Incontinence Specialist

What is urinary incontinence?

Up to half of women experience urinary incontinence (accidental urine leakage) during their lifetime. There are several types of urinary incontinence, including: 

Urinary stress

Urinary stress incontinence is urine leakage that occurs because of bladder pressure. It usually occurs when you sneeze, cough, exercise strenuously, or lift a heavy object. 

Urinary urge 

Urinary urge incontinence is sudden powerful need to urinate, which leads to leakage before you can reach the bathroom. This type of incontinence is often caused by an overactive bladder.

Urinary overflow 

Overflow incontinence is persistent urine loss, usually in small amounts, because you’re never able to fully empty your bladder during urination.

Mixed urinary incontinence

Some people have a combination of stress and urge incontinence, or less commonly, a combination of two or more other types of urinary incontinence. 

Some people experience functional urinary incontinence, which means that you leak urine because of a physical or mental impairment. For example, if a physical disability makes it impossible to unzip and pull down your pants to urinate quickly enough.

What is fecal incontinence?

Up to 15% of women have fecal incontinence (accidental stool leakage). Fecal urge incontinence, where you have powerful urges to have a bowel movement but can’t make it to the toilet in time, is the most common type. 

Some people have passive fecal incontinence, where you leak stool without knowing it. 

How is incontinence treated?

Northeast Ohio Urogynecology offers some innovative treatments for urinary and fecal incontinence, including: 

Midurethral sling

A mid-urethral sling treats urinary stress incontinence. During this minimally invasive surgical procedure, your medical provider places a Caldera Desara® sling, which is similar to a mesh ribbon, under the urethra. 

This ribbon helps to keep the urethra (the tube that urine passes through) in the proper position and keeps it closed when you make any movement that stresses the bladder. Midurethral slings can last a decade or longer, particularly if you use maintenance treatments like MonaLisa Touch®. 

Urethral bulking 

Urethral bulking is an in-office urinary stress incontinence treatment. A urethral bulking agent is an injected material that surrounds the urethral walls. It helps to narrow urethral width, which in turn prevents leakage. 

Your provider injects Axionics Bulkamid®, the best-in-class bulking agent that provides up to seven years of stress urinary incontinence relief. 

TempSure Vitalia™

TempSure Vitalia is an in-office urinary stress incontinence treatment that uses radiofrequency energy to gently heat the vaginal tissues. This helps your body produce new collagen and elasticity, which in turn improves urethral support and helps to prevent accidental urine leakage. 

Sacral neuromodulation

Sacral neuromodulation is a treatment for fecal and urinary urge incontinence. With this treatment, your Northeast Ohio Urogynecology provider places a small neurostimulator in your buttocks, near the sacral nerve that controls your bowel and bladder function. 

The Medtronic InterStim™ stimulator works by re-establishing communication between your bladder, bowel, and brain. It can help improve the symptoms of urge incontinence. The new generations of InterStim devices are now recharge-free and can last for many years. 

To get the caring help you need for incontinence, please reach out to Northeast Ohio Urogynecology in Akron, Ohio, by calling the office or book online today.