HEALTHPROMO PROMO
Women’s health: are you too young for a pelvic organ prolapse? Do you feel a heavy or a dragging sensation in your vagina or lower back or struggle to feel your bladder completely empty? It could be a pelvic organ prolapse
T
he bulging of the uterus, bowel or bladder into or out of the vagina doesn’t only occur to older women during menopause. It can be a consequence of vaginal childbirth or be caused by heavy lifting or chronic cough. Many women are not comfortable talking about these symptoms, especially if they’re young. Avoiding dealing with the condition will only make the quality of your life worse. Talking to a specialist can help you identify the right treatment. Pelvic floor exercise can be enough to manage symptoms and feel better “Up to 40% of women have a minor degree prolapse with mild or no symptoms”, explains Prof Stergios Doumouchtsis, Consultant Urogynaecologist at
New Victoria Hospital, a private charity-owned healthcare facility in Kingston. “In such cases, pelvic floor exercises may help improve symptoms or prevent the prolapse worsening. Just as any exercise program, pelvic floor exercises require time, motivation and proper technique. It is also important to try to avoid heavy lifting, chronic straining, including constipation, and gaining excess weight as these can cause the prolapse to worsen. Difficulties in emptying the bladder may result in long term urinary tract problems and warrant specialist investigation” If symptoms are so severe that they affect your work, social and sexual life, vaginal pessaries or surgery might be advisable. “Pessaries are devices that require fitting by your healthcare provider and may require some trial and error before the most suitable size and type is found for you. It
is possible to remain sexually active with some types of pessaries”, continues Prof Doumouchtsis, “If you are not planning to have other children and there are no other risks, surgery can be a longterm solution for prolapse. Reconstructive surgical repair allows restoring your pelvic organs to their natural position while retaining sexual function. This can be done vaginally in most cases with no external scars and high success rates. In some cases it can be done laparoscopically (keyhole) with small scars. Between 75% - 95% of women will have a longterm cure of their prolapse symptoms.” n
For more information or to book a consultation, please call 020 3993 1818 or book online at newvictoria.co.uk
New Victoria Hospital, 184 Coombe Lane West, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7EG
read more at darlingmagazine.co.uk winter 21-22
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