The Suppossed "All-In-One" Fix

It seemed to be an “in-all-in-one” fix for many women. A vaginal mesh or sling would be implanted into the vagina to reverse the effects of pelvic prolapse or stress urinary incontinence. This mesh or “sling” would provide the support for the various weakened muscles and organs in a woman’s pelvic region. 

This is what the mesh was “intended” to do for different female urologic conditions.

For Pelvic Prolapse:

Pelvic Prolapse develops when the female pelvic organs weaken. The most common cause of this is child birth, but other factors can contribute. They’re various types of pelvic prolapse that include anterior, posterior, and uterus prolapse. Pelvic prolapsed includes the dropping of: 

•          Bladder

• ·         Rectum

• ·         Urethra

• ·         Cervix

• ·         Uterus 

To treat this condition, a surgical mesh was implanted to provide support for the weakened vaginal wall and support these various organs and tissues.

For Stress Urinary Incontinence:

Stress urinary incontinence occurs, when any physical activity (including coughing, laughing, lifting, sneezing, general exercise) causes you to urinate at an unwanted time. To solve this, a surgical mesh is inserted through the vagina (transvaginal) to support either the bladder neck or the urethra. This is called a midurethral sling or a mesh sling procedure. 

The vaginal mesh was intended to be a revolutionary medical product. However, no long term clinical trials were taken before this was approved. It turned out to be a major problem. By 2011 there were over 4,000 complaints from women who had undergone the procedure. Since then, over 75,000 lawsuits have been filed against manufactures. Women were complaining of severe vaginal and pelvic pain after the procedure and for good reason. -The term “erosion” refers to the process in which the mesh actually wears through the women’s soft tissues. This can lead to organ perforation, which is the penetration of hollow organs in the body such as the bladder, urethra or rectum. Many of these women described the pain as knives stabbing them (literally).

Note: It is important to differentiate “vaginal mesh” from other forms of mesh that do not cause these problems.

In order to fix this problem, surgery is almost always required to remove the vaginal mesh.. This may be one of the options your physician may tell you. Talk to your urogynecologist to see what they recommend.