What is endometriosis?
Endometrium is the tissue that lines the inside of your uterus (womb). That tissue grows every month during your menstrual cycle because it's getting ready to support a baby. If you don't become pregnant, the endometrium comes off. It bleeds when it comes off. That bleeding is your menstrual period. After your period stops, the endometrium begins growing again.
Endometriosis is a condition caused by endometrial tissue growing outside of your uterus, usually in other areas inside your belly. Often the tissue grows on or around your ovaries, uterus, and fallopian tubes. Your fallopian tubes carry eggs from your ovaries to your uterus. You could have endometriosis in one spot or in many spots.
Any endometrial tissue that's in the wrong place acts just like endometrial tissue inside your uterus. That is, it grows and bleeds every month with your period. That bleeding can hurt. Sometimes the bleeding causes scar tissue to grow. The scar tissue sometimes blocks your fallopian tubes, which makes it hard to get pregnant.
What causes endometriosis?
The exact cause of endometriosis isn't clear. With endometriosis, a few small pieces of the endometrial tissue that should leave your body with your period blood could instead travel up the fallopian tubes. One of those small pieces could even get inside your belly and start to grow.
Endometriosis sometimes runs in families.
What are the symptoms of endometriosis?
How can doctors tell if I have endometriosis?
Doctors may suspect endometriosis if:
To see for sure whether you have endometriosis, the doctor may look inside your belly using a flexible viewing tube (laparoscopy). During this procedure, you will have anesthesia and then your doctor will insert the viewing scope through a small cut (incision) near your belly button.
Other tests, such as blood tests, ultrasound, CT scan, and x-rays, aren't very good for detecting endometriosis.
