Pessary Fitting

A prolapse can occur at any time in a woman’s lifetime, the most common being after childbirth. It can be treated with a pessary: a silicone-based device that fits into the vagina to support the pelvic organs if they have prolapsed.

Pessary Fitting explained:

Pessaries come in many shapes and sizes, ensuring the perfect fit for every woman. Most are worn for 3-6 months but some will be inserted and removed as needed.

Our Pessary fitting appointments are 1.5 hours. In this appointment a full history will be taken, including your past medical history and current symptoms, goals will be created with your Specialist Women’s Health Physio so outcomes can be aligned and achievable. A full pelvic health examination will be completed where your therapist can determine the strength of your pelvic floor and decide which pessary would be most suitable for you. Before leaving this appointment we will make sure you are comfortable and confident with the pessary aftercare.

Pessaries have up to an 85% success rate in improving quality of life, so we would suggest you book the following appointments to ensure comfort, confidence and improvements in your daily life:

• It is highly recommended you come back 2 weeks after your fitting so we can see how you are getting on and check the pessary.
• We advise seeing you at 3, 6 and 12 months after your initial appointment for a follow-up and review.

A pessary is considered a low risk treatment for prolapses. Side effects can include increased vaginal discharge and bleeding. If you are menopausal you may require vaginal oestrogen to aid lubrication. This is something your Physiotherapist will discuss with you and advise if needed.

What is a Pelvic Organ Prolapse?

A prolapse is where one of the bladder (cystocele), bowel (rectocele) or uterus (uterine) moves down and pushes into the vaginal wall.

The pelvic organs are supported by our pelvic floor muscles; these act like a buoyancy aid and ligaments act as guide ropes holding our organs in place. Certain activities and moments in our lifetime can cause these ligaments to stretch and the pelvic floor muscles to weaken. Both these occurrences can cause the organs to move down into the vagina wall AKA a pelvic organ prolapse (POP). You can find out more about prolapse from our Women’s Health Physiotherapist, Clare Turnbull, here.

What are the symptoms of a Prolapse?

• The feeling of pressure or dragging sensation in the vagina.
• Sensation that something is there for example a misplaced tampon feeling.
• The feeling of incomplete bladder emptying.
• Difficulty emptying your bowels or bladder.
• Urinary leaking or urgency.

What can cause a Prolapse?

• Heavy lifting (something that would make you hold your breath to lift or strain).
• Being on your feet all-day.
• Pregnancy and childbirth (the weight of the baby while being pregnant and vaginal births).
• Chronic constipation.
• Chronic cough.
• Over strenuous abdominal exercises, that are too difficult for you to control high impact exercises.

What are the treatment options for a Prolapse?

If you are undiagnosed with a prolapse but think you may have one. please book in to see one of our Women’s Health Physiotherapists. Treatment can include:

• Lifestyle modifications to prevent what might be causing the prolapse.
• Pelvic floor muscle exercises.
• In certain situations, the use of pessary may help reduce the symptoms and improve quality of life, but rest assured we will not advise a fitting unless we believe it will help.

This service is currently available at 3 of our Clinics: Fitzrovia, Kensington & Lindfield. For more information please contact the team by email and one of our Specialists will get back to you.