Is Prophylactic Ovary Removal Right for You?
If you’re at high risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or both, having surgery to remove your ovaries may lower this risk. The removal of ovaries before menopause is called prophylactic ovary removal, or prophylactic oophorectomy.
Prophylactic ovary removal can reduce your risk of breast and ovarian cancers, but it can lead to changes in the body that increase other health problems. For example, the sudden drop in estrogen can cause a range of side effects, such as hot flashes, depression, difficulty sleeping, and lessened sex drive. Estrogen loss may affect bone and heart health.
When is ovary removal recommended?
Your doctor may recommend that you get a prophylactic oophorectomy if you:
have a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, or other genes linked to a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer
have a strong family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer
were diagnosed with breast cancer before you went through menopause
Other health reasons to get ovaries removed
Prophylactic ovary removal may also be an option for you if:
You want to lower your risk of breast cancer without causing major visible changes to your body. Prophylactic ovary removal is less invasive and a shorter surgery than prophylactic mastectomy. If you have a BRCA2 mutation, research shows that ovary removal before menopause can greatly reduce breast cancer risk. However, prophylactic ovary removal does not reduce the risk of breast cancer as much as prophylactic mastectomy does.
You’re worried about developing ovarian cancer. There are no good screening tools for ovarian cancer, which makes it hard for doctors to detect the disease early, when it’s easier to treat. Ovarian cancer is likely a greater concern for you if it runs in your family, you have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, or both.
You’re at high risk of developing breast cancer, but don’t want to take hormonal therapy. Hormonal therapy medicines block hormone receptor-positive breast cancer cells from using estrogen to grow. Prophylactic ovary removal helps estrogen levels to fall quickly, which can help to starve cancer cells. Even if you have your ovaries removed, your doctor may still want to prescribe you medicines that stop the production of estrogen in the rest of the body.
You were previously diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and don’t want to take medications that temporarily suppress estrogen production by the ovaries. The estrogen-suppressing medications Zoladex (chemical name: goserelin) and Lupron (chemical name: leuprolide) require regular injections in your belly or buttocks. If you find these injections to be too inconvenient or expensive, you might consider prophylactic ovary removal. Since surgery removes your body’s source of estrogen permanently, the reduction in the risk of breast cancer recurrence is permanent as well.
Benefits of prophylactic oophorectomy
Some studies suggest that prophylactic oophorectomy reduces the risk of breast cancer by about 50% and the risk of ovarian cancer by about 90% when the ovaries are removed before menopause. But other studies have produced more mixed results.
Risks of prophylactic oophorectomy
Removing your ovaries before you’ve gone through menopause will throw you into sudden menopause (called medical menopause). This can trigger a number of menopausal symptoms — including everything from hot flashes and low sex drive to long-term changes in your bone density and heart. Some of these symptoms may be more severe than they would be during a natural menopause because the decrease in estrogen is so abrupt compared to a gradual decrease in estrogen over time
As with any surgery, there are some risks and potential side effects of prophylactic ovary removal:
bleeding or infection
scar tissue formation
If you experience these or other side effects, it’s important that you tell someone on your healthcare team so they can help you manage these symptoms.
Questions to ask your doctor
If you’re considering whether prophylactic oophorectomy is right for you, here are some you might consider asking your doctor:
How much will having this surgery lower my risk of breast cancer? How much will it lower my risk of ovarian cancer?
How much will having this surgery increase my risk of other health problems?
How do you typically manage side effects from the surgery?
How will we work together to manage my follow-up care?
What should I do if I have problems or questions in between visits? Who in your practice will be able to answer my questions?
— Last updated on August 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM