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Prolapse

Finding More Help

• Physical therapy: Non-invasive treatments, including electrical stimulation and biofeedback, are sometimes used to treat pelvic prolapse. Electrical stimulation involves delivering tiny amounts of electrical current to targeted pelvic floor muscles. The current causes the muscles to contract, which helps strengthens them. In a biofeedback treatment, sensors monitor the intensity of pelvic floor muscle exercises (Kegels) to determine the success of those contractions.

• Surgery: For severe cases of prolapse that don't respond to other options, surgery may be needed to repair the connective tissue. These types of surgery can be performed through an incision in the vagina, through an incision in the abdominal cavity, or through a series of small incisions in the abdomen using laparoscopic techniques.

Surgical repair using a graft of your own tissue, donor tissue or synthetic material can repair weak or damaged pelvic floor muscles or structures in order to better support the pelvic organs. This type of surgery preserves the uterus.

For women who are past childbearing years, hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) is also an option, but there are well-documented pros and cons to this type of surgery.

Sponsored by Ethicon Women's Health and Urology

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