Have you ever heard of a loop electrosurgical excision procedure? If not, you’re not alone. While most of us are familiar with Pap smears and pelvic exams, loop electrosurgical excision procedure — commonly referred to as LEEP — is a women’s health procedure that doesn’t get a lot of press. Though it’s not a commonly discussed procedure, it’s a vitally important one that can save lives.  According to the American Congress of Obstetricians (ACOG), LEEP is a treatment to remove precancerous cells from the cervix, which can stop them from turning into cancer.  Because it’s rarely...

Today Show contributor Jill Martin announced her breast cancer diagnosis. Martin’s announcement was heartbreaking…and for many women around the world, a terrifying wake-up call.  Martin revealed that she had a normal mammogram in January and that her own mother (who has a personal history of breast cancer) had tested negative for the BRCA gene mutation (which substantially increases a person’s risk of cancer). Despite these reassurances, Martin was advised to get tested for the genetic mutation herself. Surprisingly, Martin tested positive and chose to have preventative surgery to reduce her risk of getting cancer.  But while...

If you’re anything like us, you might find yourself learning something new on TikTok every day. Whether it’s a life hack that, as the famous audio says, has become an unconscious standard practice in your life or, perhaps, something that was skipped over in your high school's Sex Ed class, TikTok can be an extremely informative tool when used correctly.  However, as with anything you read or learn on the internet, you should always fact-check what you hear on TikTok by conducting simple, well-accredited research of your own.  For example, there is currently a trending hashtag...

Many of us are familiar with abdominal ultrasounds: the cold gel, the wand being rubbed around on our torso, and the blurry images projected on the screen. While these are the more common ultrasounds typically performed, sometimes physicians need to order transvaginal ultrasounds for more detailed pictures — especially when it comes to our reproductive health and fertility.  Rather than capturing images topically, transvaginal ultrasounds gather imaging using a probe inserted into the vaginal canal. Also known as endovaginal ultrasounds, this procedure uses an ultrasound probe inserted about 2 to 3 inches into your vaginal canal....

Trying to conceive can take time. First, there’s the time you invest in learning what “trying to conceive” actually means. After that, there’s the time you have to keep trying until a doctor confirms that you’re struggling with infertility. Then, there’s the window between your first fertility health test and when you get your fertility hormone results. According to Devon Klauck, WHNP, Director, Clinical Product at Tia, it is never too early to get curious about your fertility health.  “If you have any questions at all about your fertility, it’s a great time to have...

There’s no denying that women have more frequent and complex health needs than men. From PCOS and endometriosis to gynecological cancers and UTIs, there is an abundance of health issues women have to deal with that men simply do not. However, women’s health conditions have been historically understudied, and underfunded, and it takes us an average of 4 years longer than men to receive a diagnosis for the same disease.  Think about it: The female reproductive system is responsible for menstruation, ovulation, fertilization, pregnancy, and childbirth, all of which involve a complex interplay of hormones,...

In one study of reproductive-age women in the U.S., 40% were unfamiliar with the ovulatory cycle. Yes, you read that right: 40%. When I first came across that statistic I thought, “That can’t be right.” But after really contemplating it, I can’t say I’m very surprised.  I was 27 and newly married with a bachelor's degree before I knew I could only get pregnant during my ovulation window. A few months later, I was completely blindsided by an infertility diagnosis — even though, according to the CDC, 1 in 5 women struggles to conceive for a...

Trying to conceive has a way of taking over your life, especially once you’ve hit the point of infertility. You go home to find an entire drawer in your bathroom devoted to ovulation kits and pregnancy tests. You look at your calendar and wonder how you’ll fit in all the appointments alongside work and personal commitments. You cringe through conversations about when you’ll “finally” have kids. You reconfigure your social media feeds to block out pregnancy announcements and updates. And you juggle a mental load that’s crushing…and largely underrecognized.   That mental load begins mounting before...

It’s no secret that an infertility diagnosis is deeply distressing for anyone going through it. Immediately afterward, there is often relief that maybe some questions will be answered as to why family-building has been so difficult thus far. There is often grief, too. Depending on what the diagnosis is, an individual or couple may be required to shift the vision and expectations of how they will have a child. Then there is the multitude of decisions to be made, including the direction of treatment and the financial planning to accommodate the high cost of fertility...

In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we’re very much living in a state of uncertainty where reproductive health is concerned. Waiting to see how abortion care will look in a post-Roe world can feel wildly disorienting at best, terrifying at worst — and at this point, even experts are left theorizing about what may happen down the line. When news broke that the FDA had decided to allow retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pills, many celebrated this path to access.  “I definitely think it will be extremely helpful, mostly because we’re...