Vaginal Mesh surgery

[Hileni]

Hi everyone. I had DS 2 yeatys ago and had a lot of birth Injuries. I have a really severe prolapse and stress incontinence which I had physio for. They have tried multiple times with different types of pesseries but my vagina is such a funny shape and the prolapse is so severe, they don't work for me.

I struggle going to the toilet a lot, especially with bowel movements, so am awaiting Peristeen.

I've been referred for Urodynamics. And they want to do abdominal surgery to attach a mesh to hold all the organs up and attach it to my spine.

The surgeries are: Colposuspension and Sacrohysteropexy.

I've been trying to research everything but I feel really overwhelmed. My mum has sent me a lot of info about meshes and how they can ruin your life and, to be honest, it's made me not want to look into it again because it's so depressing. If mesh won't work or makes my life worse, what's the point!? It already feels like I'm living a substandard, inhumane quality of life without being able to even toilet normally, let alone have sex.

With the way the world is at the moment, surgery will be a long way off yet. I was hoping there was anyone that could give me any kind of information, opinion or advice on what these surfies actually are. If there is an alternative to the mesh, is the mesh really that bad?

When I saw the consultant before lockdown, she said that I may have heard negative stories about mesh but they are talking about mesh put in vaginally which has only been around since the 90's. My procedure will be abdominally which was been around since the 50s and she wouldn't recommend the surgery unless she was happy for her mother/sister/herself to have it also.

My advice would be do NOT do this. I have a friend who did and ahe ended uo not being able to walk, have sex, or live a normal life at all. Basically her organs grew around the mesh which became embedded in them and Caused her chronic pain. She has had to have several operations to remove the mesh. I believe the use of these is now banned in several countries because of similar issues. If I can find the news article she was in about it I will pm it to you.

Find out what the mesh will be made of and go from there.
Some mesh is made from gelatin which is supposed to be ok, but the stuff which caused all the issues was, I think, prolene.
Find out who your surgeon is and exactly how many they’ve done. Don’t be palmed off, be persistent in your questions.
This website is clunky but not all about TVT.

www.tvt-messed-up-mesh.org.uk/

my mums just had her prolapse sorted but they didnt use a mesh as they said it was poor practice now. not sure how they did it but there must be other ways..

I think they want to use a mesh because it's supposed to last a really long time and as I'm only 30 they want it to be more permanent

I have had this mesh surgery - attached to top of cervix (or where it would have been, since I have also had a hysterectomy) and then stapled to my spine to hold everything up. It was done through 4 keyhole abdominal incisions. It was done 3 years ago.

I would definitely speak further to a female gynaecologist I think a woman would understand the potential implications more. . There was a lot in the news about vaginal mesh surgery a few years ago, but I would think that the technique or materials would be different now they are more aware

Do you know how I'd go about doing this Bran?

You always have the right to request to see a woman. Its completely normal to do so for gynae/intimate stuff

IMHO, hell no. I'm astonished any sort of mesh is still being offered. It's an absolute scandal what's happened with mesh surgery in the past, patients left in constant agony and their pain ignored because they're women.

I thought mesh was banned? I thought that they had invited an American mesh expert over to train up a limited number of surgeons over here to deal with it (can’t remember if inserting or removing) but they weren’t doing anything about it so he told them to go raffle.

Seriously dangerous operation of it goes wrong. Can leave you in agony and paralysed as well as having all the same problems you already have. Be wary.

I had Colposuspension surgery in October 2018 and it went really well, and took 8-12 weeks to recover from. My op was done keyhole which helped recovery. My surgery was for severe stress incontinence caused by a mid cavity forceps birth after a long labour with a baby with a giant head! I tried physio twice before accepting that I needed more help. I have found my situation to be better since the op but I am overweight and wish I had lost weight before the op as I believe it would have been even more successful- my consultant believes if I now lose weight it will still become more successful so im putting off any further treatment until I get to a healthy bmi. My situation is much improved but hasn't been the magic wand I had hoped for, but I am still glad I had the op.

Hi, I’m in the sling the mesh campaign group. All the docs say it’s just vaginally inserted mesh that’s the problem. In fact we did a survey on 500 of our members with problems and 15% had abdominally inserted “pexy” mesh. Having said that it’s possible the complication rate is lower.

The sacrocolpopexy and other pexy meshes are not banned, it’s just the vaginally inserted ones. However they are on “high vigilance restriction”. Meaning they have to carefully monitor their use

Is there another way instead of abdominally inserted mesh?

I can’t tell you if they are better but here’s something from group:

1. Alternatives to transabdominal mesh based procedures for vaginal/uterine prolapse (sacrocolpopexy and sacrohysteropexy)

A. Conservative methods i. Lifestyle modification ii. Topical oestrogen iii. Pelvic floor muscle training iv. Pessary management B. Non mesh surgery alternatives to sacrocolpopexy i. Non mesh sacrospinous fixation ii. Colpocleisis– only for a woman who does not plan to be sexually active in the future C. Non mesh surgery alternatives to sacrohysteropexy i. Non mesh sacrospinous fixation ii. Hysterectomy – only for a woman who has finished her family iii. Colpocleisis – only for a woman who does not plan to be sexually active in the future iv. Manchester repair -also known as the “Fothergill operation” -only for a woman who has finished her family