Explainer | Fibroid surgery alternative to relieve period pain, Hifu treatment – also used to slow skin ageing – is non-invasive and leaves no scars

More than 170 million women suffer from uterine fibroids, growths that vary in size, shape and location but which often cause excessive bleeding and pain

A doctor describes how Hifu technology used to beat facial wrinkles is put to use to shrink fibroids – an alternative to hysterectomies or hormone treatment

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Fibroid pain can be quite debilitating for many women. High-intensity focused ultrasound (Hifu) used to tighten skin is now also being used to treat the condition. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:15pm, 29 Aug 2022Updated: 4:48pm, 2 Sep 2022

The condition causes excessive bleeding, crippling period pain, difficulties in pregnancy – and is one of the main reasons women have hysterectomies. It is uterine fibroids, and 171 million women in the world have the problem.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine in the US state of Maryland, up to 80 per cent of women will develop fibroids in their womb, or uterus, sometime during their childbearing years.

They are especially common in women between the ages of 40 and 50. While most fibroids are benign, the symptoms they trigger are often debilitating.

US journalist Tanika Gray Valbrun set up non-profit organisation The White Dress Project to rally support for, and promote awareness of the impact that uterine fibroids have on, women who suffer from them.

US journalist Tanika Gray Valbrun set up non-profit organisation The White Dress Project. Photo: Instagram/@wecanwearwhite

Most women who suffer from fibroids do not like to wear white because of the heavy bleeding related to the condition. The “white dress” is an emblem of hope and strength for sufferers, and a reminder that a cure will be found.

What effects do fibroids have on sufferers?

On The White Dress Project website, one woman talks about how her fibroid grew to the size of a grapefruit, causing pelvic pain, bloating, frequent urination and heavy periods.