Fecal Incontinence

What Is Fecal Incontinence?

Fecal incontinence is the inability to control bowel movements or gas which allows stool or gas to leak out of the body unexpectedly.

What Causes Fecal Incontinence?

Fecal incontinence is often caused by a combination of factors which may include:

• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Loss of storage capacity in the rectum
• Muscle damage
• Nerve damage
• Rectal prolapse
• Rectocele
• Prior surgery (e.g., anal sphincter repair, sphincterotomy, hemorrhoid surgery)

What Treatments Are Available for Fecal Incontinence? 

The doctors at Southeast Urogyn offer a variety of surgical and non-surgical treatments to treat fecal incontinence. Non-surgical treatments may include dietary changes to avoid certain foods, like dairy products, which may trigger loose bowel movements, medications to firm the stool and prevent diarrhea, pelvic muscle rehabilitation including Kegel exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor and anal sphincter muscles.  Sometimes these can improve bowel control for some patients.

Biofeedback is often helpful when pelvic floor exercises fail. Biofeedback helps to retrain the anal muscles to reinforce the correct use of these muscles using computer images. A small tampon-like sensor placed into the vagina or rectum links the patient to a computer and screen. Contracting and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles produces signals on the screen, allowing the healthcare provider to identify proper or improper technique.

Electrical Stimulation (E-Stim) is a mild electrical stimulus delivered directly to the pelvic floor muscles. This therapy is helpful for patients who are unable to carryout effective pelvic muscle rehabilitation exercises.

What are the Surgical Options for Fecal Incontinence?

The surgical options provided by Southeast Urogyn may include:

• Sphincteroplasty repairs a damaged or weakened sphincter muscle by cutting, overlapping and sewing the muscle at the defect site.  This is usually only done on younger patients with post-obstetric injury.
• Rectocele Repair is performed through a vaginal incision, to repair a rectum that is bulging into the vagina. This can be of great help for women who soil unexpectedly from trapping of the stool or gas in the rectocele pouch.
• Rectovaginal Fistula Repair is a vaginal surgical procedure that repairs a hole or tract between the vagina and the rectum.
• Axonics® Therapy is a minimally invasive treatment that can restore function for patients with chronic fecal incontinence.  Since nerve dysfunction is usually, at least in part, a cause of this condition, modulating the nerves that control bowel function can be of great help to many women Click here to Learn More.