Surgeon cautions Nigerian women
Contrary to common assumption that drugs can shrink uterine fibroids, a maternal health expert, Dr. Benjamin Olowojebutu has debunked the claim and urged Nigerian women with fibroids to consult their doctors.
Giving the warning weekend in Lagos, Olowojebutu who is the Executive Director of the Benjamin Olowojebutu Foundation, BOF, said a lot of superstitions, myths and fallacies surrounding fibroids are the main reasons women are dying from the condition.
He spoke ahead of the Love story of the Benjamin Olowojebutu Foundation, BOF, and Plan for 2019, noting that fibroid is a benign mass that grows in the womb and ranks among medical conditions affecting women across Africa. “There is no medicine that will shrink fibroids and there is no way you will pass it out through the anus. That is a lie and that is what is killing a lot of our women.
These people are deceiving them and making money from them.
They keep taking these drugs for years, and instead of the fibroids shrinking, they keep getting bigger.” He said, however, the risk of developing fibroid could be reduced if women married early and there was a break in their menstrual flow. 2019: Obasa calls women to caution their wards against election thuggery, violence Olowojebutu further explained that women, who menstruate early, have more chances of producing fibroids. “When there is no break in your menstrual flow, that is, the longer you are menstruating, you stimulate the oestrogen hormone to produce fibroid. Women who have many babies may not have fibroid, because there is usually a break; one year of pregnancy and another one year of breastfeeding, which is two years of break.
So, the oestrogen cannot stimulate their wombs to grow fibroids,” he explained. He said the major challenge contributing to the reason many people sought for other alternatives was due to the cost of surgery which he said ranges from half a million, adding that the Foundation was ready to meet needs of indigent women. Unveiling the Love story of BOF and journey to 1000 free surgeries this year, Olowojebutu, who is a surgeon disclosed that BOF carried out 626 free surgeries in 2018.
“The goal of BOF is in the long run, change the health care space with love and compassion. He said this year, the foundation’s project tagged:
Journey to 1000 free surgeries, will be helping 1000 indigent patients suffering from fibroids, lipoma, breast lumps and hernia. “We have started already, we just concluded the Ikorodu outreach where eight fibroid surgeries took place.
We will be going to Cross River, Imo, Abia, Edo, Ondo and Rivers states from the 1st of February, 2019.” Presenting Monalisa Chinda Coker as the Brand Ambassador for the project, he said BOF would have its first out station outreach in Gambia and South Sudan July, 2019. Less privileged Nigerians with the listed conditions may contact the Foundation on their social media platforms or visit their website.
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