Most common health issues caused by vaginal mesh revealed in new survey

(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

By Mariana Cerqueira 2020-07-09T16:30:00Z

A new survey identified the most common health issues caused by vaginal mesh.

The survey was carried out by campaigner Kath Sansom for Sling The Mesh, and identified a series of serious health issues that are experienced by women who have had the procedure done.

The implants are used by medical professionals to treat stress incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse

Most common health issues caused by vaginal mesh

Hundreds of women in the survey admitted to experiencing more than symptom, with the most common being:

1. Pain on walking

2. Urinary urgency

3. Pain on sitting

4. Severe fatigue

5. Chronic fatigue

6. IBS symptoms

7. Chronic or recurring leg pain

8. Pain during sex

9. Incontinence

10. Anxiety

Others include twitching throughout the body and vision problems.

Many women also provided detail on how vaginal mesh has affected their health, with one writing, ‘I wonder if others have a constant feeling of needing to open bowels. It's horrid and has literally ruined my life.’

Another wrote, ‘This is very helpful, I had some of those symptoms but never connected it with the mesh.’

A third added, ‘I've already gone through hell with so many operations, and still have to have the darn thing removed.’

‘I do believe that this is for everyone who is suffering from this bloody mesh, I only found out about it on here because all they kept telling me was that I had Chronic pain and had to learn to live with it’, another said.

The results of the survey coincide with a new review into pelvic mesh, led by Baroness Julia Cumberlege, that was published this week.

In the document, review chair Baroness Julia Cumberlege admitted to be shocked by “sheer scale” of suffering from women, and urged that the health care system must apologise to women for being so dismissive.

She said, “I have conducted many reviews and inquiries over the years, but I have never encountered anything like this. Much of this suffering was entirely avoidable, caused and compounded by failings in the health system itself.”