How Common Is Pelvic Organ Prolapse?

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP): This is likely something that wasn’t on your radar screen for much of your life, but now you want to learn more.

To get straight to the question we pose in the title of the blog about how common pelvic organ prolapse is, our answer is short — quite common. By the numbers, POP touches the lives of up to half of all women.

So, whether you think you’re dealing with POP or you’re worried about it down the road, you’ve come to the right place. The team here at Beyond Women’s Care has a significant amount of experience helping patients with POP, and we offer effective solutions, including pelvic organ prolapse surgery.

So let’s dive into some more details about pelvic organ prolapse.

Pelvic organ prolapse, in brief

In broad terms, POP describes a condition in which organs in your pelvis shift out of position and drop down, sometimes through your vaginal canal.

Under normal circumstances, the organs in your pelvis are kept in position by a strong band of connective tissues that create a sort of hammock beneath them. Called your pelvic floor, if these tissues weaken, support is lost, and organs can start to descend or push into one another, creating a wide range of symptoms, which we get into later.

Several issues can lead to a weak pelvic floor, with age, menopause, and obesity topping the list.

Types of pelvic organ prolapse 

Your pelvis houses many different organs, so it makes sense that there are different types of prolapse, including:

• Cystocele — your bladder drops down (the most common type of POP)
• Uterine prolapse — your uterus shifts downward into your vaginal canal
• Rectocele — your rectum collapses downward
• Urethrocele — your urethra prolapses
• Enterocele — involves your small intestine

Even the top of your vagina can collapse down into your vagina and sometimes protrude from the opening, which is called vaginal vault.

Symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse

Given that there are many different types of POP, symptoms can vary greatly depending on which organs are involved. For example, when your bladder starts to shift down, urge incontinence can become an issue.

Or, if organs are pressing into or through your vagina, you might experience discomfort during intercourse and/or a pressure in your lower abdomen.

The bottom line is that POP can cause issues with both function and comfort, which is why women seek our help.

Solutions for POP

If we find that you have POP, the good news is that we have different treatment options, depending upon the severity of the prolapse. In the early stages, performing pelvic floor strengthening exercises like Kegels is a great tool.

With more advanced prolapse, we can turn to pessaries, which are supports that you place in your vagina.

If your prolapse is severe, we might recommend surgery. Each year in the US, about 200,000 surgeries remedy POP. 

At our practice, we excel in minimally invasive laparoscopy, and we also offer the robotic surgical technology daVinci®. During a POP procedure, we use these advanced systems to reposition the organ(s) and insert a mesh to keep them in place.

We hope that we’ve supplied you with some good foundational information about POP to help you move forward. If you're worried about POP, a good next step is to schedule a sit-down with one of our specialists, which you can do by calling our Rochester Hills, Michigan, office at 248-284-4859. You can also contact us through our website.