A woman who spent her life savings to have a vaginal mesh removed in the US said she could no longer wait for the operation in Northern Ireland after bleeding and foreign objects came out.

Sylvia Vickery, 61, said she was “angry and sad” but had no choice as waiting lists for examination and treatment at the Belfast Mesh Clinic were too long.

In Belfast, one day of surgery per month is set aside for mesh removal, but with an average of only two operations per day, some women have to wait for years.

The Belfast Trust reported that 38 pelvic mesh removal operations had been performed over the past five years.

About 53 women are currently on a waiting list for outpatient treatment, while 47 are waiting for surgery.

Mrs Vickery, from Eglinton, County Londonderry, compared her pain to “shards of glass rubbing against her organs” and said it was “unbearable”, particularly when urinating and even walking.

She spent more than £20,000 to have the mesh removed, including the cost of the private operation and travel expenses to St Louis, Missouri, in the USA.

Mrs Vickery underwent vaginal mesh implants to treat her stress incontinence at Altnagelvin Hospital in 2014.

In March 2023, she began to feel a burning sensation in her abdomen and had extreme pain, especially when urinating.

She recalled an incident in which she spent 45 minutes in her bathroom.

“There was just so much blood in the toilet bowl and I realized I had passed a piece of the web that felt like it was cutting through me.

“The pain was unbearable. I felt like I was going to faint,” Ms Vickery said.

Surgical mesh used to support the vagina and organs such as the bladder, rectum, or urethra.

Vaginal mesh implants are classified as medical devices – hernia mesh is used in men.

For years, mesh was considered the gold standard in the treatment of incontinence and prolapse in women.

However, the mesh-like implant can erode and harden, causing cuts in the tissue and thus severe pain and organ damage.

Some women suffered from permanent pain and were no longer able to walk, work or have sex.

As concerns about the extent of complications grew, routine use of meshes was paused and eventually discontinued in 2018.

Ms Vickery attended a private clinic in Northern Ireland where a scan revealed that the mesh had perforated her bladder.

Her GP referred her urgently to the Altnagelvin Clinic, where a secretary told her it could take up to eight months before she could be seen at the Belfast Mesh Clinic.

It was founded in 2018 to treat women from across Northern Ireland.

Unable to bear the pain any longer, Ms. Vickery decided to travel to St. Louis to see a specialist in April 2024.

During her operation, a piece of mesh about 20 cm long was removed.

“I had to be opened up from hip to hip so the surgeon could see the entire mesh and start repairing it,” she said.

“The surgeon said I was very lucky and if I had waited any longer to have treatment, the damage might have been even more serious.

“The mesh had entered my bladder. It was a huge repair job – the operation took two and a half hours longer than expected.”

It is unclear exactly how many women in Northern Ireland suffer from mesh implants.

While many have had successful surgery, hundreds are believed to require removal.

According to an NI audit report, a total of around 11,000 vaginal mesh implants were inserted in Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2018, with a conservative estimate that 5-10% of cases resulted in problems.

The audit found that data was not properly recorded by local health authorities.

Sling the Mesh NI has 603 members – the majority of whom reported problems.

Four months after her surgery, Ms Vickery said she felt ten years younger.

“I have no problems at the moment, my recovery has been fantastic. I was able to fly and return home ten days after the operation,” she said.

Sylvia said she was lucky to have a supportive husband and family.

According to local mesh groups Mesh Ireland and Sling the Mesh, mesh can destroy lives and relationships.

“When it comes to mesh and its surgical removal, women are being let down,” Ms Vickery said.

“The time women have to wait to be examined and then treated is simply too long. Very little is happening at the Mesh Clinic in Belfast.”

In England, 393 patients underwent surgery between April 2021 and October 2022, while the average waiting time for a first outpatient appointment was 15 weeks and for an operation was 23 weeks.