Mum left with ‘deadly vagina’ that ‘BIT’ her partner during sex after surgery for stress incontinence went wrong
Theresa Bartram, 50, had an operation to lift her bladder using a plastic mesh, but it was fitted too low and eroded through her vaginal wall
A MUM-OF-ONE who had surgery to improve her sex life has told how the operation left her vagina with “teeth” that “bit” her partner’s penis.
Theresa Bartram, from Brighton, suffered from stress incontinence after giving birth and struggled with confidence in the bedroom.
The 50-year-old had gone without sex for seven years until she was referred for an operation to lift her prolapsed bladder using a plastic mesh sling called a transvaginal tape (TVT) to stop her leaking.
It worked and sex was better than ever - until two years later in 2009 when she almost sliced off the end of her partner’s manhood.
“It was like it had grown teeth,” she recalled.
“His willy was bright red and spouting blood. There was a big red stain spreading between us on the sheets.
“After that he was scared of my lady garden and approached it as if it was a Venus flytrap and he was a bluebottle.”
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Theresa was sure her fella’s gory injury had been caused by the mesh she could feel inside her.
But every time she saw her doctor she was assured it was working just fine.
Theresa and her partner avoided sex as they were too scared to try again – and six months later they ended up splitting.
Fearful of getting intimate with anyone new, as she didn’t want to risk injuring them, her confidence yet again hit rock bottom.
Theresa went on a diet and started exercising, and dropped from a size 20 to a size 14.
A few months later she woke up with a bloated stomach, violent tummy pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.
Theresa had been noticing a decline in her general health and visited her GP, where she was diagnosed with IBS and later prescribed antidepressants.
Over the next few years she had her gallbladder removed and saw 25 different doctors, but remained concerned her problems stemmed from her mesh.
By now she’d read all about the growing concern about complications which had caused the op to be banned in Scotland.
What is a transvaginal tape (TVT) procedure?
People with stress incontinence leak small amounts of urine, sometimes when coughing, laughing, sneezing or doing exercise.
For women, tape procedures may be recommended to stop the problem by providing support to a sagging urethra.
In TVT surgery, a mesh tape is placed under your urethra like a sling or hammock to keep it in its normal position.
The tape is inserted through tiny incisions in your abdomen and vaginal wall, with the procedure normally taking around 30 minutes.
Around 13,500 women have the operation annually on the NHS and it’s the most common way to treat stress incontinence.
However, there has been an increase in the women coming forward with post-op problems.
The surgery was suspended in Scotland two years ago, where around 400 lawsuits are ongoing.
The mesh is also used in hernia operations, so men are also at risk from feeling the adverse affects.
Only in 2015, when her vagina began leaking green puss and emitting a foul smell, was she properly examined.
A consultant told her the mesh needed to be removed urgently.
It had eroded through the belly button side of her vaginal wall, causing her to grow an abscess which had become infected and turned septic.
In November 2015 it was removed in a complicated operation.
The mesh had secured itself with cartilage to her pelvis, first shrinking then turning hard.
“It felt like razor-sharp teeth, hence why it had ripped a chunk from my boyfriend’s willy,” Theresa explained.
She was finally told the mesh had been fitted too low, which is why she had injured her partner’s penis and suffered such awful complications.
The removal left her completely incontinent and her vagina is now numb.
At just 50 years old she fears she will remain celibate forever.
She said: “I was told this simple procedure would cure my incontinence and give me more confidence on the bedroom, but it has ruined my life.
“It made my vagina deadly and forced me into a life of celibacy. It could have killed me.
“I’m pleased the mesh is gone but it has left my body and my vagina a total mess.
“I wear padding all the time and sleep on incontinence sheets.”
Theresa is one of on mesh surgery.
She is a member of - a campaign group warning women of the dangers of TVT.
It's the brainchild of Kath Sansom who wants use of the mesh stopped too.
The controversial procedure has been suspended in Scotland and is under scrutiny across the world after thousands of women and men reported complications following surgery.
In January we told how a dad-of-five was left unable to have sex for four years and faced having both of his testicles removed after a botched vasectomy.
We also reported on a woman left blind in one eye after dermal filler injections caused her face to swell.