterus can be removed through your vagina or through your abdomen, and there exist laparoscopy-assisted hysterectomy.

If you undergo radical hysterectomy, your doctor will remove your ovaries, too. Many doctors are reluctant to remove them. Ovaries produce hormones that contribute to bone density and your general health and well-being in your old age. If you do not have your ovaries anymore, you might be prone to osteoporosis, fragile bones in old age. You can suffer other unpleasant hormonal changes, from migraines to fatigue or dizziness, and you can reach menopause much earlier. You can undergo hormone therapy to cease these symptoms.

Total hysterectomy means that a doctor removes your entire uterus but leaves your ovaries intact. Your ovaries still can produce hormones, which is beneficial for your sexual health.

Subtotal hysterectomy means that only a part of your uterus will be removed. One still can conceive a child after a subtotal hysterectomy.

Once you get your womb removed, you will not have your period anymore. There can be some bleeding, however, it will be considerably lighter and more convenient than your period.

Possible Disadvantages

Doctors avoid this abdominal surgery, they say it is not a how not to get pregnant method. There are a couple of disadvantages of this abdominal surgery. Some of the patients who have undergone a hysterectomy reported that they had pelvic pain afterward. There is a higher risk of urinary incontinency and vaginal prolapse many years after the surgery. It means that when you have your womb removed, you might not have these unpleasant symptoms right after the surgery, but you might have problems ten or twenty years later. After a hysterectomy, some patients have health issues like adhesions (forming of fibrous bands between tissues) and bowel obstruction.