In a recent promotional video for her reality TV series, Kim Kardashian reveals that she may need a hysterectomy, a surgical procedure commonly used to treat uterine fibroids, endometriosis, uterine prolapse, and abnormal uterine bleeding by removing the uterus.
The heavy revelation comes as Kardashian and her husband Kanye West try to have another child. Glamour reports that Kardashian and West have been having sex “500 times a day” in order to conceive.
However, an issue from her last pregnancy may prevent her from successfully having another child, and could actually put her life in jeopardy.
“When you have your [next] baby, this will be your last one,” her doctor told her. “Because the problem is, your placenta grew on your uterus, so when you have another baby, your placenta will go right to that hole and then we’ll have a team of doctors waiting right there, to remove your uterus and put you into emergency surgery right there because you can’t bleed too much.”
Although the surgery may seem intimidating, recent medical innovations have made it a safer, easier procedure. A handful of surgeons in the U.S. have been performing robotic, minimally invasive hysterectomies using a smaller incision than ever before. The new procedure allows patients recover quickly, going home the same day or early the next.
However, Kardashian remains determined to have her second child naturally.
“When I was pregnant with North, I used to tell everyone that there is no amount of money that anyone could pay me to go through this experience again,” she said. “Now there is nothing more on this earth that I want than to be pregnant again.”
Instead, Kardashian decided to undergo a hysteroscopy with dilation and curettage, a procedure that’s been shown to help woman having fertility problems.
“This is not like Gwyneth Paltrow steaming her vagina,” Dr. Thomas Molinaro, a reproductive endocrinologist told the New York Daily News. “This is a valid medical procedure that’s been around for ages.”
Under the procedure, a doctor uses a camera to search for polyps, fibroids, and/or anything else in the uterus that might impact a woman’s chances of getting pregnant. Suspicious growths are then snipped out, and the uterus wall are scraped to ensure no problems linger.
As for whether or not the procedure helps Kardashian get pregnant, only time will tell.