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So…two years have passed since we began using our new 3D mammography unit. If you have not yet had a mammogram with this technology, you may be overdue. Here is a re-run of our original post about the advantages of 3D mammography. Our patients also tell us that it’s Smart-Curve compression surface is indeed more comfortable! Breast Cancer Awareness Month reminds us to ask ourselves “When was my last mammogram.” (If you can’t remember, call us. We’ll check.)

Most of our patients (beyond that “certain age”), have met Mrs. Charlene Aitken, Sparks & Favor…

As students return to Alabama college campuses facing the risks and restrictions of COVID-19, please consider that the greatest risks to the well-being of young adults are not COVID-related. They happen year after year. This year we have lost about 285 young people, ages 15 to 24, who were Covid positive at the time of their death. But every year, a subgroup of these young people (college students age 18 to 24), lose nearly six times as many friends and classmates to alcohol-related accidental deaths. Many thousands more suffer life-altering unintentional injuries including sexual assault…

I would like to share with my patients that I will be taking a short leave of absence from my practice beginning later this week. I have received an abnormal result on a recent mammogram, and surgery will be necessary. I feel very fortunate that, in this case, the good routine medical care I recommend to women each day has allowed me to receive early treatment, and I look forward to returning to my full schedule in a few weeks.

I regret this inconvenience to my patients, but I confidently place your care needs in the hands of my partners…

URGENT?
MEDICALLY NECESSARY, BUT NOT URGENT?
ONE OF SEVERAL OPTIONS?
UNNECESSARY?

By age 60, about 1/3 of American women will have had a hysterectomy. Hysterectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the uterus (womb), in order to treat a gynecologic problem. We suggest surgery to our patients when it offers health or quality of life benefits that outweigh the risks of having surgery. On the other hand, a woman herself will sometimes tell her doctor that she is ready to consider a hysterectomy when the doctor has not recommended it.

In either situation, the decision to have surgery requires…

Did you know that HEART DISEASE IS THE #1 KILLER OF AMERICAN WOMEN?
Yes, it’s true. According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease takes more women than all cancers combined. Yet surveys show that only about half of you are aware of that fact. February is American Heart Month.
THE GENDER GAP IN HEART ATTACK DEATHS
The risk of death after a heart attack is higher in women than men.
Medical research has not been clear about why this occurs. Women are likely to be older than men when they suffer a first heart attack because estrogen…

Click here to learn more about mood changes many women experience during the menopause transition.
This brief video from the North American Menopause Society discusses the relationship between menopause and increased feelings of depression, anxiety, or other mood symptoms. It offers some guidelines about whether these feelings may be menopause-related, as well as a discussion of treatment options…

You’ve decided you’re ready to start a family. In fact, you’ve decided that the next few months would be “ideal” to begin a pregnancy. But a month goes by, and then another, and no little + sign appears on the magic stick. You’re not exactly worried, nor should you be. Statistics say that around 20% of couples who will eventually have a spontaneous pregnancy do not conceive during the first six months that they attempt getting pregnant.  Obstetricians define infertility as the inability to achieve a successful pregnancy after twelve months of regular, unprotected intercourse. So, during…

Dr. Cameron Askew is a board-certified general surgeon. She cares for patients with a wide range of surgical problems, especially men and women seeking bariatric (weight-loss) surgery. She practices at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center here in Birmingham.

Dr. Askew is a life-long Alabamian. She is a graduate of Florida State University and the University of Alabama School of Medicine (UAB). She completed her general surgery training in the Baptist Health System. She is married with two stepsons, two dogs, and an active role in promoting obesity education; so, she understands her patients’ struggles to prioritize health in…

“Approximately 43% of American women report experiencing sexual problems, with 12% considering this problem to be so bothersome that it leads to personal distress.[1]” My hope is that providing some basic information here will encourage women to speak to their physicians if they are having this experience.

Doctors use the term female sexual dysfunction to refer to a group of problems including lack of interest in sex, pain with sex, and lack of satisfying sexual experience. A woman’s sexual response depends on many physical and psychological factors, so it is often difficult to identify and treat a single…