DATE: June 22, 2020
CATEGORY: Essure
There’s something important that I feel needs to be said about Essure Reversals and the techniques we use at Lakeshore Surgical Center. While there are several ways to perform an Essure Reversal, some are better than others. For example, one way is to cut a hole in the uterus, remove the Essure and the surrounding tissue, then sew the tube back into the hole.
We do not use this technique because it significantly weakens the uterus and forces many women to deliver by Caesarean Section to avoid the risk of uterine rupture. The Journal of The American Fertility Society (volume 40, issue 4) reported a review of 16 different doctor’s results using that technique with an average term pregnancy rate of 11%. The first published result was in 1949. Eight of the 16 doctors did not have a single term pregnancy using this technique (with 285 patients).
When Dr. Turner and I performed our first Essure Reversal in 2007, we decided to use a different technique that first removed the Essure by pulling them out, then stretching the natural opening to place the tube back in. To do this, we use a special needle that pulls the tube back into its normal position.
It’s important to note that Ensure Reversals do not work as well as other reversals. But we are getting better results after working on 200+ cases. Our success rate is slightly higher than a single month of IVF. About one year ago, we made a small change that seems to have improved our results even further. We’ve also been able to stop the dye we use to test the tube from leaking. We believe this has also contributed to better results for our patients.
