Lena Dunham's battle with endemetriosis over the years has been well-documented.

The actress and writer, who recently split from musician Jack Antonoff, has struggled with the painful condition - which sees tissue that is like the lining of the womb growing outside of the uterus - for many years and has been forced to cancel various appearances because of the pain involved.

Now, after numerous surgeries, the Girls star has revealed that she has undergone a hysterectomy, i.e the removal of the uterus and cervix.

The 31-year-old wrote in the new issue of Vogue: "‘In addition to endometrial disease, an odd hump-like protrusion and a septum running down the middle, I have retrograde bleeding, a.k.a. my period running in reverse so that my stomach is full of blood. ‘My ovary has settled in on the muscles around the sacral nerves in my back that allow us to walk. Let’s please not even talk about my uterine lining. The only beautiful detail is that the organ – which is meant to be shaped like a light bulb – was shaped like a heart.’

She added that although it meant that she could no longer carry a baby, she was already exploring other options. "‘I may have felt choiceless before, but I know I have choices now," she wrote. "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."

Via Vogue