The Secret to Amazing Sex After Hysterectomy

If you're experiencing painful sex after a hysterectomy, help is on the way! Keep reading!

Hysterectomy Facts

What is a Hysterectomy?

A hysterectomy is the surgery to remove just the uterus (womb).

What does a Hysterectomy treat?

It is a surgical procedure to treat diseases like fibroids, endometriosis, and cancers such as uterine and cervical cancers.

How does a Hysterectomy affect my sex life?

If only the uterus is removed, it often does not affect sexual activity. You just need to refrain from sex for about six weeks after the surgery. Once the surgical wound heals, you can resume normal sexual activity as before. However, there are some exceptions:

50% of Hysterectomies include Bilateral Oophorectomy

For about half of all hysterectomies in the United States, the ovaries are removed along with the uterus, especially when the procedure is a part of cancer treatment. This procedure is called bilateral oophorectomy.

Why Remove Ovaries?

I think we can all agree that ovaries are pretty neat, so why would anyone remove them?
The main reason is cancer prevention:
Estrogen promotes cancers associated with female reproductive tissues:

  • breast cancer
  • ovarian cancer
  • uterine cancer
  • cervical cancer

Removing ovaries eliminates the source of estrogen and thus helps prevent these hormone-sensitive cancers for survivors and women with a family history of breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers.
So you may think that removing your ovaries is all sunshine and rainbows, however:

Hysterectomies can cause Female Sex Dysfunction

The tradeoff of removing ovaries is that you also lose the glands that produce sex hormones, like testosterone and estrogen.

Testosterone, the Libido Hormone

Testosterone is a male hormone but it is also produced in lesser amounts in the female and is thought to promote the female sexual desire.

Estrogen, the Sex Hormone

Estrogen maintains health of all female reproductive tissues, including vaginal tissue, keeping it thick, moist and flexible.

How much of your Testosterone and Estrogen is made by the Ovaries?

The ovaries produce about half of testosterone and nearly all of estrogen for women.

What happens to your sex life after removing ovaries?

When ovaries are removed after a total hysterectomy:

  • estrogen is substantially reduced
  • vaginal tissue becomes:
    1. thinner
    2. dryer
    3. more vulnerable to tear during intercourse
  • libido and sexual desire is decreased
  • arousal is altered because
    1. vaginal lubrication is reduced
    2. vaginal dilation is reduced
  • inability to achieve orgasm
  • dyspareunia (uncomfortable or painful sex)

Estrogen cannot be used by Hysterectomy Patients

Supplementing estrogen in theory can help you to find relief, but:
It is ACTUALLY a Catch-22 situation because estrogen can increase your risk for cancer. This is the very reason that your ovaries were removed in the first place!
It's a dilemma.
There is some good news, though:
You're not alone.
About half of all women with hysterectomies in the United States are suffering from various degrees of sexual dysfunction and they cannot use estrogen to find relief.

What about testosterone?

Since estrogen cannot be used in these women who had a hysterectomy, can testosterone help treat their sexual dysfunction?
The answer is “Not really.”

Does Sexual Arousal start in the Brain?

It is currently believed that in a healthy woman, the sexual arousal begins in the brain.
A romantic memory, image, scent, music, or fantasy may act as a trigger to prompt sexual arousal.
As a result, it was believed that female sexual dysfunction is a chain reaction occurs top-down from the brain to the lower parts of the body.
A lack of testosterone would result in decreased libido in the brain.
Subsequently, altered arousal and absent orgasm would follow.
Thus, the brain was thought to be the key and starting place for treating female sexual dysfunction.

Effects of Testosterone on Female Libido

Based on this belief, doctors have used testosterone to treat female sexual dysfunction, but the efficacy has been limited while side effects are significant.
As a result, the American Endocrine Society has recommended against using testosterone to treat women with sexual dysfunction.

Non-hormonal Choices

    • There are many non-hormonal approaches that can help women with sexual dysfunction:
  • vaginal lubricants
  • vaginal moisturizers
  • vaginal dilators
  • laser treatment (MonaLisa Touch)
  • simple nutritional supplement, such as vitamin E suppository
  • advanced nutritional supplement such as NeuEve suppositories and cream

These products are available over the counter and do not require prescriptions. Women can find a product suitable for their age and health condition for long-term use.

Analysis of Non-hormonal Choices

Lubricants, moisturizers and vitamin E suppositories can provide temporary relief for women with early stage vaginal atrophy.
However, these products cannot stop or reverse vaginal atrophy.
Once the vaginal atrophy progresses to late stage these products become useless.
Dilators and laser treatment can help strengthen the vaginal tissue by providing physical stimulation, but these methods may require more work or carry a higher price.

NeuEve - The Best Choice

A desirable non-hormonal option is NeuEve’s advanced nutritional supplement.
It reverses vaginal atrophy by providing a group of nutrients to the vaginal tissue like calcium and vitamin D for bones.
To date, more than 100,000 women, including many with hysterectomy, have used this method safely and successfully for relief of vaginal atrophy.
The oldest woman who has regained sexual ability with NeuEve is 83 years old.


8 comments


  • Kevin Tao

    Hi Kathy, NeuEve doesn’t contain any dairy!

    P. Bohmer, our products will help your vagina get restored back to normal!


  • Kathy H

    I’m desperately seeking help.
    Dryness, pain, emotional all the above . It’s been 5 years since my full hysterectomy( Wishing I had kept my Ovaries… but I had the full one! Estrodial ( sp?) gave me migraines & nausea. “Vaginal horse pee” was a bust as well. Does your product contain dairy? Help I’m so scared I’ve ruined my life forever now!


  • P. Bohmer

    I had hysterectomy and oophorectomy (sp) 20 years ago. I lost any desire for sex and it was incredibly painful. The vagina was dry, small and seemingly impenetrable.
    I just recently learned that my husband of 38 years!!! Thinks I could do something about it and that he blames me for 20 years of being cut off. God!
    I’m willing to try something. I also have chronic neck pain as a result of a mid-sharpen spine, bulging discs, etc. have had 2 surgeries. I’m 70. Can’t help him masturbate or have oral sex due to painful neck.
    Would have been nice had he complained 19 years ago, maybe we could’ve found help.
    Well there ya go, any hope for us?


Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.


Related Posts

Dr. Renjie Chang
About the Author

Dr. Renjie Chang's medical and pharmaceutical experience:
- OB-GYN in the Peking Union Hospital in China
- a faculty member of OB-GYN at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
- drug developer at the Abbott Laboratories in Chicago
- Founder of Lavax Inc, where she developed an innovative vaginal microbicide for preventing sexually transmitted disease with grants from NIH and Gates Foundation
- Founder of NeuEve, an all-natural women's health company