If you have trouble controlling your bladder or bowel, you’re not alone. Millions of women live with frustrating symptoms or extreme discomfort caused by urinary incontinence, uterine prolapse, or other pelvic floor disorders.

Talking to your doctor about your symptoms may make you feel uncomfortable. But it’s important to remember that once you have a diagnosis, you can find effective treatments. And, you can rest assured our urogynecologists will provide the care and support you need to manage your condition — and take back control of your life.

About Urogynecology

Urogynecologists are doctors who specialize in both the female reproductive system and the urinary tract. They are board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology and have four years of additional subspecialty training in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery.

Because of their advanced knowledge of female pelvic anatomy, they are uniquely qualified to care for complex pelvic floor problems.

Tower Health facilities provide complete care for pelvic floor problems, including nonsurgical options like medicine and rehabilitation. When surgery is necessary, you can count on our experience and expertise. Our urogynecologists perform hundreds of surgeries each year, including minimally invasive procedures that may shorten your recovery time.

Understanding Minimally Invasive Techniques

Compared to open surgery, minimally invasive surgical techniques use fewer or smaller incisions — or no incisions at all. These techniques are less invasive or damaging to your body. Other benefits of minimally invasive surgery may include:

  • Less blood loss
  • Less surgical pain
  • Reduced risk of complications, including surgical site infections
  • Shorter hospital stay
  • Faster recovery

We offers the full range of minimally invasive techniques to diagnose or treat pelvic floor dysfunction, including:

  • Endoscopic surgery. These procedures use endoscopes — thin, hollow tubes fitted with cameras and lights — to enter the body. Depending on the part of the body being treated, your doctor may guide the endoscope through the urethra, vagina, or a small incision in the skin.
  • Laparoscopic surgery. Your doctor passes a camera and surgical instruments through small incisions in your abdomen. In addition to traditional laparoscopic surgery, we offer a “scarless” technique called single-incision laparoscopy (your doctor makes one tiny incision hidden within your belly button).
  • Robotic-assisted surgery. These procedures are similar to laparoscopic surgery, but they use robotic tools and a 3D camera.
  • Vaginal access procedures. Surgery performed through a small incision inside the vagina.

Minimally Invasive Diagnostic Procedures

Our urogynecologists use minimally invasive procedures to diagnose many pelvic floor disorders.

In the past, doctors would perform open surgery to pinpoint the source of pelvic pain or examine the reproductive organs. Today’s minimally invasive procedures let us diagnose problems with few (or zero) incisions. These include:

  • Colposcopy. Your doctor uses a special instrument to examine your vulva, vagina, or cervix.
  • Cystoscopy. An endoscopic procedure that lets your doctor examine your bladder.
  • Hysteroscopy. A type of endoscopy that lets your doctor see inside your uterus. 
  • Laparoscopy. A procedure that lets your doctor examine your abdominal cavity or reproductive organs.

Surgical Solutions for Pelvic Floor Problems

If you need surgery for a pelvic floor disorder, you can have confidence in our team. We offer the full range of safe, state-of-the-art surgical procedures — and we use the least invasive method for the best possible results.

Our areas of expertise include:

  • Autologous sling surgery to fix uterine prolapse. Using your body’s own tissue, your surgeon creates a sling to support your sagging uterus.
  • Bladder suspension surgery to support a drooping bladder. Your surgeon moves the bladder back into its proper position and sews it into place.
  • Cystectomy, or surgery to remove cysts from the ovaries or other reproductive organs. 
  • Endometriosis excision, or surgery to remove abnormal endometrial tissue without harming the uterus.
  • Hysterectomy, or surgery to remove all or part of the uterus.
  • Myomectomy, or surgery to remove uterine fibroids.
  • Nerve stimulation. Nerve stimulators are small devices that work like heart pacemakers. When placed under the skin, these devices send electrical impulses to nerves that control the bladder.
  • Oophorectomy, a procedure that removes one or both ovaries.
  • Pelvic adhesion surgery. Removal of scar tissue that has built up around the bladder, bowel, ureters, uterus, or ovaries.
  • Sacrocolpopexy to repair vaginal vault prolapse. A material called surgical mesh lifts the top of your vagina and attaches it to one of your pelvic bones.
  • Sling surgeries to treat bladder leakage. A special, implanted material holds your urethra closed when your bladder is under pressure.
  • Vaginal mesh removal. Our surgeons can remove surgical mesh from women who developed complications — including mesh erosion, pain, infection, and bleeding — after they received a mesh implant to treat pelvic organ prolapse.