Women's Pelvic Health

Your pelvic floor is the group of muscles and connective tissue that supports your pelvic organs. For women, that includes your bladder, bowel, and uterus.

If these structures weaken, you may suffer a pelvic floor disorder such as urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse. Our experienced Women’s Pelvic Health team works with you to provide an accurate diagnosis and an effective treatment plan. We help you feel confident and secure.

Request an Appointment

To get more information about women’s pelvic health services or request an appointment, please call 843-792-7888. You can also learn more about our urology program, including who’s on our team and where we’re located.

We also treat pelvic floor disorders through our Women's Care Female Pelvic Medicine Reconstructive Surgery Services.

Women’s Pelvic Care at MUSC Health: Why Choose Us?

Not only are pelvic floor conditions common, 1 in 11 women will need surgery to repair a pelvic floor disorder, they are also painful, uncomfortable, and life-altering. But you don’t have to live with embarrassment or discomfort.

At our program, you’ll benefit from:

  • Expertly Trained Physicians: Our urologists are fellowship-trained in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, which means they’ve gone through additional years of specialized training. They have deep expertise in working with women to diagnose and treat a wide range of pelvic health conditions.
  • Unique and Advanced Diagnostic Tools: We offer the only video urodynamic service in the region. This advanced procedure allows our doctors to perform a pressure test of the urinary tract to see how well your bladder holds and releases urine.
  • Treatment at One of the nation’s Best Hospitals: We offer one of the country’s top urology departments, as determined by U.S. News & World Report. You can feel confident that you are getting effective care, individualized to your needs.
  • Specialized Treatments: Medical facilities from across the tri-state region send us their most complex surgical cases. We have special expertise in intricate procedures such as:
    • Urinary tract reconstruction
    • Reconstructive re-operative surgery for failed pelvic and bladder surgery
    • Mesh repair and removal procedures

Pelvic Conditions We Treat

We treat every type of female pelvic health issue, including:

Incontinence & Urinary Related Issues

  • Urinary incontinence
  • Nocturia, or waking at night to urinate
  • Overactive bladder (OAB), urinary frequency and urgency
  • Neurogenic bladder, or urinary problems that result from conditions of the nervous system)
  • Urinary retention, or difficulty emptying the bladder
  • Interstitial cystitis, a painful condition that causes frequent urination

Urinary Tract & Urethra

  • Urinary tract infections, the second most common type of infection
  • Urinary tract obstruction
  • Urinary fistula, an opening between the bladder and vaginal wall
  • Urethral diverticula, a pouch that forms along the urethra that can lead to infections and pain

Other Pelvic Conditions

  • Pelvic organ prolapse, including cystocele (dropped bladder) and rectocele (weakening of the tissue wall between the rectum and vagina)
  • Female sexual dysfunction
  • Mesh-related problems or complications

Diagnosing Women’s Pelvic Health Conditions

We perform a comprehensive evaluation to diagnose the specific pelvic issue giving you problems. Our expert assessment includes a physical exam, a medical history and advanced testing procedures, when necessary.

Our services include:

  • Urinalysis, to test for abnormalities or infections.
  • Computerized uroflowmetry, a test that calculates the speed of urine flow over time.
  • Post-void residual urine determination, to measure the urine left in your bladder after urinating.
  • Ultrasound, to take a picture of the kidneys, bladder, and urethra.
  • Cystoscopy, a test using a miniature instrument that looks inside your bladder or urethra to detect problems.
  • Video urodynamic, an advanced test to detect and diagnose lower urinary tract issues.
  • Percutaneous nerve evaluation, a test to determine if InterStim (sacral nerve stimulation) will be an effective treatment option for urinary incontinence.

Women’s Pelvic Health: Nonsurgical & Minimally Invasive Treatments

There is no one-size-fits-all treatment option for women with pelvic floor disorders. We work with you to determine the best and most effective treatment for the specific condition(s) you face.

Treatment options include:

  • Medication to treat a variety of pelvic health issues.
  • Pelvic floor physiotherapy, either through biofeedback or electrical stimulation of the nerves in the bladder and pelvic floor to strengthen and control muscles there.
  • InterStim (sacral nerve stimulation), a device implanted under your skin to treat overactive bladder syndrome. This device addresses communication issues between your bladder and brain.
  • Botox®, an injection into your bladder muscles to help calm them and prevent overactive bladder.
  • Bulking, an injection of a substance near the urinary sphincter to narrow the bladder opening and prevent leakage.
  • Pessary, a plastic device used to support pelvic organs to treat prolapse and improve some types of bladder control.
  • Laser therapy, including with the MonaLisa Touch laser, to treat vaginal dryness, provide vaginal rejuvenation, relieve painful sex, and even stop some types of urinary dysfunction.

Women’s Pelvic Health: Surgical Options

If less invasive procedures fail to address your symptoms, our expertly trained pelvic reconstruction specialists will perform surgery to correct the problem.

Options for surgery include:

  • Re-operative surgery, correcting previously failed pelvic floor surgery.
  • Urinary diversion to bring urine out of a damaged urinary system by creating an opening in the stomach or a replacement bladder.
  • Prolapse repair, using minimally invasive or open surgical approaches to reconstruct the pelvic floor. One option is robotic surgery with our da Vinci® Surgical System.
  • Bladder enlargement to augment your bladder when it’s not large enough to hold a normal amount of urine.
  • Mesh sling surgery to place a synthetic mesh (sling) beneath the urethra area to support it and provide relief for mild to moderate urinary incontinence.
  • Other sling surgery, using a patient’s own tissue rather than mesh to provide support.
  • Fistula repair to close a vaginal fistula, or hole.
  • Urethral diverticula surgery to repair or remove an abnormal pocket (diverticulum) next to the urethra.