Emsella is a breakthrough treatment for improving urinary incontinence with no pain, no surgery, and no downtime.

A cough, sneeze, or laugh can be frustrating and embarrassing for those who suffer from bladder leakage. People with this issue experience a loss of urine with the slightest amount of strain. The main causes of this medical condition include aging, childbirth, and menopause.

Urinary urgency is the tingling feeling you get when your bladder contracts and tells you that it’s time to empty it. If you have weak pelvic floor muscles, when that feeling comes you may try to use your muscles to hold the urine in…but it just leaks out.

If you’re dealing with bladder control issues, you might find that you’re no longer going out as much or that you feel hopeless about whether it will ever get better.

Many of our clients are taking medications that don’t work and have side effects, while others don’t want to undergo surgery, bladder injections (muscle relaxers), or intrusive intravaginal electrostimulation to try and fix the problem.

3 Types of Urinary Incontinence

• Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), which is the inability to hold on to urine when coughing, sneezing, laughing, or lifting.
  1. Cause: Weak or damaged pelvic floor muscles caused by vaginal childbirth and menopause.
  2. Symptoms: Inability to support the urethra or contract properly to hold in urine.
• Urge incontinence (UI), which is a strong need to urinate that cannot be controlled before going to the toilet.
  1. Cause: Neuromuscular dysfunction caused by a medical condition (such as diabetes).
  2. Symptoms: Inability to control leakage without medical intervention (i.e., medication, surgery, etc.).
• Mixed urinary incontinence, which is a combination of symptoms of both SUI and UI.

The Technology Behind Emsella

The BTL Emsella^TM device uses an FDA-cleared, well-tested, safe technology called HIFEM^TM, or a High-Intensity Focused Electromagnetic energy. HIFEM produces thousands of pelvic floor muscle contractions, which simulate Kegel exercises.

HIFEM uses electrical currents to stimulate the pelvic floor muscles into action. These muscles contract each time a pulse is released, isolating and targeting them for optimal results in improvement of urinary incontinence.

By targeting the pelvic floor muscles, not only do they regain their tone and tightness, but they also begin to properly respond by holding urine in rather than letting it out.

HIFEM restores strength and response to the pelvic floor so you can control the urge to go and can withstand bladder leakage when straining abdominal muscles (such as when sneezing, coughing, laughing, or lifting).

Treatment allows you to stay fully clothed during sessions:

• Before treatment: Pelvic floor muscles allow urine to leak from the bladder because they are unable to support the organs in the lower abdomen.
• After treatment: Pelvic floor muscles are toned, lifted, and responsive; bladder control is improved.

Why Treatment Works

In order to regain control of the bladder, Kegel (pelvic floor muscle) exercises are required. Generally, several hundred exercises (about 300-500) are needed to help the pelvic floor muscles start the process of rehabilitation.

This is because the muscles have gone for so many years without being used regularly that they no longer respond the way they should. In order for muscle motor impulses to return to normal, thousands of muscle contractions are needed.

BTL Emsella uses HIFEM technology to produce several thousand pelvic floor contractions (simulated Kegels) so that patients can:

• Retrain pelvic floor muscles to respond
• Tighten pelvic floor muscles to retain urine

Why Don’t Kegels Work for Everyone?

You may be asking yourself, “Why can’t I just do Kegel exercises everyday to fix this?” There are several reasons why this is impractical.

First, once the muscles get so out of shape that they start sagging, the amount and frequency of exercises needed are too much for most people to be able to do.

Second, once the muscles have “forgotten” how to properly respond to urinary urgency and strain, they can’t “remember” without some serious intervention (such as thousands of Kegels). Kegels cannot be properly performed when the muscles aren’t responding to begin with.

So, you see the dilemma here; Kegel exercises aren’t the answer for many folks.

What is Treatment Like? Does it Hurt?

The Emsella device is a padded chair that you sit on while fully clothed. Once treatment begins, the HIFEM technology causes the pelvic floor muscles to contract.

What is especially amazing about this technology is that it produces enough contractions to not only tone and strengthen the pelvic floor, but to also reprogram muscle response so that they contract when they need to.

Generally, 6 sessions are recommended to achieve optimal results, and each session lasts 30 minutes. The timing of the sessions are very important as well, so they are done twice weekly for 3 weeks. You can do normal activity right away.

Treatment is painless and comfortable – you’ll feel a tingling sensation and pelvic floor muscle contractions (similar to what Kegel exercises feel like).

BTL Emsella Results

According to a recent study of 30 female participants, the following results were reported after 6 treatment sessions:

• 100% reported better awareness of their pelvic floor muscles
• 95% reported an improvement in quality of life
• 67% of participants who had hygienic pads were able to decrease or stop using them altogether
• 40% said they could properly control their pelvic floor muscles
• 28% said they could control their pelvic floor on demand (selective control)
• 20% reported their muscles were firmer
• 12% said they could last longer without needing to urinate

In a separate study of 20 women (ages 45 to 77 years of age), almost 75% of participants significantly decreased or eliminated urine leakage.

Incontinence Treatment in San Diego at Beatitude Aesthetic Medicine

Dr. Aeria Chang has been providing incontinence treatment in San Diego for many years. We have the BTL Emsella advanced HIFEM technology right in our office.

If you’re struggling with urine leakage, bladder control, or needing to use pads to contain urine, contact Dr. Chang today.

During your consultation she will see if BTL Emsella is right for you. She can also work with your urologist and other doctors to provide optimal care that blends with what you’re already doing.

Call today to schedule your appointment at (619) 280-1609. We look forward to helping you live a better quality of life without the worry of incontinence!

 

 

References:

• HIFEM TECHNOLOGY CAN IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE OF INCONTINENT PATIENTS by Berenholz J., MD, Sims T., MD, Botros G., MD
• HIFEM TECHNOLOGY – THE NON-INVASIVE TREATMENT OF URINARY INCONTINENCE by Samuels J., MD and Guerette N., MD