Association for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Support - APOPS

12/19/2025

TGIF

12/18/2025

I so appreciate CanvasRebel asking about the back story of APOPS birth alongside my journey. I'm always happy to share the nitty gritty details in hopes it will reach at least one woman suffering in silence with symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse.

https://canvasrebel.com/meet-sherrie-palm/

12/16/2025

The going on forever blind eye in women's health is so very, very frustrating. This report knocked my sox off.

The long-term shortfalls and insufficiently addressed impacts in women's health continue to frustrate women-kind. What will it take for broad-spectrum issues to be acknowledged and appropriately addressed to establish a balanced brave new world across the women's health spectrum? You've gotta check out this amazing report by Oriana Kraft. Hat tip to Jessica McKinney, PT, DScPT, MS for the share.



https://economy.femtechnology.org/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

12/15/2025

We have so much more to learn in the space.

And one of the problems is:

"The Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) stages do not correlate with symptoms or characterize important prolapse subtypes."

Awesome study!

https://journals.lww.com/fpmrs/abstract/2025/12000/phenotypes_of_pelvic_organ_prolapse.4.aspx

12/12/2025

TGIF

12/11/2025

Love this abstract from ICS2023. https://www.ics.org/2023/abstract/136 .

45.0% of the total US population receiving prolapse surgery were less than 50 years young.

The annual national cost for POP repair was estimated as $4,667,714,251.

Both inpatient and ambulatory surgery included in data.

But POP is still not common knowledge for women.....

Scientific Podium Short Oral Session 17

12/10/2025

Every woman's pelvic organ prolapse journey is a bit unique. Educate yourself on APOPS website. See a subspecialist to guide your path. Trust your judgement.

https://www.pelvicorganprolapsesupport.org/pop-faqs

12/09/2025

Why can't we comfortably talk about pooping during medical screenings?

The 1-2 combo pelvic organ prolapse and bowel disorders affects millions of women and is one of the most under-screened global women's health burden areas. Chronic constipation can be such a physical and emotional issue. Shouldn't we ask about defecatory issues during routine primary care and gynecologic screenings to encourage women to speak up?

When I look at this table and see the numbers on the defecatory side vs the POP side, makes me wonder what sector the drs were in these studies. Clearly we need better baseline POP curriculum on the diagnostic side.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13501-w

12/08/2025

When?

12/04/2025

I can’t believe there are still countries that do not permit slings for stress urinary incontinence. This post is my response to a post by a compassionate patient-centric urogynecologist friend in Ireland,frustrated by how their country still bans all mesh preventing him from inserting slings in women with incontinence. A link to his post on LinkedIn sits at the bottom of this article.

***

APOPS continues to receive comments from women daily, terrified to move forward with incontinence or POP surgery due to past missteps that have been addressed in the majority of the countries of the world. The fear generated by inaccurate and dated mesh mess rhetoric is so unsettling.



It saddens me when I hear from women who want mesh and have no access to the tool. I applaud Barry O'Reilly's efforts to provide procedures that should be patient choice. Clearly if mesh was the enemy, the majority of countries would have blocked usage back in 2011 in the US or 2019 which reverberated globally when issues arose. Qualified, highly skilled subspecialists providing these procedures is a critical component of success.

I spoke at the FDA in both 2011 and 2019 related to the POP/UI mesh issues, had spoken to hundreds of women who had complications in the early days, and tens of thousands who have had mesh success since. The research related to both complication causes and what we could do to improve valuable tools to address the pandemic prevalence of urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse has clarified so much. Changes were made post 2011, and again at the 2019 point.

We have now moved on to sacrocolpopexy as the gold standard for POP and slings are considered the gold standard repair for UI globally, minus zones that drag their heels clinging to outdated data.

It bears repeating; patient voice is a pivotal piece of the conversation. No woman is forced to have a mesh procedure. Women deserve the mesh option once the surgeon discloses the risks/benefits which will vary woman to woman due to lifestyle, behavioral, and comorbid condition intersects.

It is clear that mesh placement is a field of practice that requires guidelines. Appropriate incision size, proper mesh insertion location, preparation of mesh insertion site, possible topical estrogen use pre and/or post-surgery, degree of mesh tension, a two-layer closure, and low mesh density/increased porosity, mesh flexibility are important considerations for a quality mesh procedure. Subspecialists only should be providing these procedures.

Here is Professor/urogynecologist Barry O’Reilly’s post from LinkedIn:

https://lnkd.in/gtieCR_S

The Irish Independent has today highlighted an issue that deeply affects many women: the lack of access to specific, evidence-based surgical treatments for stress urinary incontinence in Ireland. My decision to collaborate with an international centre to provide this procedure comes from a single pr...

12/03/2025

We all know excess weight is a causal factor for many health conditions. is no exception. I rarely wax on about it because it's pretty much common knowledge. What is rarely discussed is the difference between subcutaneous fat and visceral fat.

Subcutaneous fat sits right under the skin. You can pinch it on your belly, thighs, hips, buttocks, or arms. The value of subcu fat is it provides insulation and energy storage. Subcutaneous fate is the least harmful of the 2 types of fat.

Visceral fat is stored deep inside the abdomen and pelvic cavities, surrounding the organs and other structures. You cannot pinch visceral fat.

Now imagine surgically repairing organs and their supportive structures like ligaments in the pelvic cavity, which also includes blood vessels and nerves. Excess fat in our core makes surgery more complex.

We all love to eat the yummy stuff. But health is so important and surgery is complex. Reduce surgical risks by maintaining a healthy diet as best you can year round. A glass of chocolate skim milk instead of a Snickers mini-candy bar. A bowl of Coco Pebbles instead of 4 Oreos. And replace that diet soda with a glass of water with a slice of orange in it. Refreshing!