At Jacqueline A. Scott & Associates in Louisiana, we know that a malfunctioning medical device can wreak havoc in your life. While transvaginal mesh is not a medical device per se, it, too, can “malfunction” and cause you a good deal of pain, suffering and injury.
As explained by Women’s Health, transvaginal mesh is a strong, webbed material that surgeons first began implanting into women’s bodies back in the 1990s to correct their pelvic prolapses. If you underwent a pelvic prolapse operation in the past 25 years, in all likelihood your surgeon implanted transvaginal mesh.
FDA warnings
Originally physicians believed that transvaginal mesh was safe to use because its manufacturers and distributors sold it as a safe and reliable medical product. In 2008, however, the Food and Drug Administration issued its first transvaginal mesh warning when it discovered that manufacturers had failed to conduct sufficient follow-up studies on the material’s long-term health risks. As more and more research revealed transvaginal mesh’s negative aspects, in 2014 the FDA raised its health risk to women from moderate to high.
Long-term health risks
Since then, thousands of women across the nation brought lawsuits against transvaginal mesh manufacturers and distributors, alleging an ever-growing list of negative side effects including the following:
- Pelvic and/or abdominal pain, often severe
- Vaginal bleeding
- Sexual dysfunction
- Fecal and/or urinary incontinence
- Migration of the mesh into other organs and tissues
If you have transvaginal mesh inside your body, be aware that any negative symptoms you have now likely will worsen over time. You may need to undergo a second surgery to remove it before it does any more damage. For more information, please visit this page of our website.