Association for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Support - APOPS

12/01/2025

I can't begin to imagine what it's like to be a surgeon; I have so much respect for their skills. In this farm girls brain, cutting open bodies to fix them is mind-blowing.

Hat tip to the innovators who develop new surgical techniques to advance treatment of pelvic organ prolapse. Check out this article out of Cleveland Clinic on the one-port robotic sacrocolpopexy, normally a multiple incision procedure.

https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/utilizing-the-single-port-robot-for-sacrocolpopexy-and-hysterectomy-to-empower-patients

The successful completion of two recent cases at Cleveland Clinic makes the center one of only few in the world to use the single-port robot for this surgery.

11/28/2025

TGIF

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11/26/2025

There are multiple inaccurate assumptions in the space. Many opinions assumed to be accurate back in 2010 are now recognized as false. As an example, that women in up to grade 2 POP do not have symptoms. Gimme a break. If you have something bulging against the vaginal opening ready to push out, its going to be uncomfortable. Women are always busy taking care of others, they may have symptoms but just blow them off because they are not yet extremely bothersome. But symptoms are symptoms, extensive or minor. And POP progresses if not acknowledged or addressed.

I've gotten myself into hot water with the urogynecologic powers that be more than a couple times in my early years as a POP patient advocate by injecting that the reason women don't clarify certain POP symptoms they are experiencing is because they have no clue pelvic organ prolapse is a condition. They may explain some of their symptoms to their diagnostic practitioners who have little POP knowledge because they receive no to little curriculum. This is a system failure.

Assessing/addressing grade 1 prolapse is a very legit query. Early diagnosis of any health condition leads to pro-active potential to prevent years of suffering in silence. There are so many nonsurgical and surgical options available to women now. Step one is educate the patient early. Step two is appropriate screening. Step three is the when/how to treat, which should always be a practitioner/patient discussion.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12905-025-04174-4

11/25/2025

It is critical we move the pelvic organ prolapse awareness needle forward on both patient and diagnostic practitioner sides of the fence. Neither silence nor stigma are acceptable in the POP space.

11/24/2025

Splinting is a relatively unknown term in the women's health space until you experience . Then it can becomes a part of your routine.

I hate ads in articles, but this is a simple breakdown on vaginal splinting in order to defecate.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/vaginal-splinting-1945071

Vaginal splinting can ease constipation and help you p**p. It refers to pressing a finger against the vaginal wall to help move a stool out of the body.

11/20/2025

Back in 2010 when I founded APOPS, there was barely a whisper of research online about . So much has changed.

There’s been a shift in mindset from evaluation of purely anatomical POP measurements to recognition of the value of including patient-reported symptoms. Want to know the reality of health conditions - ask the patient.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38727752/

11/19/2025

APOPS was happy to bridge with American Urological Association and Urology Care Foundation on this shout out during Bladder Health Awareness Month. There are pandemic numbers of women experiencing bladder health issues. Brush the stigma off and openly discuss these health issues straight on with your physician. There's lots of treatment options now. POP can make your bladder really angry.



https://www.instagram.com/p/DRNXHcSET88/

11/19/2025

Women reporting pain in the pelvic zone are rarely screened for POP on the diagnostic practitioner side of the equation. In APOPS space they mention experiencing pain with pelvic organ prolapse and are sometimes advised by subspecialists that POP does not cause pain. They will be happy to see this research validation.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00192-025-06348-y

Purpose To investigate the coexistence of pelvic pain, bladder, and bowel symptoms in women with pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and possible surgical symptom cure. Methods A secondary analysis of the PROPEL study (gov-Identifier: NCT00638235) data was conducted to compare symptom prevalence preoperativ...

11/18/2025

If you asked women whether they wanted to have knowledge of the damage that can occur to their bodies as a result of childbirth, would they say they want to know ahead of the curve or after the fact?

Having a baby is engenders so much joy. Friends and family celebrate. Everyone assumes that moms are in a state of post birthing bliss. Despite common knowledge of the difficulties of childbirth, the world-at-large moves on pretending once the initial physical pain of childbirth is past, the body magically heals itself. Birthing can be a reality check for most birthing women.

When will society openly acknowledge the reality to move women's health awareness forward? Love this straight up study by DeLancy tribe.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11177602/