A few years ago, images of little mice that scientists had grown human ears on their backs became very popular. They looked like mutant mice, but in reality, it was a relatively simple experiment: the scientists cut the mouse’s skin, placed a biodegradable ear-shaped mold, and implanted some cartilage cells.

These cells took advantage of the blood and nutrients around them to grow and reproduce. Meanwhile, the mold slowly degraded until it disappeared, leaving only a tiny ear-shaped cartilage—well, a big ear, because it looked gigantic on the mouse’s back.

And why am I telling you about those little mice? Well, myomas or fibroids in the uterus are very similar to the ears of those mice because of the way they grow and how they stop growing. Bear with me a little, and I’ll explain in detail. Remember that #KnowledgeIsSuccess

In Mexico, we call them myomas, and in other countries, they’re called uterine fibroids, but they’re exactly the same thing: abnormal growths of the uterine muscle, which are simply your own cells. Now, in the mouse example, scientists use a biodegradable mold as a seed or fertile ground for the cells to grow on, and that’s why the other day, while we were in surgery, I was thinking that uterine fibroids look very similar.

When we operate, we remove large fibroids—5, 10, 15, 30 cm, or even larger—but as you touch the uterus, you can feel small nodules like tiny balls. Sometimes they’re even accompanied by slight changes in the color of the muscle. I’ve always said that these are like little fibroid seeds. Most often, they stay small; typically, they don’t grow; however, sometimes they do grow, and giant fibroids appear.

Why do they grow? Nothing to do with diet or bad habits; the biggest influence is genetics. If we had a relative with fibroids, it’s more likely that you’d also get fibroids. It’s like having two very similar children who are neighbors and very good friends and eat exactly the same things and have the same habits, but Juanito’s parents wear glasses and Paquito’s parents have pimples all over their faces. Juanito will most likely have to wear glasses and Paquito will have pimples when he grows up. If it were the other way around, then yes, there could be problems and a lot of explaining to do, but that’s a whole other topic.

When fibroid seeds are very close together, giant fibroids grow, which are actually like a collection of many encapsulated masses. When they’re separated, they may stay small or form a potato-sack uterus, which is what we colloquially call a uterus full of bumps from having many small fibroids.

On our channel and website, we have many testimonials from patients sharing their cases, and there’s always a comment from someone who doesn’t know or finds it easy to make fun of patients, saying that they get it from eating too much sugar or carbohydrates, or that they just need to drink teas and herbal infusions to make their fibroids go away.

I want you to imagine that the little mouse I was telling you about at the beginning escapes from the laboratory and ends up in a burrow full of other mice who look at it strangely and tell it that all it has to do is eat better or exercise and think positively for its ear to fall off. Obviously, that’s never going to happen because that ear is made of mouse cells. As long as it receives blood, it will continue to grow like any other part of the body. For this same reason, fibroids appear during a woman’s fertile life.

Fibroids don’t grow before the first menstruation or menarche, and they generally stop growing with the onset of menopause. In fact, a vicious cycle develops because women with heavy bleeding tend to have larger fibroids, and fibroids, in turn, tend to cause more bleeding. More bleeding, more fibroids, more fibroids, more bleeding. That’s why it’s very difficult to find fibroids in women with irregular periods or who go months without a period, and for this reason, many gynecologists suggest taking hormones or using intrauterine devices to eliminate bleeding, hoping to prevent fibroids from growing.

I don’t recommend it because here we go again with the mouse example… Imagine you hit menopause on your back, so to speak. Well, your ear isn’t going to fall off because it’s already part of your body. In fact, it may wrinkle a little or even reduce in size, but only slightly. It will never go away, and when you stop taking the medication, the ear will grow stronger.

The other argument we receive a lot on social media is that fibroids are caused by toxins, smog, and the stress of the modern world, which is why the grandmothers didn’t have fibroids. But I ask you: How many of those grandmothers ever went to a gynecologist? How many of them had an ultrasound to check for fibroids?

As I’ve mentioned in other videos, having fibroids doesn’t mean you’re going to die. Fibroids are generally benign; they can grow without you realizing it. We’ve seen patients over 50 with fibroids weighing several kilos who thought they were just overweight, or that they retained fluids, or that their intestines were inflamed, or who assumed it was normal to have anemia, bleeding, and other ailments.

I hope I haven’t oversimplified this explanation with my examples, but the important thing is to make it clear: first, that it’s normal to have fibroids. One in three women has or will have small fibroids, and most will never know they have them. Second, that you should come to regular checkups and ask for an ultrasound to detect fibroids, either abdominal or vaginal.

Remember, we have a video about the symptoms that fibroids can cause. If you have any of those symptoms, or if you already know you have a fibroid, come see us.