Surgery for incontinence only treats stress incontinence – or the coughing, laughing sneezing kind of leakage. Surgery does not treat overactive bladder or the “gotta go” kind of urinary leakage. In fact, one of the risks of surgery is the development of urge urinary incontinence. From your description of the problems that your mother is having, it is difficult to tell whether or not she is having urge or stress symptoms. The biggest risk factor of having surgery is that you will continue to have incontinence symptoms. If she is still having incontinence, I would recommend that she see a specialist who can help to tell whether or not the symptoms are stress or urge related. Regardless of the type of incontinence, doing pelvic floor exercises will help both and are unlikely to make the situation worse. We recommend performing approximately 30-40 contractions daily. If her losses are associated with a stong urge to urinate, then doing the exercises to suppress the urge can also help.
Rebecca Rogers, MD
Urogynecology
