Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o has highlighted the alarming delays women face in getting treatment for fibroids, revealing that it takes an average of 3.6 years for symptoms to be addressed, not just diagnosed.
That translates to over 1,000 days of discomfort, pain, missed work, and quiet suffering before many women receive the help and relief they need.
Taking to her official Instagram account on Friday, March 27, 2026, Lupita attributes part of the problem to societal and medical factors.
The combination of these two factors reinforces the long wait for effective treatment, creating a cycle that she says must be broken.
“3.6 years. That’s how long it takes on average for fibroid symptoms to be treated. Not diagnosed. Treated. That’s potentially over one thousand days of discomfort, pain, missed work and quiet suffering before a woman gets help and relief,” Lupita claimed.
“A big reason why is that women have been taught to normalise their pain, and medicine has failed to invest in understanding this disease. The two things reinforce each other, and both need to change.”
Lupita further noted that doctors can only work with the tools and knowledge available to them.
According to her, when research is underfunded, the options for diagnosis and treatment remain limited, and it is the patients who ultimately pay the price in years of suffering
“Doctors can only work with the tools and knowledge available to them. When research is underfunded, those tools are limited, and it’s the patients that pay the price in years,” she added.
The award-winning actress emphasised that research could dramatically change this scenario, adding that potential advancements include a blood test or imaging scan to detect fibroids early, non-surgical treatments that don’t force women to choose between fertility and relief, and doctors who can recognise symptoms early enough to intervene effectively.
“Research can change this. Here’s what that could look like: a blood test or imaging scan that catches fibroids before symptoms spiral; a non-surgical treatment option that means a woman doesn’t have to choose between her fertility and her relief; a doctor who recognises the signs early enough to intervene,” Lupita stated.
“Right now, too many of those possibilities don’t exist or aren’t widely available, because the research to develop and validate them hasn’t been done. That future is within reach, but only if we fund our way to it.”
Fibroid cases
Earlier, Lupita had claimed that black women face higher fibroid risks.
“Fibroids don’t discriminate; they affect women of every race, but the numbers don’t lie: Black women are disproportionately affected, and we need to talk about it,” Lupita said.
“Black women are 3x more likely to develop fibroids earlier, in greater numbers, and with more severity and 7x more likely to need surgery.”
