Know Your Fibroids

The growths almost no one explains until you already have one.

Most people meet the word "fibroid" at an ultrasound, when a provider says it like you already know what it means. You don't, because no one explained it.

Here's the explainer that should have come first: what fibroids are, where they grow, why they happen, and the options you have if they start causing trouble.

Start here

A fibroid is a benign growth made of the same muscle and fibrous tissue as the wall of your uterus. The medical name is leiomyoma. It's the most common growth of its kind, and by the time people with a uterus reach their 50s, around three in four have had at least one.

Most never cause a symptom. What a fibroid does to you comes down to where it sits and how big it gets, which is why two people with fibroids can have nothing in common. Fibroids turning cancerous is rare, and having them doesn't raise your cancer risk. If yours aren't bothering you, the standard advice is to leave them alone.

Where they sit decides everything

Fibroids are grouped by where they sit relative to the uterine wall, and that grouping predicts how they behave.

Submucosal fibroids grow just under the lining and bulge into the open space inside the uterus. They're the smallest group and cause the most trouble; these are the ones tied to heavy bleeding and to fertility problems, because they distort the cavity where a pregnancy would implant.

Intramural fibroids sit inside the muscular wall. They're the most common type, and larger ones make the uterus feel bulky or create pressure.

Subserosal fibroids grow on the outer surface, facing your other organs, sometimes on a stalk. They press outward on the bladder or bowel, which is why they cause symptoms that have nothing to do with your period. A smaller group grows ...

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