Mona Lisa touch

Agree in the long run its a

a savings as well as hope because the estrogens don't always help for me and I do worry about increased cancer risks

I think it's money well spent. Auto repairs can easily cost that much. I am on social security and pretty much unemployed, but would be willing to use savings for it if I needed it at this time. I still have hope that insurance will cover it as they do cover men's issues. After all it isn't cosmetic or just to make having sex possible (Viagra is covered). May take a lot of lobbying on women's part, but the more insurance co's and legislators hear from us the greater the chances that it will be covered.

Glad to hear there are other women here who are going to have it so you can compare notes. Good luck to all of you.

I am using savings as I am also retired. Wish I could wait till it is covered but it too long n too painful. Need to enjoy my senior years

I don't know if this is still an active thread. I am new here. I had my second Mona Lisa treatment today. I don't think I felt much improvment after the first one and I am hopeful. As we all know insurance does not cover this procedure for several reasons. One reason is because it was approved as a cosmetic procedure and does not have a CPT code for billing purposes. Another reason is because the company that manufactures the laser charges a hefty fee for the equipment and for the physicians to offer it in their practice it is more lucrative for them to charge privately for it. No one is interested in having insurance pay for it other than the women who are suffering with symptoms and would benefit from the treatments. One thing that women can do is to write to or contact the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to put pressure on them to take this issue to the AMA which is the entitiy that is responsible for assigning CPT codes. Also contact the insurance companies and file a complaint. I am filing an appeal with BCBS when I am done with my treatments. I willl include data which describes the outcome and also will include all the clinical data I can gather. Ladies, we need to advocate for ourselves to get the insurance companies to DO THE RIGHT THING!

Hi Susan!

I just read your post.  I had my first Mona Lisa Treatment 11 days ago and so far absolutely no improvement.  I am suffering greatly from pain and soreness 24/7.  Can you explain to me what symtoms you are having? I am not sexually active but am certain intercourse would kill me!

I would love to keep in touch with you through this forum so you can let me know if you have any improvement after your second treatment.  I am feeling down as this pain has prohibited me from working for the past year and I seem to be crying all of the time.  I've had ever test in the book, all negative except for AV.  I restarted Vagifem a few days ago at my gyno's prompting,  but haven't had much success with it in the past.  The laser was a big hope of mine!  The doctor said I should have felt some sort of relief 3-9 days after my 1st Mona Lisa treatment.  Is he wrong?  I feel worse than ever. So many sites and videos say so many different things as to how long one should feel improvement.  

Anyway, Susan, I hope you will continue to post here throughout the remainder of your Mona Lisa treatments.  I will as well.  

Susan. I will advocate for this procedure to be covered. So many women are suffering life altering pain. Mona Lisa gave me back my life after 3 years of antibiotics and being in pain daily. What is the BCBS. I am

In Northern California.

I would like to know how many of the women on this blog have had either a partial or complete hysterectomy?! I hope I am not being too forward but I feel as though my problem with pain, etc. didn't start until after I had my uterus out . Can anyone else relate to this ?

Yes I can, my problems started after my TAH. The itching / pain within 6 months. At the age of 42. Took another 2nyears to get diagnosed. 

karny, do you think the insurance co's and medicare will soon agree to cover it on that basis? Do they listen to what doctors have to say?

thank for the info.  I have a female uro gyn in Mountain View CA and she sent me to Doc in Los Gatos who does the mona lisa.  My main issue is frequent uti's and pain.  took me 4 years to be diagnosed with atrophy as my other urologist was treating me for intersistial cystitis and uti's.  Doctors here are positive about the outcome too

I see that a lot where docs mistake atrophic vaginitis symptoms for interstial cystitis...too bad it took so long to get the right diagnosis.  Atrophic vaginitis is much more common and unless you have bladder pain, then by definition you don't have IC because the other name for it is painful bladder syndrome.

KJ

Not a chance it will be covered in the forseable future because the company selling the laser, Cynosure is an aesthetic company.  It requires a herculean effort to obtain a CPT code from Medicare because of congress passing the budget neutrality law requiring that another CPT code would have to get eliminated.  It would need lots of money to lobby to get the code at the expense of another code.  I don't see that happening.

