It’s Humbling, But Our Best Man-Made Surgical Mesh Just Doesn’t Have the Sort of Strength and Give to Replace Nature in a Vaginal Prolapse Repair (A Blog in Three Parts: Part 2, Continued from Part 1)
In case you’re wondering, I’m a Texan. Back in the day, hunting during official deer season provided the annual male bonding activity for many families. It’s less popular now, for which the deer are no doubt thankful. Anyway, I’ve never been one to shoot at anything that didn’t shoot at me first. So I never actually shot at a deer myself. (If, someday, the deer start coming out of the woods with rifles and “bag limits,” I may have to revisit this stance.)
But I had to accompany other family members on occasion to the annual hunt. And since I hadn’t shot anything myself, I had to bear the burden of a larger proportion of the deer dressing for the table to fully participate in the event. That’s why I know about connective tissues. I’ve had to learn the hard way.
And coming from this perspective, it makes me believe that there just isn’t any way yet for medical science to fully replace with artifice the strength and flex of natural tissue. And such natural strength, combined with a certain amount of “give,” seems to be what a patient with a severe vaginal prolapse case requires to adequately support the prolapsed internal organs without complications.
From a structural perspective, my view is that you might be able to produce the necessary level of support with a surgical mesh implantation only if you anchored it to an external support structure outside of the body. This would take the support stresses (mostly) off the internal body walls and organs themselves. For instance, if the patient was willing to wear a permanent belt on the outside (almost like those worn by workers who lift heavy objects all day long), and the surgical mesh sling was anchored to that belt maybe with strong eye bolts and nuts, I can see it working. But who would want to do that?
Part of my perspective may come from acquaintance with a few women with severe vaginal prolapse problems. Some of them have had to undergo corrective surgeries more than once as surgical mesh after sling after mesh have failed. And let me add that surgeries of all types have potential complications. Your age, immune system strength and overall heath condition can strongly affect your chances for succumbing to surgical complications.
Go to Part 3 for a final analysis of surgical mesh implantations as a solution for vaginal prolapse.