What you need to know about pelvic organ prolapse surgery

Pelvic organ prolapse, or POP, happens when your pelvic muscles and tissues get too weak to support your pelvic organs, causing them to drop. This causes everything from pelvic pressure and bulging at the vagina to urinary incontinence and back pain. If you’ve tried several non-surgical treatment options for POP, you may be considering pelvic organ prolapse surgery. Our experienced OBGYNs can help you understand surgical options that may improve your pelvic support problems.

Is POP surgery right for you?

When deciding whether you are a good candidate for pelvic organ prolapse surgery, our physicians take several factors into consideration and discuss them with you.

• The severity, type and location of your POP.
• Your age. If you have surgery when you are younger, your prolapse has a greater chance of returning.
• Your overall health. If you have heart disease, diabetes or other health problems, surgery is a bigger risk for you.
• If you plan to have sex, certain surgical options make intercourse impossible.
• If you plan to have children, it’s usually better to wait until your childbearing years are over to have surgery. Having children makes prolapse more likely, even after surgery.

You also need to understand the risks that can occur when you have pelvic organ prolapse surgery.

• Urinary tract infections
• Bleeding
• Infection
• Temporary or permanent urinary incontinence

While surgery helps improve symptoms for many women, there is never a guarantee that it will completely alleviate your issues.

Types of prolapse surgery

There are different types of pelvic organ prolapse surgery for different types of pelvic support problems. Here are some of the options.

• Restorative surgery helps restore and repair tissue in the area where the pelvic organ prolapse occurred.
• Vaginal obliteration, which closes the vagina, is only an option for you if you don’t want to have vaginal intercourse anymore.
• If you have uterine prolapse, our physicians can perform a hysterectomy to remove your uterus.

Our OBGYNs perform POP surgery robotically, laparoscopically or vaginally, so you may be able to go home the same day that you have surgery. Our physicians will talk to you about your restrictions and recovery time after surgery.

Talk to the physicians at Athens OBGYN about your pelvic support problems

POP causes discomfort and pain for many women. Our team works with you to relieve your symptoms through lifestyle changes, medications and other noninvasive devices, such as pessaries. When none of these methods work, pelvic organ prolapse surgery may be the answer you need. Contact us for an appointment.