Baylen Out Loud Highlights the Reality of Endometriosis: Why Early Evaluation and Specialized Care Matter

Endometriosis Specialist, WECS Co-Founder Dr. Melissa McHale Helps Raise Awareness Through National TV

When someone shares their experience with endometriosis on national television, it does more than tell a personal story. It helps others recognize symptoms, seek answers, and start conversations about a disease that affects an estimated 1 in 10 women yet often takes years to diagnose.

Washington Endometriosis and Complex Surgery (WECS) was honored to be featured on TLC’s Baylen Out Loud, where co-founder and minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon (MIGS) Dr. Melissa McHale met with Baylen Dupree-Dooley during her search for answers about suspected endometriosis.

We commend Baylen for sharing her journey so openly. Like many women living with endometriosis, she demonstrated how difficult it can be to navigate symptoms, advocate for yourself, and pursue answers. Her willingness to tell her story helps raise awareness of a disease that remains widely misunderstood despite affecting tens of millions of women worldwide.

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Endometriosis is More Than Pain

Endometriosis occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. This tissue can cause inflammation, scarring, adhesions, and damage to surrounding organs. Although painful periods are one of the most recognized symptoms, endometriosis can also cause chronic pelvic pain, pain during intercourse, bowel and bladder symptoms, gastrointestinal issues, fatigue, and pain that extends into the back, legs, or even the diaphragm.

Symptoms vary considerably from person to person, which is one reason endometriosis is frequently overlooked or mistaken for other conditions.

Today, physicians can make a clinical diagnosis of suspected endometriosis based on a patient’s symptoms, medical history, physical examination, and other clinical findings. This approach, supported by updated guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), allows treatment to begin without requiring surgery simply to receive care. If surgery is performed, pathologic confirmation of endometriosis is made when excised tissue is examined under a microscope.

Endometriosis and Fertility

Baylen’s story also highlights another important aspect of endometriosis that deserves greater public awareness: fertility.

Research suggests that 30 to 50 percent of women experiencing infertility have endometriosis. At the same time, many women with endometriosis conceive naturally and never experience infertility. Every patient’s experience is different.

For some women, particularly those with ovarian endometriosis (endometriomas), deep infiltrating endometriosis, or disease affecting the fallopian tubes and surrounding pelvic anatomy, becoming pregnant may be more challenging.

If endometriosis is contributing to infertility, complete excision surgery performed by an experienced endometriosis specialist may improve the chances of conception for appropriately selected patients. The decision to pursue surgery should always be individualized based on age, fertility goals, ovarian reserve, symptoms, and the extent of disease.

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Advanced Ultrasound Helps Plan Complex Endometriosis Surgery

One of the specialized evaluations featured during Baylen Out Loud was dynamic ultrasound for sonographic staging of endometriosis.

Historically, diagnosing endometriosis has been difficult. Clinical symptoms often do not correlate with imaging findings, and conventional ultrasound frequently cannot identify the disease. As a result, many patients have undergone exploratory laparascopic surgery or discovered the true extent of their disease only after entering the operating room.

Advances in endometriosis ultrasound have significantly improved physicians’ ability to identify many cases of deep infiltrating endometriosis before surgery. At Washington Endometriosis and Complex Surgery, dynamic ultrasound is performed using internationally recognized protocols, including the International Deep Endometriosis Analysis (IDEA) group protocol and Morphological Uterus Sonographic Assessment (MUSA) criteria.

For surgical candidates, this specialized evaluation by a WECS endometriosis specialist helps map the extent of deep infiltrating disease, identify possible involvement of the bowel, bladder, and other pelvic structures, and better understand pelvic anatomy before surgery. This detailed preoperative staging allows the multidisciplinary surgical team to carefully plan complex procedures, coordinate the appropriate specialists when needed, and have thorough discussions with patients so they fully understand their surgical options before entering the operating room.

Just as importantly, many patients with endometriosis will have a normal ultrasound, including a normal dynamic ultrasound. A normal scan does not rule out endometriosis. Imaging is only one piece of the diagnostic process, and physicians consider symptoms, physical examination findings, imaging, and the patient’s overall clinical picture together when making a clinical diagnosis and developing an individualized treatment plan.

Individualized Care for a Complex Disease

Not every patient with endometriosis requires surgery.

Washington Endometriosis and Complex Surgery provides both medical and surgical management tailored to each patient’s symptoms, goals, and stage of disease. Patients seeking non-surgical treatment can work with gynecology-focused nurse practitioner Jennifer Lanoff, while those with advanced disease may benefit from evaluation by the practice’s multidisciplinary surgical team.

Founded by minimally invasive gynecologic surgeons Dr. Victoria Vargas and Dr. Melissa McHale, together with colorectal surgeon Dr. Vincent Obias, a specialist in bowel endometriosis, the practice focuses on the complete excision of endometriosis, including advanced cases involving deep infiltrating endometriosis and disease affecting multiple pelvic organs.

For patients who are surgical candidates, laparoscopic excision surgery remains the gold standard treatment because it removes endometriosis lesions while allowing tissue to be sent for pathologic confirmation.

Baylen’s willingness to share her experience reminds us why awareness matters. Every conversation helps more people recognize symptoms, seek evaluation sooner, and better understand the options available for managing this complex disease. Earlier recognition, evidence-based care, and access to experienced endometriosis specialists can help patients receive answers sooner and make informed decisions about their health.

Researchers are also studying promising blood- and saliva-based tests that may one day improve the non-invasive diagnosis of endometriosis. While these emerging technologies are encouraging, additional research is needed to determine their role in clinical practice.

Baylen’s willingness to share her experience reminds us why awareness matters. Every conversation helps more people recognize symptoms, seek evaluation sooner, and better understand the options available for managing this complex disease. Earlier recognition, evidence-based care, and access to experienced endometriosis specialists can help patients receive answers sooner and make informed decisions about their health.

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