What's new in women's health services at RiverBend Medical Group
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is pleased to be able to offer our patients the option of a permanent sterilization procedure for birth control that does not require any incision and can be performed in our office at the Chicopee site. There is no longer any need to wait for the hospital to be able to schedule your procedure or spend half the day in the hospital to have a sterilization procedure. You can be in and out of our office in about an hour and back to normal activities within a day or two. The procedure itself takes an average of ten minutes.
The procedure, called Essure, is performed with local anesthesia. It is performed through a vaginal approach with a hysteroscope that allows the doctor to see inside the uterus and place flexible, soft inserts into the fallopian tubes where they join with the uterus. Over the next three months the body’s reaction allows tissue to grow into the inserts and close the fallopian tubes, preventing sperm from contacting an egg for fertilization.
The big advantages of this procedure are that it can be done without hospitalization or general anesthesia and requires no incision. There is much less discomfort and a faster recovery to normal activity compared to other sterilization procedures for women.
Similar to a vasectomy for a male, you are not immediately protected against pregnancy with this procedure. You must continue to use another contraceptive method until your doctor performs an Essure confirmation procedure three months later, which will assure you that the fallopian tubes are completely blocked. Essure is 99.5% effective in preventing pregnancy, which is better than any other sterilization method for women.
For more information about the Essure procedure you can go to the website: www.essure.com
We are offering our patients the ability to schedule this procedure at the Chicopee office (it may be expanded to other sites in the future). Some type of hormonal contraception is usually advised for a month prior to the procedure. Also, any waiting period following counseling that is mandated by your insurance plan would still apply to this procedure.
If you are interested in this procedure please contact your usual OB/GYN provider for more information.