Our
goal is to provide state-of-the-art, full-orbed gynecologic care
tailored to the 21st century woman. We do many minimally invasive
procedures in our facility including Essure, the revolutionary
no-incision, in-office video female sterilization procedure that is
simpler than a vasectomy. Five-year data shows an impressive 99.74% no
pregnancy rate (check out www.essure.com). We are the only certified
practice in South West Michigan doing Essure in the office. Patients
love it because they can drive themselves back to work or home
immediately afterwards.
What To Expect: We
are the only gynecologic practice in our area performing the office
female sterilization procedure Essure (check it out at www.essure.com).
Essure is an FDA approved method of female permanent birth control
performed in the office in less than an hour allowing you to return
home or to work. Most women are comfortable with only oral Motrin ahead
of time and maybe one dose afterwards. It is permanent and not
reversible. The five-year data confirms a 99.74% no pregnancy success
rate. Essure is rapidly becoming the gold standard for sterilization
and is at least as effective and much simpler than a laparoscopic tubal
ligation or male vasectomy.
Preprocedure: Most
women do very well taking 800 milligrams of ibuprofen the night before
and a second dose 1-2 hours before the procedure. Anyone who is
concerned about their pain tolerance may request a combination of
Valium 10 mg plus a single dose of a pain medication such as
Vicoprofen, Vicodin, Tylenol #3 or Darvocet-N to be taken one hour
before the scheduled procedure time. A paracervical block with
Lidocaine is done by Dr. Cairns at the beginning of the Essure
procedure. You will watch the entire procedure on a video monitor as it
is happening - it's a facinating WOW experience!
Postprocedure: In
less than 45 minutes after the procedure, you will be able to leave and
return to normal activities including returning to work for the rest of
the day. However, if you took the Valium and pain medication
combination, you should arrange for someone to drive you to and from
your appointment. You need to continue a reliable form of birth control
for a minimum of 12 weeks after the Essure procedure. At that time, an
x-ray hysterosalpingogram will be done to confirm that the Essure
micro-inserts are in correct position and that both tubes are
completely blocked. If so, you will be given the go-ahead to stop your
other birth control and rely only on the Essure.
