PESSARY ASSISTANT TOOL BIO

In 2014 and 2015, after years of seeing some of his patients struggle with ring pessary placement and removal, Ob/Gyn Chris Radpour MD in Chattanooga, TN invented & patented the world’s first ever dual purpose medical tool to help with both.  He named it the Pessary Assistant. 

Invented with Patients, Gynecologists, Urologists, Physical Therapists, & Physiologists in mind, Pessary Assistant is designed to help with placement and removal of most types of ring pessaries (Ring pessaries with and without support, Incontinence pessaries, Knob pessaries, Oval pessaries, and other similar types).  And because each one is injection-molded with expensive FDA-approved medical-grade plastic, you can be sure of safe contact with your skin. 

Especially useful for patients with weak hand muscles or arthritis, the Pessary Assistant features two sides:  1) an upside down “U” shaped “Pessary Assist” side, which holds a folded ring pessary in preparation for placement, and 2) a “c” shaped “Pessary Hook” side which helps retrieve a ring pessary from the vaginal canal. 

Although a ring pessary can be left in place for weeks or even months, the ideal situation is to teach a patient to place it in the morning and remove it at night.  Leaving a pessary out when a person sleeps allows “healing” or “rest” time for the vaginal walls, reducing the risk of erosions that might be caused by prolonged “rubbing” of the vaginal sidewalls or cervix by the pessary. 

Use of ring pessaries for Pelvic Organ Prolapse has increased over the last decade.  Pessary Assistant gives many patients the dexterity and confidence they need to place and remove their ring pessaries themselves, often times sparing them the need for an extra doctor’s visit.