July is Fibroid Awareness Month. Research shows 20% to 80% of women develop fibroids by the time they reach 50.

What You Need To Know

  • Uterine fibroids can be as small as a dime or as large as a melon

  • Fibroids are tumors but they usually are not cancerous

  • Symptoms of fibroids can include pressure, pain and bleeding

  • Researchers are working on new technologies that can help give women options

In Black women, those numbers are even higher. Research shows nearly a quarter of African American women between 18 and 30 have fibroids, compared with about 6% white women.

Dr. Melody Baldwin, an OBGYN in Durham, encourages women to understand the symptoms.

“Fibroids are growths that come from the walls of the muscle wall of the uterus. They can be small like the size of a grape or dime or they can be extremely large, the size of melons,” Baldwin said.

Although fibroids are tumors, in most cases, they are not cancerous.

“Most patients experience bulk symptoms, symptoms related to the size or presence of the fibroids, such as pain or pressure or pressure on your bladder. On the other hand, there are bleeding symptoms that really consist of heavy bleeding, painful bleeding, passage of clots that can be so severe it causes anemia,” Baldwin said.

Dr. Darlene Taylor, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at N.C. Central, has spent 10 years researching fibroids.

“The new technology we call LiquoGel. It’s a copolymer that dissolves in water and it changes to a gel when it reaches body temperature. I like to use the analogy that it changes like Jell-O when you cool it in the refrigerator, except we’re warming it to get this gel effect,” Taylor said. “So as a liquid, we can syringe the LiquoGel solution with active drug directly inside the tumor, holding the drug in place to maximize its effect.”

Taylor says she hopes this can be an option for women.

“It’s not going to suit a one-case-fit-all, but for those who want to maintain fertility, still want to have children but are in that niche where they're looking for things that are less invasive,” Taylor said.

Doctors say it’s important for women with fibroids to talk to one another about it and find a community to have an open dialogue.