There is growing concern in our country about the safety of pelvic mesh products, and in response, an increasing number of pelvic mesh lawsuits are being filed every year.

What is Pelvic Mesh?

Pelvic mesh, also known as vaginal mesh or polypropylene mesh (PPM) is commonly used to treat Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP). However, there have been a growing number of concerns and complaints about how safe and effective pelvic mesh products are.

Some are saying, especially in pelvic mesh lawsuits, that pelvic mesh products may have been insufficiently tested.

Pelvic mesh started out as a product used for abdominal hernias and later was transferred to be used in vaginal mesh implant surgery.

These products went through considerable testing for their safety and efficacy in treating abdominal hernias, but there is now some question as to whether or not it is equally safe to use as a vaginal mesh implant.

Even patients who were implanted with a PPM to treat abdominal hernia surgery were often treated for chronic pain after surgery. However, the potential severity of chronic pain and other pelvic mesh side effects if the same products are used for vaginal mesh implants may be much more severe.

Pelvic Mesh Complications

Pelvic mesh products have been linked with some serious side effects. Pelvic mesh erosion and organ perforation are both serious complications that have been reported with vaginal mesh implants. Both of these complications can lead to bleeding, severe or chronic pain, infection, and nerve damage.

Even more serious is the possibility that a pelvic mesh device may erode through the vaginal wall and perforate organs with its edge, which can lead to permanent organ damage.

Numerous studies have been done on pelvic mesh complications. Studies indicate that after implantation, pelvic mesh devices may contract up to 85 percent, which can pull on pelvic nerves and cause chronic pain, as well as pain during intercourse.

Chronic pain from pelvic mesh complications can continue not just directly after surgery, but into the long term, possibly for years.

Treatment of pelvic mesh side effects can be extremely difficult. This is because surgery for pelvic mesh is a delicate matter, and passes close to vital nerves that control essential functions like movement of the pelvic floor, bowels, and walking.

The initial surgery to implant pelvic mesh is a complicated enough matter. Removing the pelvic mesh can be even more difficult or even impossible to do safely.

Pelvic Mesh Procedure

It might not only be the pelvic mesh products that present a problem for people who undergo these surgeries. It is also possible that the doctor who performs a pelvic mesh implant surgery may not even be a well-trained, experienced vaginal surgeon.

Vaginal mesh implant surgery is a complex surgery, and is considered a “blind surgery.” This means that only a small incision is used, so only a small portion of the operation area is visible.

Because of this, the surgeon has to operate based almost entirely on their sense of touch. As mentioned before, pelvic mesh surgery passes very close to vital nerves, and the procedure must be exact.

Pelvic mesh implant surgery used to be done only by a very small group of vaginal surgeon experts with a great deal of training and experience.

However, pelvic mesh manufacturers began developing mesh kits that they marketed to general urologist and gynecologist markets instead of these experts, and often required only a one-day course on the procedure to be considered qualified rather than years of training.

Pelvic Mesh Lawsuits

Pelvic mesh complications may affect a large number of women, as hundreds of thousands of women in the U.S. have received these implants.

As information about the complications associated with pelvic mesh becomes more widespread, an increasing number of women are filing lawsuits over their own complications.

Thousands of women have filed pelvic mesh lawsuits so far. Some of these lawsuits have led to financial damages of millions of dollars.

If you or someone you know has experienced pelvic mesh side effects, you may be able to file a pelvic mesh lawsuit.