What Is an Irregular Period?
In an ideal world, your periods arrive on time each month, don’t pose any issues in terms of flow, and quietly go away until the next round. But for up to one-quarter of women, periods fall far short of this ideal.
You’ve been struggling with a uterus that’s causing problems — from heavy bleeding to pain — and you’ve decided you want the organ removed. Like the half a million women who undergo a hysterectomy each year in the United States, your next step is to figure out the best approach.
At Tahoe Women’s Care, Dr. Gary Willen and our team offer the state-of-the-art daVinci® system, which combines robotic precision with human experience to perform your hysterectomy.
Here’s a look at five of the many benefits of a da Vinci hysterectomy.
It used to be that, to remove your uterus (and other reproductive organs, if necessary), we had to go in through your abdomen. This approach caused a good deal of collateral damage to your tissues, which increased your risks for complications and prolonged your recovery.
With the advent of minimally invasive technology that relies on a camera and specialized instruments to remove your uterus, we only need to make very small incisions or, better still, go in through your vagina.
With da Vinci, we use these same minimally invasive techniques, greatly reducing the impact to your body.
As we mentioned earlier, the da Vinci system is the perfect combination of robotic precision and human experience. Dr. Willen is in the room the entire time, and he sits in front of a console with a monitor and controls to operate the “arms.”
These robotic arms not only provide more precision and accuracy, they can move around more adeptly in tight spaces than human hands can.
Another big advantage of minimally invasive da Vinci surgery is the ability to avoid large incisions that leave you more at risk for infections.
Since we’re only making small incisions with a da Vinci hysterectomy, or no incision at all if we can go in vaginally, your recovery is much faster. With collateral tissue damage minimized and less blood loss, your body is able to recover far more quickly after a minimally invasive da Vinci hysterectomy.
It’s important to note that a da Vinci hysterectomy is still a major procedure, and we will want to monitor you closely in a hospital setting. That said, since we’re using a minimally invasive approach to reduce the risks and damage, it’s far more likely that you’ll have a shorter hospital stay than you would with an open hysterectomy.
If you’d like to learn more about the da Vinci hysterectomy and whether you might be a candidate, please contact our office in Carson City, Nevada, to set up a consultation.
