Tubal Reversal Blog ‘Essure’

Tina is 35 years old mother of two children (a girl and a boy) who had an Adiana tubal sterilization 6 years ago. Tina has been married to her husband for nineteen years. She is a successful business entrepreneur who owns her own printing company. Tina’s decision to have a tubal reversal was prompted by the loss of her 14-year-old son. Read the rest of this article and comment on it. »

At the age of 31 I had the Essure procedure in November 2006, not really thinking about what I was doing and knowing that I still wanted children. However, being a single mother of 2 boys I thought it was the best thing to do.

I met my fiance mid 2007. Shortly after meeting him I realized what a HUGE mistake I made. In 2008 I began surfing the internet looking for any information I could find on reversing Essure. I had already tried contacting doctors in my area, however, the answer always was the same – “You cannot reverse Essure”, or (my personal favorite), “The only way to remove the coils is with a hysterectomy”. Read the rest of this article and comment on it. »

What is Essure?

Essure is a permanent birth control device that has recently become available as an alternative to traditional tubal ligation methods. The spring-like device is inserted through the uterine cavity into the tubal openings using a hysteroscope. This can be done as an in-office procedure. The device expands to fill the tubal opening and then becomes scarred into place, forming a barrier so that sperm cannot reach the egg. Because of the scar formation, it cannot be pulled out of the tube. It is advertised by the manufacturer as a permanent method of birth control. In this respect, it is similar to other tubal ligation methods that are considered by most doctors to be permanent.

Here is a link to an online video animation of the placement of the Essure device into the fallopian tubes.

Is Tubal Reversal Possible For The Essure Device?

I perform 4 tubal reversal procedures each day at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center. The women who come here have all varieties of tubal ligation methods. Today, one of the patients had the Essure sterilization method. When she chose this form of tubal sterilization, she was unaware that she would become remarried and want to be able to try to have a child with her new husband.

Although I could not find any previous references regarding attempts to reverse the Essure procedure, I agreed to attempt to perform a reversal for her. The way I did this was to cut the device out of the uterine muscle and then implant the remaining fallopian tube into the uterine cavity through a new opening in the uterus. This procedure is called tubouterine implantation.

The reason I removed the device was that part of the metal spring projects into the uterine cavity. If a pregnancy were to occur with the device in place, this could be harmful to the pregnancy. To my knowledge, this is the first time that the Essure sterilization procedure has been reversed.

Answers To Common Questions About Essure Reversal

We have provided answers to common questions about Essure reversal in the following blog article,  Essure Reversal: What You Need To Know .