Are You Too Young To Have A Laparoscopy?

Introduction
Definition
Incidence
Cause
Symptoms
Intestinal Endometriosis
Infertility
Diagnosis
Treatment
Adenomyosis
Are you too young to have
a laparoscopy?
Endometriosis and cancer
Treatment summary
Endometriosis and heredity

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As I have already mentioned, at one time it was believed that teen-age girls and young women did not get Endometriosis. Since the advent of laparoscopy, we now recognize that Endometriosis frequently occurs in teenage girls. It is by no means rare in young women of this age.

Despite this, I have seen a number of women who, over the years, have suffered needlessly because, when they were teenagers, that they were "too young" to have a laparoscopy. As a result, these women had severe pain with their periods and were often disabled with severe pain between periods. They suffered for years and years because the proper diagnosis was never established and appropriate therapy was never implemented.

If a person has symptoms of a disease that are significant, that person deserves appropriate diagnostic testing, regardless of age. If you had symptoms of appendicitis, you would not be too young for surgery. Why should Endometriosis be any different?

Since we now know that 70% of teenage girls with chronic pelvic pain have Endometriosis, the idea that a teenage girl is too young to have a laparoscopy is nonsense. Teenage girls with severe pelvic pain are just as deserving of a proper diagnostic evaluation and treatment as are women in their 20's or 30's.