Getting Pregnant with Endometriosis: Understanding Your Fertility Options
Mar 11, 2025
It’s Endometriosis Awareness Month, and while this condition affects almost 12% of women in the United States between the ages of 15 and 44, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it. However, while some believe endometriosis prevents them from having children, there are many treatment options available to those with this condition.
Gen 5 Fertility Center offers several fertility treatments that manage various issues. Depending on your situation, one or more options might be suitable for helping you get pregnant with endometriosis.
Dr. Samuel Wood, Dr. Benito Villanueva, and Dr. Martin Bastuba determine which treatment best suits you and walk you through the process of your personalized fertility plan. This way, you can get the best care tailored to your circumstances.
Having endometriosis can make it more challenging to get pregnant. When the uterine lining grows beyond the confines of the uterus, it can block the sperm from entering the uterus or make the uterus unable to support conception. Sometimes, the immune system even treats the embryo as an invader.
There are four stages of endometriosis, and they increase with the amount of implants (or uterine lining growing where it shouldn’t) and the severity of symptoms. People with stage I endometriosis have an easier time getting pregnant than those with stage IV. We use different treatments for different stages and circumstances.
There is no cure for endometriosis, but there are several treatments that can help manage your condition and allow you to get pregnant.
Laparoscopy is usually a good treatment for endometriosis patients who want to get pregnant. This is a procedure that allows your provider to determine how severe your condition is and possibly clear away some of the implants so that you can more easily conceive.
A laparoscopy involves taking a thin tube with a camera on the end and inserting it through a small incision. It allows your provider to see where scar tissue and other endometriosis results may have built up and helps them remove these without open surgery. Most patients can go home the same day after a laparoscopy.
Sometimes, though, laparoscopy isn’t enough to manage fertility concerns caused by the condition. IUI (or intrauterine insemination) can be used to help increase the chances that you will get pregnant. This procedure involves taking fertility medications before having sperm placed inside the uterus to facilitate conception.
IUI is often a first choice because it’s less costly than the other option, IVF (in vitro fertilization). While it isn’t always as successful as IVF, it may be exactly what you need to help bypass some of the issues associated with endometriosis.
IVF is often the best choice for people with more advanced levels of endometriosis. This treatment involves collecting the eggs and sperm of you and your partner, facilitating fertilization in a lab, and transferring the fertilized egg back into your uterus.
IVF is a relatively safe, effective treatment for infertility caused by endometriosis, and many patients can conceive and have healthy births this way. If you’ve been trying to conceive for a long time without luck, it can be helpful to discuss IVF or any of the other treatments mentioned here.
Don’t despair. Many treatments can help fight infertility caused by endometriosis and allow you to grow your family however you choose. To make an appointment at our San Diego, California, office, call or visit us online. We look forward to meeting you.