Lena Dunham Shares Major Health Update In Endometriosis Battle
The Girls creator is opening up about her health crisis.
In the March 2018 issue of Vogue, Lena Dunham revealed that she recently underwent a total hysterectomy — the removal of the cervix and uterus — due to her longtime battle with endometriosis. In an essay written for the magazine, she described her recent health struggle in graphic detail.
"In addition to endometrial disease, an odd hump-like protrusion and a septum running down the middle, I have retrograde bleeding, a.k.a. my period running in reverse so that my stomach is full of blood," the 31-year-old actress wrote (via Entertainment Tonight).
She continued, "My ovary has settled in on the muscles around the sacral nerves in my back that allow us to walk. Let's please not even talk about my uterine lining. The only beautiful detail is that the organ — which is meant to be shaped like a light bulb — was shaped like a heart."
Dunham, who recently split from longtime boyfriend Jack Antonoff, also revealed that she is currently exploring her options for motherhood.
"I may have felt choiceless before, but I know I have choices now," she explained. "Soon I'll start exploring whether my ovaries, which remain someplace inside me in that vast cavern of organs and scar tissue, have eggs. Adoption is a thrilling truth I'll pursue with all my might."
As Nicki Swift previously reported, Dunham has always been open about her struggles with endometriosis, a disorder in which the tissue that is supposed to line a woman's uterus instead grows outside of the organ.
In April 2017, she announced that she was endometriosis-free following a number of operations. "My surgery went off without a hitch," Dunham wrote in Lenny Letter at the time (via ET). "When I emerged, cotton-mouthed, [Dr. Randy Harris] told me something I hadn't expected to hear, maybe ever: there was no endometriosis left. Between my surgeries and hormonal intervention, I was disease-free."
However, the following month, she was rushed to the hospital during the Met Gala in New York City after her pain returned. The Not That Kind of Girl author was later forced to cancel her Lenny IRL tour due to further complications from her surgery.