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thanks for sharing the link chesirecat. I'm doing a bit of research on this so it is really helpful for me.

You're welcome. Good luck with your research and I'd love to hear about your decision!
Good searching.....

Thanks to Teresa for posting her personal story. That MUST be enough to make us all think again - I just can't imagine what she's been through.

I felt quite frightened reading all the problems some women have had.

Sometimes you do need to look at the facts too. 4.6% of people having TVT have problems, that means 95.4% have no problems, thats pretty good odds, isn't it, no operation is 100% problem free.

I had a TVT done 11 years ago, to date I have had no problems at all.

With any operation you will only hear about the problems people are having, you never here about any successes.

The % rate looks good for this operation, however that doesn't mean I am complacent, I'm still concerned about what might happen in the future, perhaps I will be lucky and continue to have no problems.

If in time the figures of success/failures of a TVT stay the same, and I was having to choose all over again I probably would still have opted for a TVT.

I tried pelvic toner, pelvic weights and a trained physiotherapist also electrical stimulation and bio feed back, BMI of 20 so I was not over weight, nothing helped me and my leaking was severe, a TVT solved my stress incontinence.

Hello snowee12

Thank you for posting your comments - it's so good to hear the procedure was successful for you. When I researched TVT all I seemed to find was negative comments (which as you say, if someone is happy with something they just tend to keep quiet but if they aren't you hear about it!!) and I take your point about the % of people who have had problems is relatively low.

I decided not to go ahead with the operation because my problem is far from severe and I think I'm just too lazy to do the pelvic floor excercises regularly! I start the week well and then it tails off so the problem is my own doing really. My partner had prostate cancer and opted for surgery but following that he got an incisional hernia from the cancer operation scar which the hospital left as 'non-urgent' for months and when he finally had the operation in October last year the piece of mesh that was put into his body was very large - it worries me that he too will have problems but 5 months on it seems fine. My point is that he had no option and had to have the mesh inserted but I didn't have to because my problem was not that bad. It sounds like you had no option either and thankfully you, and obviously many other ladies, have had a successful outcome.

As I said before, it is good to hear about the successful stories. My friend had the operation many years ago and she swears by the results it has given her.

Hilary

Hilary

You are wise not to choose TVT especially if your symptoms are only mild as you may be left worse off after the TVT if you have complications.

5% complications does not mean the other 95% did not have any complications! The 5% which Teresa refers to is the number of removals being performed. There may be more people having complications which are not treated by surgery.

Colposuspension used to be the gold standard and is just as effective as TVT but they rarely offer this any more as it is a more skilled operation instead of the quick fix 'cheap' alternative of mesh.

Please do not dismiss the complications and problems women have suffered because of vaginal mesh, please, ladies. You may be the lucky one but when things go wrong with mesh it can be disastrous and will be difficult to rectify. Sometimes these problems don't appear for several years as the mesh works its way into tissues and as the body's tissues thin with menopause. Also some women may experience more of a foreign body reaction compared to others and you don't know if this will be you. Don't forget that mesh is an implant and a foreign body, and like the PiP implants and de Puy hip implants, the risks will be greater if you are having any surgical device implanted as they are not fully tested before being marketed.