After vaginal implants, Sandra recounts her medical ordeal

Since 2020, 113 women have filed complaints for “deception” and “unintentional injuries” after the implantation of such medical devices.

A life on hold because of pain. Like many women in France, Sandra, 47, had vaginal implants fitted, these “strips” supposed to strengthen the perineum against urinary leaks or, more rarely, against organ prolapse. Each year, 30,000 of these implants are fitted across the country. But this procedure is not without risk, warn some patients, who mention significant complications: bleeding, tears, muscular or neuropathic disorders.

“A few months later, I was diagnosed with a large rectocele, a gaping vulva, a sagging vagina, a displacement of the tendinous center of the perineum, as well as mild stress incontinence.“, laments Sandra, who underwent emergency surgery after organ prolapse, seven years after her second birth.

In 2022, she underwent a second operation and the doctors fitted her with two new polypropylene prostheses. But today, her body no longer accepts the implanted devices.After a few weeks of convalescence, the pain did not go away.”, she remembers. I did physiotherapy, balneotherapy, TECAR therapy, I had botox injections, infiltrations, ketamine, electro-stimulation.“Nothing will improve her situation in any tangible way. Despite an intense course of treatment, doctors consider that Sandra has a “myofascial syndrome”, which is also called “complex pelvic regional pain syndrome”.

Today, his handicap is recognized and estimated at 50 to 70%: “It regularly blocks my pelvis, it’s burning, neuralgia-type pain with stabbing or blows. needle, says the forty-year-old. It is really the sciatic pain that starts from the buttock through the leg to the foot.”

Since 2020, 113 women have filed complaints against unknown persons for “deception” and “unintentional injuries”. The first of their requests, as explained by Hélène Patte, one of the lawyers in charge of the case, “is to recognize the link that exists between these devices and the complications and handicaps that they suffer”. The second is to “put an end to the problem”. According to the lawyer, although they are effective in most cases, “These devices are still installed without women being more informed today” on possible side effects.

Finally, some of these women, “have lost everything, can no longer work and have seen their family and sexual lives shattered”, continues Mr Patte. The third objective of the complaint is therefore compensatory. The investigation, which has been open since October 2023, should make it possible to determine whether manufacturers or doctors are responsible for the lack of information provided to patients. The trial date has not yet been set, but the plaintiffs are already beginning to be questioned.