Association for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Support - APOPS

09/29/2025

"We identified 37% (55/147) of patients without follow-up in the 3 months after pessary placement." Not at all surprised at outcomes from this pessary study.

Compliance with treatments for any health condition are pivotal to improve quality of life. There are many nonsurgical treatments for and that are cast aside too readily. Not necessarily intentionally, just the nature of being busy juggling a gazillion balls.

Want to improve your POP or UI quality-of-life? You truly need to find a way to stick with the program.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39331811/

This quality improvement initiative can identify patients lost to follow-up, leading to improved patient care and potential to prevent complications.

09/26/2025

TGIF

09/25/2025

What are the most underacknowledged, under-screened, and underserved below-the waist heath conditions in women? How many would you include on your list if you didn't see those itemized on this post?

Isn't it time we bridge patient, practitioner, academic, research, industry, and policy agencies, voices, and energy for the betterment of women's health awareness? Strength in numbers when appropriate to share insights, research, awareness, policy initiatives?

Below-the-Waist Women's Health Disorders



Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) – often hidden due to stigma; prevalence estimates are currently indicated to be 50% of parous women. Lack of standardized screening, lack of awareness, and stigma roadblock diagnosis.

Urinary Incontinence (stress, urgency, mixed) – highly prevalent, yet considered a “normal” part of aging and rarely proactively screened.

F***l Incontinence – deeply stigmatized, grossly underdiscussed in clinical screening.

Postpartum Pelvic Floor Trauma (levator ani avulsion, fistulas) – rarely screened unless symptoms are severe.

Endometriosis – still takes an average of 7–10 years for diagnosis.

Vulvodynia – chronic vulvar pain, underdiagnosed due to lack of awareness and discomfort discussing s*xual health.

Cl****al Phimosis / Adhesions – rarely assessed though despite pain and s*xual dysfunction.

Adenomyosis – often mistaken for fibroids or dismissed as “bad periods.”

Polycystic O***y Syndrome (PCOS) – high prevalence but missed in many primary care settings.

Primary Ovarian Insufficiency – often overlooked, leading to delayed diagnosis and long-term consequences.

Vulvar Cancer – rare but often diagnosed late because early symptoms are mistaken for infections or skin conditions.

Vaginal Cancer – highly underserved due to low screening awareness.

A**l Cancer (HPV-related) – women with prior cervical/vulvar disease are at elevated risk, but a**l screening is rarely discussed.

Dyspareunia (painful in*******se) – frequently normalized or dismissed.

Postpartum Depression with Sexual Dysfunction Overlay – intimacy issues are often unaddressed.

Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause (GSM) – vaginal dryness, burning, recurrent UTIs, and s*xual pain often under-screened and undertreated due to stigma about s*x in the mature sector.

Lichen Sclerosus – chronic vulvar skin disease; delayed diagnosis increases cancer risk.

Interstitial Cystitis / Bladder Pain Syndrome – often misdiagnosed as recurrent UTIs.

Chronic Pelvic Pain (multifactorial, often dismissed as psychosomatic).

***The ISSUES***

Few standardized screening protocols for pelvic floor and vulvar conditions.

Stigma surrounding vaginal and intimate health.

Isn't it time we all join hands to advance women's health?

09/24/2025

Is TikTok the frenemy of women's pelvic health?

Every opportunity I have to share information about pelvic organ prolapse I take advantage of in an effort to increase awareness, given the shrouded 50% prevalence and stigmatized silence.

I was sitting in the salon chair yesterday with a new hair stylist and as is SOP, she asked what I do. Launched into my usual "have you ever heard of pelvic organ prolapse" intro, and after a few comments back and forth, she asked is this the pelvic floor stuff they talk about on TikTok?

The good news - lots of practitioners and pelvic floor gurus share priceless insights on TikTok.

The bad news - there is so much misinformation being shared, how do women know which is accurate or false information?

