Saudi Contemporary Art and Photography Exhibition > Artists Tala Al Zeid and @THAMERhsn > Raise Awareness to Endometriosis > May 24&25

Try and name a puzzling, often painful and misdiagnosed disease affecting women from the onset of menstruation through menopause. If you guessed endometriosisa, you were right, but chances are you probably didn’t.

It is estimated that 176 million women worldwide have endometriosis and yet only a fraction of that number are actually diagnosed as having the disease. That’s partly why it seems so mysterious.

Exactly what is endometriosis? The name comes from the word “endometrium,” which is the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus and builds up and sheds each month in the menstrual cycle. With the disease, that tissue is found outside the uterus, most often in the abdomen, although it can be found anywhere in the body.

Why does endometriosis often go undiagnosed? Many women have difficulties talking about subjects such as menstruation and painful sex: traditional beliefs by women and doctors that pain associated with menstruation is in the women’s head: misdiagnosis: and simple ignorance about the disease.

If the disease is relatively unknown, so is the cure. But at least there is help for women with endometriosis.

A Riyadh support group of the Endometriosis Association, an international nonprofit organization based in Milwaukee. Wisconsin has been formed for women with the disease. The group will offer information and provide a local support network for women and their families to share their feelings and problems about living with the disease. The group would like to provide discussion/support meetings and bring in speakers who can share information on medical opinions on the disease, handling pain, and coping with infertility and other problems that are a product of endometriosis. 

The Saudi Contemporary Art and Photography Exhibition held in support for the Riyadh Endometriosis Awareness Group. Artists, Talal Al Zeid and photographer Thamer Al Hassan are aware of the need to raise awareness of this disease and have contributed with their time and art to help us accomplish our goal and educate the community of this debilitating condition.

Readers can contact the Riyadh support group of the Endometriosis Association at: 0568 752 795 or email: endoawareness3rdworld@hotmail.co.uk and facebook: ThirdWorld EndometriosisAwareness. www.endometriosisassn.org

Art and Photography Exhibition
The Shopping Center- Riyadh 
10am- 6pm
May 24-25 2012