‘I have no life and neither do the ones watching me suffer’: women’s experiences of transvaginal mesh implant surgery

Pain and other complications of pelvic mesh: a systematic review of qualitative studies and thematic synthesis of women’s accounts

“…Four studies were conducted in the UK, 16 30–32 two in the USA, 33 34 two in New Zealand 27 35 and one in Australia. 36 Participant numbers varied from 7 to 752, with a total across the 9 studies approaching (and possibly exceeding) 2000. Four studies were recruited from patient populations exclusively 27 31 33 34 and one partially 32 ; four from advocacy groups for affected women, two exclusively 30 35 and two partially 16 32 ; and two drew on material from national enquiries.…”

“… 33 The UK inquiry 16 also aimed to recruit women with mesh-related complications. The remaining two papers aimed rather to capture varied experiences from women after mesh surgery: one using written inquiry data to explore experience ‘through a biopsychosocial lens’, 36 the other to explore ‘health-related issues’ in a more ‘balanced’ way than those that focused on mesh complications. 31 It should be noted that the conflicts of interest for this latter study disclose that three of the eight authors had associations with mesh producers.…”

“…16 36 Where non-patient participants such as carers and clinicians also provided material for the report, 16 36 we used only submissions from affected women or representatives of mesh advocacy groups. Five studies used semistructured 27 30 32 34 or structured 33 interviews; two drew from free text that supplemented questionnaire responses 31 or national inquiry 36 ; one used free text emailed responses 35 and one used transcribed oral responses from inquiry hearings and written responses to drafts of the report. 16 Seven studies provided information on age, five 27 30 31 33 34 with a mean age in the 50ss, and range from 20 to 80s; the other two 32 35 provided ranges from the thirties into the seventies.…”

“…Table Coverage of themes and subthemes by studies Brown 27 Cumberlege 16 Dibb et al 30 Dunn et al 33 Huntington et al 35 Izett-Kay et al 31 McKinlay and Oxlad 36 Toye et al 32 Open access were aware of continued pressure from some surgeons to lift the current ban on pelvic mesh. Alongside these deeply distressing experiences, women also gave credit to the GPs and surgeons they had encountered who were concerned and willing to listen and learn.…”

The experience of six women living with pelvic surgical mesh complications – interventions and adaptions: a phenomenological inquiry

“…They also highlighted the importance of patient-centred accounts of outcomes 12 . A 2022 study that analysed 153 women's written submissions to the Australian Senate Inquiry gave insight into women's lived experience, highlighting that "impacts rarely affected only one health domain; instead adverse physical, psychological and social experiences interacted resulting in reduced quality of life for women" 13 . A 2023 study acknowledged that women's lives are "irreversibly altered" by mesh complications and noted that some participants demonstrated resilience in the form of acceptance of their situation 14 .…”