Lena Dunham has thanked her fans for the "overwhelming" support she has received since opening up about her hysterectomy.

Lena Dunham's Instagram (c) post

Lena Dunham's Instagram (c) post

The 31-year-old actress recently penned an essay in which she revealed her decision to undergo a full hysterectomy - which is a surgical procedure which removes a woman's uterus - in an effort to end her long standing battle with endometriosis, a condition in which the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus grows outside of it.

And since opening up about her surgery, Lena has been swamped with messages of support from her loyal fans, and on Friday (16.02.18) she took to Instagram to give them her thanks.

Posting a picture of herself sat on her hospital bed, she wrote: "Your body failing you is a loss that's hard to explain and yet the amount of messages I've gotten from women in a similar predicament has been so overwhelming, loving and heartening. More than 60 million women in America are living with hysterectomies and those of you who've shared your plight and perseverance make me feel so honored to be in your company. Thank you to the village of women who took care of me through this entire process. I have a broken heart and I hear those don't mend overnight, but we are linked forever by this experience and our refusal to let it hold any of us back from even the grandest dreams. (sic)"

The 'Girls' creator previously said she made the decision to undergo after "years of complex surgeries measuring in the double digits", and admitted she is now looking into options regarding motherhood in the future.

She wrote in her essay for Vogue magazine: "I may have felt choiceless before, but I know I have choices now. Soon I'll start exploring whether my ovaries, which remain someplace inside me in that vast cavern of organs and scar tissue, have eggs. Adoption is a thrilling truth I'll pursue with all my might."


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