Giving birth makes women more vulnerable to developing a pelvic floor disorder later in life. About one third of adult women will have a pelvic floor disorder, such as prolapsed uterus or bladder control problems, and twenty percent of these women will need reconstructive surgery to fix it.
Victoria Handa, M.D., director of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Bayview, and her research team study how childbirth leads to long-term, physical and functional changes in a woman’s body. They study what aspects of childbirth are most likely to cause harm to mothers later, leading to pelvic floor disorders. The team aims to find ways for doctors to detect and reverse damage after birth to keep mothers healthy long after their babies are born.
Other gynecology and obstetrics research topics at Johns Hopkins Bayview include STD and HIV prevention, women with HIV, reproductive health of incarcerated women, constipation and rectocele, urinary incontinence and obstetric fistulas.
#TomorrowsDiscoveries: Pelvic Floor and Women’s Health – Dr. Victoria Handa
Dr. Victoria Handa and her team at the Johns Hopkins Women's Center for Pelvic Health and Reconstructive Surgery study how childbirth leads to long-term physical and functional changes in a woman’s body.