Can a Pessary Help With Prolapse After Birth?
Answer:
A pessary can ease prolapse symptoms like heaviness and dragging for some women, and help them feel more comfortable day to day. It supports the prolapse but doesn’t fix it.
Pessaries have been used for a very long time, but using them in women after birth is fairly new. Most of the research has been in older women, so we’re still learning what works best in the months and years after having a baby.
Start with a proper check
Before using a pessary, you need to be assessed by a health professional trained in fitting them. In Australia, this might be a women’s health physiotherapist, a doctor or a nurse with pessary training.
They’ll examine you, check what type of prolapse you have, and talk through whether a pessary is a good option for you. If it is, they’ll fit it and show you how to look after it.
If you see someone privately, you’ll usually pay for the appointments and the pessary itself, and these aren’t always covered by private health insurance.
Pessaries can be bought online, but it isn’t advised without an assessment first. A pessary that’s the wrong type or size may not help, and could cause problems.
What a pessary is
A pessary is a small device that sits inside your vagina and supports the vaginal walls. Most are made of soft, flexible silicone.
By holding things in a better position, a pessary can ease the feeling of heaviness or something coming down. Many women find they can’t feel it once it’s fitted well, a bit like a tampon.
Many shapes and sizes
Pessaries come in lots of different shapes and sizes, and they work in different ways. Some, like a ring, sit inside the vagina and support the walls. Others, like a cube, fill the space and use gentle suction to stay in place.
A ring is the most common and is usually the first one tried. Which pessary suits you depends on the shape of your vagina, the type of prolapse you have, whether you want to look after it yourself, and whether you want to have sex with it in.
Finding the right one is often trial and error. It can take a few different sizes or types, sometimes over more than one appointment, before you find one that feels comfortable and stays in place.
Different ways to use a pessary
There’s no one right way to use a pessary. How you use yours will depend on the type, your symptoms and what suits your life.
- Just when you need it. Some women only use a pessary for exercise, a long day on their feet, or when symptoms are worse.
- During the day. Some put it in each morning and take it out at night. Cube pessaries need to be taken out every day.
- For longer stretches. Some pessaries, like a ring, can stay in for weeks or months, with regular check-ups to remove, clean and check it.
Many women learn to take their pessary out, clean it and put it back in themselves. This gives you more control and fewer appointments. Your health professional can teach you how, and talk through what will work best for you.
A pessary supports, it doesn't fix
A pessary holds your prolapse in a better position while it’s in, but it doesn’t heal or cure it. When you take it out, the prolapse is still there.
That’s why it’s important to keep looking after your pelvic floor. Keep up your pelvic floor exercises, avoid constipation and straining, and keep building your strength. Research in older women suggests a pessary plus pelvic floor exercises works better than exercises alone.
It’s also worth being careful about what you take on with a pessary in. Feeling better doesn’t always mean your pelvic floor is ready for more load, like heavy lifting or high-impact exercise. Build up gradually and let your symptoms guide you.
What we know, and don't know, after birth
Most pessary research has been done in older women. There’s still very little in women after birth.
The few studies we have are small and short. Some women felt better using a pessary, but it’s hard to tell how much was the pessary and how much was their body healing.
Many physiotherapists use pessaries to help women get back to exercise, and lots of women find this helpful. The research is still catching up with what’s happening in practice, so the right approach will look different for every woman.
Pessaries can still help. We just don’t have all the answers yet, so make decisions with a health professional who knows you.
Breastfeeding and your vaginal health
While you’re breastfeeding, your oestrogen levels are low. This can make the tissue in your vagina thinner, drier and more delicate, which can make a pessary more likely to rub or feel uncomfortable.
Some women are prescribed vaginal oestrogen to help. It comes as a cream or small tablet that you put into your vagina, and it works mainly on the tissue there, with very little absorbed into the rest of your body. Vaginal moisturisers and lubricants can also help with dryness.
If you’re breastfeeding and thinking about a pessary, ask your doctor whether vaginal oestrogen could help in your situation.
Possible side effects
Most side effects from pessaries are mild and can be managed. The most common are:
- More vaginal discharge than usual
- Rubbing or irritation of the vaginal walls
- Some light bleeding or spotting
- The pessary moving or slipping out, especially when you first start
- New leaking, as supporting the prolapse can sometimes uncover a bladder weakness
Serious problems are rare and usually happen when a pessary is left in for a long time without check-ups. That’s why regular check-ups are important.
Contact your health professional or GP if you notice smelly discharge, bleeding, pain or soreness, or you have trouble passing urine or opening your bowels.
Sex with a pessary
You can still have sex if you use a pessary. Some types, like a ring, can stay in during sex. Others, like a cube, need to be taken out first and put back in afterwards.
Some women or their partners notice the pessary during sex. If that happens, you can take it out beforehand if your type allows it.
Let the person fitting your pessary know if you want to keep having penetrative sex, so they can help you choose a type that suits you. It’s also a good time to talk about contraception.
References
Beer, F., Kuppinger, M., Schwab, F., Hübner, M., Kiefner, B., Nacke, A., Kelkenberg, U., Schütze, S., Lindner, A., Hellmeyer, L., Janni, W., Metz, M., & Deniz, M. (2025). Effect of postpartum pessary use on pelvic floor function: a prospective multicenter study. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 311, 1209-1217.
Brown, C., Rantell, A., Anders, K., Brett, L., McDowell, A., Tilston, D., Wilson, N., Wilkens, J., Abbas, N., Dwyer, L., Smith, G., & Lough, K. (2026). UK Clinical Guideline for Best Practice in the Use of Vaginal Pessaries for Pelvic Organ Prolapse. Neurourology and Urodynamics, 45, 1113-1151.
Bugge, C., Adams, E.J., Gopinath, D., Stewart, F., Dembinsky, M., Sobiesuo, P., & Kearney, R. (2020). Pessaries (mechanical devices) for managing pelvic organ prolapse in women. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 11, CD004010.
Kiefner, B., Schwab, F., Kuppinger, M., Nacke, A., Kelkenberg, U., Schütze, S., Berger, F., Lindner, A., Hellmeyer, L., Janni, W., Metz, M., & Deniz, M. (2023). Evaluating compliance and applicability of postpartum pessary use for preventing and treating pelvic floor dysfunction: a prospective multicenter study. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 308, 651-659.
McEvoy, K., Griffin, R., Harris, M., Moger, H., Wright, O., Nurkic, I., Thompson, J., Das, R., & Neumann, P. (2023). Pessary management practices for pelvic organ prolapse among Australian health care practitioners: a cross-sectional study. International Urogynecology Journal, 34(10), 2519-2527.
Rantell, A., Abdool, Z., Fullerton, M.E., Gedefaw, A., Lough, K., Miotla, P., Mukhtarova, N., Neumann, P., Spencer, J., Warner, K.J., & Brown, H.W. (2025). International Urogynecology Consultation Chapter 3 Committee 1: Pessary Management. International Urogynecology Journal, 36, 533-550.
To learn more, read our articles I’ve Been Told I Have a Prolapse. What Does It Mean? | WHENWhat Does a Prolapse Feel Like? | WHEN and What Can You Do About Prolapse? | WHEN
