Do I have to have my IUD removed before surgery.

The reason it is
sometimes recommended that birth control be stopped or IUD’s removed before
surgery is that hormonal supplementation can influence the incidence of blood
clots after surgery. One of the few things that could actually kill you after a
surgery like you have described is if you would get a blood clot in your leg
that traveled to your heart or lungs – which is called a pulmonary embolus.

There are very
specific risk factors associated with blood clots and every patient who undergoes
a surgery these days is rated on their likelihood of having a blood clot. If that
risk is too high, then more precautions need to be taken
to prevent a clot – one of which is using a blood thinner for surgery. Blood
thinners help to prevent a fatal blood clot, but can also cause a lot of
problems with bleeding which can be dangerous and may necessitate additional
surgery.

If you are someone who
is borderline for needing a blood thinner, your surgeon may ask you to stop
your birth control or remove an IUD that provides hormone supplementation in
order to take your level of risk down to a level where you would not need to take
on the extra risk of a blood thinner to stay safe. If you are low risk for
clotting it probably doesn’t matter as much. Just understand that your surgeon
wants to make the surgery as safe as he/she can for you and so will recommend
the safest route. Good luck with your surgery, I’m sure you’ll do great!

You do not have to remove it. It does not affect the surgery or the recovery.  Ask your doctor the reason why he/she requested. By the way, you have the opportunity to get the tubal ligation during the TT if you have considered to do something permanent. Dr. Cardenas

Thank you for your question. If you are not experiencing any problems with the IUD, there would be no reason to remove it before surgery.