Endometrial ablation is a procedure that is carried out to reduce menorrhagia or excessive menstrual bleeding. Women, during their menstrual cycles, have to deal with clots, fibroids or other uterine complications. Such complications lead to excessive bleeding which can be very distressing and even debilitating due to the loss of blood.
Excessive bleeding during periods can generally cause weakness, fatigue and pain along with loss of blood. Excessive bleeding or menstrual problems can lead to a thickening of the endometrial wall. Women sometimes choose to do a procedure called endometrial ablation. In this procedure, part of the endometrial lining is destroyed with the help of an external stimulus. A stimulus can be hot or cold energies. This procedure is done in order to reduce excessive bleeding which may occur after every menstrual cycle.
Usually there is bleeding after an endometrial ablation procedure. In the procedure, the lining is partially destroyed and therefore causes bleeding afterwards. This resultant bleeding is the same as undergoing a period. This bleeding usually stops within 7-10 days.
There can also be other complications from endometrial ablation that can still cause bleeding. Despite the different methods for endometrial ablation, all the methods physically damage the lining. The bleeding continues unabated usually if the endometrial wall is damaged unevenly. The uneven damage causes tissue to grow, thickening the lining further and causing the growth of the scar tissue.
There are also many documented cases of heavy bleeding after endometrial ablation. Sometimes the bleeding continues for months together. Such women start to suffer from adenomyoma which is an additional growth of tissue in the uterus. Usually in such cases, the woman is made to go through another procedure in which the scar tissue is removed. If the woman suffers from adenomyoma, then endometrial ablation is not recommended for her as it is bound to occur again, increasing in severity after the endometrial ablation. Some women also report that though the endometrial ablation reduces the bleeding during their monthly cycles for a few months, after about 6-8 months, the heavy flows start again.
Often women choose an endometrial ablation over hysterectomy. However a few years after the ablation, they need to get a hysterectomy anyway. There are long term effects of ablations which, though known, are not always considered. These effects can vary with every woman therefore a proper consult is a must before undergoing an endometrial ablation.
Reference