Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) treatment

There exist several types of urinary incontinence. The most common is stress urinary incontinence, which impacts approx. half of all women.  Stress urinary incontinence is usually triggered by physical strain such as coughing, sneezing, or laughing. However, urine can also leak during sexual intercourse, the lifting of heavy objects, walking down stairs, or even walking downhill. Due to the leakage of urine during exertion, stress urinary incontinence is also known simply as stress incontinence. However, it is in no way connected to psychological stress with which it is often mistakenly associated. In stress urinary incontinence, the amount of voided urine is usually small and depends on the fullness of the bladder as well as the amount of abdominal pressure. Stress urinary incontinence is usually associated with weakened pelvic floor muscles. This means that the support of the urethra and bladder does not function normally, causing the leakage of urine in case of changes in pressure.  These changes usually occur with aging when the bladder wall elasticity and the stretch of the bladder muscle also decrease, leading to the incomplete emptying of the bladder. The onset of stress urinary incontinence is also influenced by a lack of estrogen, resulting from post-menopausal hormonal decline. Regardless, stress urinary incontinence may also impact younger women: the cause may result from pelvic floor weakening as a result of successive births. The onset of stress urinary incontinence is also the result of strenuous physical activities, excess weight, constipation, and chronic coughing due to asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Treatment-wise, stress urinary incontinence is the most manageable type of urinary incontinence.

Laser treatment of stress urinary incontinence is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure performed without anesthesia. It is perfectly painless causes no wounds nor bleeding. The laser’s thermal stimulation causes the contraction of collagen fibres in the anterior vaginal wall, improving the elasticity the vaginal tissue and urogenital diaphragm. Because the bladder is attached to the anterior vaginal wall, the increased elasticity of the tissues restores its original anatomical position and in turn continence.

The procedure is repeated 3 times. The first two therapies are completed at intervals of 6 weeks while the third is performed after four to six months.