Hi! I'm a 17 yr old enby and I'm exploring getting a hysto without oopho for dysphoria and pain/period management bc of my disability. I understand what an hysto is and what it does but I'm having difficulty finding info about what happens if I get my cervix and fallopian tubes removed/what happens if I don't Does it make a significant difference if you keep them? If you have any info about this that would be very appreciated!!
Lee says:
There’s no real benefit in keeping your fallopian tubes, and no real downside to removing them, so most people just have them removed because it reduces the risk of cancer slightly.
There are both benefits and disadvantages in keeping your cervix so that’s sometimes a harder decision. Personally, I wanted mine gone, but some people choose to keep it which is valid too.
Removing the cervix reduces the risk of cervical cancer, so people who have a family history of cancer or are HPV-positive might want to remove their cervix. Even folks who aren’t HPV-positive and don’t have a family history of cancer might want to remove it just in case to minimize their risk.
If you keep your cervix you will have to have pap smear tests at the gynecologist every few years. For people who want to reduce their interactions with gynecologists and eliminate a potentially dysphoria-provoking swab from being part of their future, removing the cervix might be a good idea.
The cervix also produces cervical mucus, so some people who are dysphoric about discharge find that getting their cervix removed helps reduce discharge a tiny bit. Getting rid of the uterus and menstruation is the biggest factor, and the vaginal atrophy on T sometimes helps a little as well, but typically people will still experience some discharge from the lubrication the vagina produces unless they get a vaginectomy.
If you plan on getting a vaginectomy in the future, which is often part of a phalloplasty or metoidioplasty that involves urethral lengthening, removing the cervix is good because typically surgeons will want that done before the vaginectomy.
The cervix is technically the end of the vagina, and removing it can therefore reduce some of the vaginal depth. If you want to preserve the depth of the vaginal canal, talk to your surgeon and they can replace the cervix with a stitches to make the vaginal cuff.
You may still notice a slight change in the depth of your vagina, and a partner might notice that it is now a more clearly defined “dead end” so to speak, but most people don’t find it to be an issue.
But if your partner has more length than you have depth and if you like being vaginally penetrated during sex and if that ends up hurting because of the length/depth issue, you could buy a product like the OhNut to help control the length that gets inserted.
Personally, I had both my cervix and my fallopian/uterine tubes removed during my hysterectomy without oophorectomy.
I had my surgery about two and a half years ago and I have no regrets about getting my cervix and fallopian tubes removed, but only you know what you want and need for your own body!
For more general info, check out our Hysterectomy and oophorectomy 101 page! And, of course, talk with your surgeon and doctors!