Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
What you can expect
By Mayo Clinic staff
In abdominal hysterectomy, your surgeon detaches your uterus from the ovaries, fallopian tubes and upper vagina, as well as from the blood vessels and connective tissue that support it. The lower part of your uterus (cervix) may be left in place (partial or subtotal hysterectomy) or removed (total hysterectomy). Hysterectomy may also include removal of additional organs and tissue, such as your ovaries and fallopian tubes (bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy).
During the hysterectomy
A hysterectomy typically is performed under general anesthesia, so you won't be awake during the surgery. The procedure itself lasts about one to two hours, although you'll spend some time beforehand getting ready to go into the operating room.
To begin the procedure, a member of your surgical team passes a urinary catheter through your urethra to empty your bladder. The catheter remains in place during surgery and for a short time afterward. Your abdomen and vagina are cleaned with a sterile solution prior to surgery. Any hair at the incision site is shaved.
To perform the hysterectomy, your surgeon cuts through skin and connective tissue in your lower abdomen to reach your uterus. The surgeon uses one of two types of abdominal incisions for the hysterectomy. A vertical incision starts in the middle of your abdomen and extends from just below your navel to just above your pubic bone. A horizontal bikini-line incision (Pfannenstiel incision) lies about an inch above your pubic bone. Which incision type your surgeon chooses depends on many factors, including the need to explore the upper abdomen, the size of your uterus and the presence of any scars from prior abdominal surgery.
After the hysterectomy
After surgery, you'll remain in the recovery room for a few hours. You'll be monitored for signs of pain. You'll be given medicine for pain and to prevent infection. You'll probably be up and walking around by the following day. Abdominal hysterectomy usually requires a hospital stay of one to two days, but it could be up to four days.
You'll need to use sanitary pads for vaginal bleeding and discharge. It's normal to have bloody vaginal drainage for several days after a hysterectomy. The abdominal incision will gradually heal, but a visible scar on your abdomen will remain.
-
Physical aftereffects. After a hysterectomy, you'll no longer have menstrual periods and you won't be able to become pregnant.
It takes time to get back to your usual self after an abdominal hysterectomy — about six to eight weeks for most women. It's important to adhere to activity restrictions. Get plenty of rest. Don't lift anything heavy for a full six weeks after the operation. Your doctor may recommend other restrictions, but eventually you'll return to your normal activities.
About six weeks after your surgery, you can resume sexual activity. Having a hysterectomy shouldn't affect this aspect of your life. This issue has been carefully studied, and women with a good sex life before hysterectomy maintain it afterward. Some women even experience an increase in sexual pleasure. This may be due to relief from the chronic pain or heavy bleeding that was caused by a uterine problem.
If you have a partial hysterectomy, your risk of cervical cancer remains, so you'll still need regular Pap tests for screening.
If you're premenopausal, having your ovaries removed along with hysterectomy initiates menopause. Discuss with your doctor ways to handle menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness. In women who undergo hysterectomy but keep their ovaries, menopause may occur at a younger than average age.
-
Emotional aftereffects. You may find hysterectomy provides relief from your symptoms, an improved sense of well-being and a chance to get on with your life. The relief of symptoms may greatly enhance your quality of life.
On the other hand, because the uterus is strongly associated with femininity, you may feel a sense of loss after hysterectomy. Premenopausal women who must undergo hysterectomy to treat gynecological cancer may experience grief and possibly depression over the loss of fertility.
