UK Company Hopes To Make Surgical Meshes Obsolete

In a press release, Mediplus says it has developed a “non-surgical alternative” for PoP treatment that avoids “the clinical risks associated with surgical mesh.”

Although they are still legal to use in the United States, surgical meshes were recalled in both Scotland and the UK, because they often cause serious side effects and are not very effective at treating Pelvic Organ Prolapse and other conditions. As opposed to a surgical intervention, Mediplus offers a range of silicone pessaries that lift internal organs to relieve incontinence and other symptoms. Support pessaries, many of which resemble small buttons or pacifiers, are usually ideal for first-time PoP victims.

An estimated 32,000 UK women use pessaries each year.

Surgical Meshes

Millions of women suffer from Pelvic Organ Prolapse, because due to age, childbirth, and other factors, their internal organs sag. This movement creates pressure on the bladder, causing pain and incontinence. PoP is not fatal or even really all that serious, but the symptoms are life-changing. So, doctors began implanting surgical meshes to lift these organs back into place; some people have similar operations following hernia surgery.

Beginning in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration started logging thousands of complaints about side-effects, including:

• Erosion: Over time, internal organs absorb the soft mesh fibers, causing pain during sexual intercourse, urinary tract infections, and exposure (the mesh becomes visible through the skin). Once the surgical mesh erodes, it is very difficult to remove it surgically; in fact, some practitioners compare it to removing matted hair from chewed-up bubble gum.
• Organ Perforation: Internal organs shift and jostle, so even though the surgeon places the mesh in the right place, there is no guarantee that it will stay there, and the surgical mesh often literally wears a hole in body tissue.

A 2010 study revealed a 10 percent erosion rate, prompting the FDA to issue the warning. By 2015, several thousand lawsuits had been filed. Many other women in this study said that although the surgical mesh had not failed yet, they still experienced some of the same symptoms as they did before.

Victims in defective medical device cases are entitled to compensation for their economic losses, including medical bills from multiple corrective surgeries, and their noneconomic losses, including their intense pain and suffering. Juries often award significant punitive damages in these cases as well.

In a nutshell, surgical meshes usually create many more problems than they solve. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Glasgow, contact Attorney Gary S. Logsdon. Home and hospital visits are available.