Black women push for greater awareness and research about uterine fibroids

Tanika Gray Valbrun, the founder of the White Dress Project, has had three myomectomies, a surgical procedure performed to remove uterine fibroids, or noncancerous growths in the uterus.

She says during her first myomectomy, she had 27 fibroids removed.

According to the National Institutes of Health, at least 26 million women and girls between the ages of 15 and 50 are living with uterine fibroids in the United States. Women of various cultures and ethnicities can develop uterine fibroids. However, research about how uterine fibroids impact Asian, Hispanic and Indian women is limited. Research also suggests that 70% of white women and 80% of Black women will develop fibroids by the age of 50. Black women also are two to three times more likely to have fibroids, suffer with bigger growths and have more severe symptoms.