Thank you PT muscle masters for your efforts to properly educate women about the good and the bad about what goes on down below!

And THANK YOU PATIENTS who share your reality to pass the info on to the POP sisterhood!

09/23/2025

For women experiencing both vaginal atrophy and POP, will a pessary that releases estrogen reduce risk of erosion, shore up vaginal tissue integrity and support, and improve dry, irritated tissue comfort?

Not many studies on this. Check this out.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-23791-9

Pelvic organ prolapse affects up to 50% of parous women. Commonly used treatment options have unwelcome attributes; pessaries can cause erosion and estrogen creams need to be applied frequently, which is inconvenient and difficult to administer. This study involved the development of an estriol-rele...

09/22/2025

Long past time to take the blinders off. Everything on the table in plane view will advance women's health.

09/18/2025

The women behind APOPS curtain ask what is cooking as a preventative tool for pelvic organ prolapse? I respond that it is pretty unlikely pelvic organ prolapse will ever become completely preventable given childbirth is the leading cause. However, I've been paying attention to the energy coming out of Materna Medical for a few years now and am pretty excited about their outside the box preventative exploration.
I prefer sharing studies rather than press releases, but in this case I'll share both. Materna Medical is leading the curve when it comes to chasing down paths to prevention. Here's the study and press release links.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250915504855/en/Materna-Medical-Announces-New-Case-Series-Highlighting-Long-Term-Persistence-of-Pelvic-Floor-Injuries-Following-Vaginal-Delivery?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00192-024-05881-6

Introduction and Hypothesis The objective was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of an intrapartum electromechanical pelvic floor dilator designed to reduce the risk of levator ani muscle (LAM) avulsion during vaginal delivery. Methods A multicenter, randomized controlled trial enrolled nullip...

09/18/2025

Pelvic exams include screening for multiple health conditions. Some common, some not so much. Why the shortfall in POP curriculum provided to practitioners in multiple fields of practice servicing pelvic exams? 50% prevalence speaks for itself.

09/16/2025

causes excrutiating pain. Football ACL/MCL tears are acknowledged. Weight trainer bicep and pec tears quickly identified. Hamstring tear in soccer recognized. But what about the tears that occur in 10-20% of women during childbirth? Women suffer for years, disbelieved, poo-poo'd, dismissed, insufficiently assessed as they struggle to raise their babies while navigating extremely dysfunctional bodies. We have a bunch of them in patient support space.

Severe birthing injuries are a big deal. They most often occur when forceps are used for delivery. Anxiety, and frustration justifiably run high in these women. This is an exceptional research paper out of Sweden.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12905-025-03892-z?fromPaywallRec=false

Background Levator ani muscle (LAM) avulsion affects approximately 10–20% of women following vaginal delivery and results in permanent damage to the pelvic floor. This condition is a significant risk factor for pelvic floor dysfunction, including pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Despite its high preva...

09/15/2025

Who wants to experience discomfort or embarrassment with s*x? No one.

Impact to intimacy in women experiencing goes far beyond organs literally moving around in the pelvic cavity. Symptoms are incredibly diverse, and there is zero doubt this impacts s*xuality. So will surgical or nonsurgical treatments return women to satisfying s*x sooner?

Reality is both paths have equal merit, depending on where a woman is in her POP journey, which in all reality, may continue past surgical repair as the body continues to age. Vaginal and intimate health are complex. Women are complex and POP treatment is a marathon not a sprint.

09/11/2025

Grassroots is the most difficult campaign flow, but the most impactful when addressing stigmatized health layers.

Was looking behind APOPS web curtain yesterday to see what's been cooking this past month and while we have documented following in 184 countries to date, during this past month the figure for countries where women hale from and found us was 98, listed by number of contacts per country. The fact that women in developing countries find us at all blows me away. It also makes me wonder how many women who don't have access to a computer struggle with POP with no access to info....

Feel the MOVEMENT manifesting.