Fertility Enhancing Laparoscopic Surgery: Benefits, Recovery Time, & Side-Effects

If a woman cannot conceive naturally, she undergoes infertility treatment. Laparoscopy has emerged as one of the effective methods to treat infertility in women. But what is laparoscopy and how does it work? Will it increase your chances of getting pregnant? Are there any side effects of this surgical procedure? As someone exploring fertility treatment options, it is natural to have many questions about laparoscopy and we will answer all of them. So, stay tuned till the end as here’s everything you need to know about fertility enhancing laparoscopic surgery. 

Laparoscopy: An Overview

A minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopy can help you fulfill your dream of becoming a mother. During laparoscopy and hysteroscopy, a doctor can examine the inside of the human body.

Doctors opt for laparoscopy for diagnosing and treating conditions that have affected a person’s fertility. Such conditions can be endometriosis, tubal blockages, endometriotic lesions, and ovarian cysts.

The laparoscopic surgery process may also be beneficial for ladies with unexplained infertility. Unexplained infertility means when the diagnostic tests fail to reveal the cause of infertility. In such a situation, a woman is unable to get pregnant even if the test results are fine. By seeing the reproductive organs, the healthcare provider may identify and fix possible problems that are making conception impossible.

4 Ways to Restore Fertility with Laparoscopic Surgery

Now have a look at the benefits of laparoscopic surgery to decide if it’s ideal for you.

1. Ovarian Cystectomy

Ovaries are pelvic organs, small in size, and they generate egg cells and female hormones. Ovarian cysts are common in young and old women. A cyst in one of the ovaries is a sac containing semisolid material fluid. While most ovarian cysts are tiny and do not bother you, big cysts can cause discomfort, pain, or aches in the lower tummy. Then the doctor will inspect the ovaries, and remove cysts after making small incisions with a laparoscope.

The doctor may suggest an ovarian cystectomy as the most trusted way of cutting and bringing out the cysts. A laparoscope is an illuminated and thin equipment and the blood loss during the surgery will be minimal. However, you should stay away from intense workouts for four weeks after the treatment.

 2. Laparoscopy Endometriosis Treatment

The lining of the uterus is known as the endometrium. Endometriosis is a type of condition that causes the growth of tissue outside the uterine cavity. When endometrial-type tissue ends up developing on the pelvis, ovaries, and intestines, it makes implantation challenging. But how do you know you have endometriosis?

Discomfort, severe menstrual cramps, irregular urine, bleeding between periods, painful intercourse, and lethargy are indications that you may have this illness.

Another side effect is that it causes scarring and swelling in the fimbriae and fallopian tubes, thus clogging the fallopian tubes. So, the sperm cannot survive and even if it does, the fertilized eggs often fail to travel to the uterus due to the blockage. Laparoscopy/ hysteroscopy procedure can alleviate these symptoms by getting rid of the diseased tissue and hence, you can become more fertile.

3. Lysis of adhesions

Lysis of adhesions is a technique that does the job of eliminating scar tissue responsible for persistent abdominal and pelvic pain. The growth of scar tissue may happen after an operation as part of the process of healing. It can also be formed as an outcome of an inflammation or infection like endometriosis. Then it becomes mandatory to remove and destroy the adhesions as it is standing in your way of getting pregnant.

Adhesion lysis can be performed laparoscopically as it lets the surgeon observe the adhesions and break them after making small holes in the abdomen. Following are the symptoms of adhesions:

1. no periods or extremely light periods
2. recurrent miscarriage
3. extreme pelvic pain or menstrual cramp
4. inability to conceive and other infertility complications

4. Myomectomy

The excision of fibroids or uterine leiomyomas surgically is termed fibroidectomy or myomectomy by healthcare professionals. It is a laparoscopic method that eliminates fibroids and reconstructs the uterus. Other than its fertility benefits, the removal of fibroids becomes necessary sometimes and they cause symptoms like prolonged periods, pelvic aches, frequent urination, and erratic bleeding (in extreme cases).

If you eat a nutrient-rich diet and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you can witness excellent pregnancy outcomes within 6 months after laparoscopic myomectomy. However, you must wait at least 3-4 months to ensure your uterus is healed after a myomectomy. Only then, you can begin having regular coitus again to conceive.

Note: Despite opting for surgery, fibroids may come back after some years, especially if you have several of them. Recurrent fibroids are more noticeable in women approaching menopause.

Reasons Why Laparoscopy is Among the Best Fertility Enhancing Surgeries

In comparison to several other operations done to help infertile women, laparoscopy is preferred in many cases because of these four reasons:

• less intrusive method
• infection risk is less
• smaller scars
• high chances of resolving the issue completely during surgery, thus making recovery easy

Additionally, if an individual is treated following this procedure, they may notice positive changes right away. Furthermore, laparoscopic treatment is always done after administering general anesthesia, meaning you will feel nothing when it’s being done. So, if you are lucky, you won’t have to wait too long to welcome a baby in your life.

The Bottom Line

We may conclude by saying that laparoscopy is among the most reliable fertility enhancing surgeries for couples who have been struggling to conceive for a long time. Your hopes of conception will improve dramatically when a surgeon removes the impediments causing infertility through laparoscopy. As it is a minimally invasive procedure, you will experience less pain and will recover quickly.

So, if your fertility specialist thinks fertility enhancing laparoscopic surgery is the most trustworthy treatment for you, you should go ahead with it. For the laparoscopy surgery to be successful, you must consult a fertility doctor who has experience treating couples using ARTs (Assisted Reproductive Technologies).

Dr Ritu Agarwal

Dr. Ritu Agarwal is an appreciated IVF expert in Jaipur for IVF therapy, owing to her more than ten years of experience in this field. She is the top IVF specialist in Jaipur who makes every attempt to provide correct counseling and emotional support to patients in order to help them find the ideal solution for becoming parents.