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Dr. Eilber shares the surgical procedures used most often to treat stress incontinence.
Dr. Eilber:
For women who suffer from stress urinary incontinence, the most common procedure performed worldwide is called a urethral sling. This helps to support the urethra or the tube where the urine comes out so the women no longer have leakage with activity. For very mild forms, there is an injection available; much like collagen is injected into the face to plump up tissues, we actually can inject substances into the urethra to also help, if you want to say plump up the tissues to prevent leakage as well.
This is a good point to differentiate between having vaginal prolapse and also having incontinence. Although they commonly occur together, they are not necessarily concomitant in every case. So in a woman who has just incontinence but her bladder and other organs are well supported, there really aren’t any good effective devices; there are some pessaries much like diaphragms that women use for birth control that can put pressure on the urethra to prevent leakage. Generally speaking, they don’t work so well. Pessaries are mostly used for women who have falling bladders, just to help support and hold things up.
About Dr. Karyn Eilber, M.D.:
Dr. Karyn Eilber, M.D., is one of the few board certified female urologists in the Los Angeles area that is fellowship trained in the treatment of incontinence, voiding dysfunction, and female pelvic reconstruction. Dr. Eilber received her medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and completed a urology residency and fellowship also at UCLA.
Following fellowship training, Dr. Eilber joined the Department of Urology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where she gained extensive experience in pelvic reconstruction following cancer treatment and treating male incontinence after prostatectomy. Since returning to California, her practice is focused on vaginal reconstruction and the treatment of both men and women for incontinence and voiding dysfunction.
Visit Dr. Eilber at her Web site