Female Incontinence

For many, urinary incontinence occurs when an overactive bladder contracts too often, or without warning, causing a strong need to urinate and/or leakage or wetting accidents.  Typical medications and procedures may not work for every patient, however, injecting botox directly into the muscles of the bladder have shown to be effective at causing the muscles to relax, and allow a more typical urination schedule in those that do not respond to usual tactics.

Both men and women are able to seek out this treatment.  A simple test called urodynamics is performed first to determine if the bladder is in fact contracting correctly.  If not, typical prescriptions and treatments will be used to attempt to correct the behavior of the bladder muscles.  If they are not successful, Botox may be your physicians next option.

The procedure is usually done by your urologist in their office, or it can be performed in a hospital.  No special preparation is needed, though patients are not allowed to eat or drink for five hours before the procedure.

Under a general anaesthetic, a telescope examination of the bladder is performed (cystoscopy). The telescope is passed through natural passage ways in the bladder, so there are no incisions. Botox is injected into the bladder wall through a special needle passed through the telescope directly.

After the procedure, patients should notice a decrease in the urgency and frequency of urination in about five days.  Two weeks after the procedure, patients will reach the maximum benefit of Botox, which typically last between four and nine months.

Are there side effects?

Blood may be seen in urine after the procedure, as the needle used penetrated the bladder wall. This typically subsides after a few days.  Antibiotics are given to avoid infections. Allergic reactions are possible, but are very rare.