Maybe some menopausal female congresspeople can change that. Here's hoping! Aren't there drugs that were intended for one purpose, but are effective for other problems? I forget the terminology for it, but isn't the efficaccy the issue here? Seems far preferable than having women take hormones forever. It's not elective surgery if the symptoms are chronic, right? There's got to be a way. Women have got to start writing their congressional representatives. There's nothing to lose!

What if urologists and gyneclologists did the same? Doesn't the AMA lobby congress?

There is a difference in Medicare coverage between medications and procedures.  Each procedure requires a code.  It doesn't hurt to get politically active, but at the same time Cynosure is not advocating for a code so I don't see the MonaLisa Touch vaginal laser treatment getting insurance coverage anytime soon.  That being said, compared to other laser treatments $2500 for the package of three treatments is on the low side.

 

The Cleveland Clinic which does the procedure, is doing a study which will be submitted to some insurance board to advocate for coverage for the Mona Lisa. They are comparing use of estrogen v. Laser on several levels. I do not know when this study closes. I am going there for the procedure in March. They charge $1,500 for three treatments which I think is reasonable.

Stanford dr Sokol is talking if a study. I saw him but just don't want to wait any longer. Every 6 to 8 weeks I have a uti and utvisxwearingevout. Plus the antibiotics. Here in Silicon Valley it's about 3000 for 3 treatments.

jean, do you have to have extreme symptoms for the Cleveland Clinic to accept you? That price sounds very reasonable if it actually cures the atrophy, even if it requires yearly maintenance treatments.

I sent you a private message. But they take anyone who is candidate, You need to see a Dr or NP who determines if you are. My symptons are probably middle of the road now, but I cannot stop using the estrogen or they are really awful,

Thats wonderful. I am hopeing Mayo clinic will offer it soon.

Can you give me more information about Cleveland Clinic.  Is $1500 their regular price or is that for a trial?  For me locally to have it done it's $3,000 so it would make sense to travel to Cleveland stay in a hotel and travel home times 3 to save 1500 bucks!

My treatments were $500 each so three would be $1500. You pay in advance but only for one at a time. My Dr. was Dr. Maria Pariso. You can find her number on their website. There was also another Dr. in that office doing it. She is quite booked up so expect a wait. You may want to stay an extra day after the first one.- up to you. I was quite sore. The 2nd and 3rd times I flew down there stayed one night and went home.

Thank you so much for this information. I spoke to Cleveland Clinic yesterday and they couldn't find anything on Mona Lisa procedure. Now with a Dr. name I'll be able to make an appointment. I believe here near me it's 3k for the 3 appointments. I have friends not that far from Cleveland and I could likely stay with one of them. Were you really sore after the 2nd and 3rd time too or mostly just after the first one? Secondly have you found it has made all the difference in the world? I really appreciate your insite

Be sure to call the Dr's. office directly. The main general switchboard won't know anything about specific procedures. My atrophy was a 10 on a scale of 10 with 10  being the worst. It has really helped with the VA problem. Now I am dealing with pelvic floor muscle spasms whih is a different problem. 

Cleveland Clinic will want you to come for a consultation. I had Abby Anderson who is a nurse practioner. She was great. be prepared to pay when you schedule. You have to pay at the time of the scheduling. I was sore after the first one. Better with second and third. Everyone responds differently.

OK sounds like it would be what I need. I was not given a rating for VA when I went to my own GYN earlier this year. I'll keep you posted. I hope the spasms go away for you. I know you said it's a different problem but is that possibly a side effect of the ML treatment?

Thank you for the info.  My gyno wants to do the Mona Lisa procedure to help with stage four prolapse.  I'm not a candidate for sling repair since I've had three hernia repairs and still have one hernia to be done.  She feels like sling surgery will not last.  She also thinks that the ML will maybe tighten things up enough in the uterus to give me some relief of the prolapse.  That is a lot of money to just try and see if something works.  What would be your opinion of this, as a urologist?

Hi Karny,

You mentioned having great success with the MonaLisa touch laser.  I had my first Mona Lisa treatment 5 weeks ago to the inside and outside of my vagina, and have had zero improvement to date.  My second treatment is in two weeks.  Do you feel that I should have had some improvement after first treatment?  I am very discouraged.  I have had continuous burning and continuous soreness for one year now.  Diagnosed with AV by my gynocologist and urologist I tried Estrace and Vagifem to no avail and was really counting on the Laser treatments.  At this point I have little quality of life.  I can't sit, hurts to walk..etc...

I did not feel any better until about two months after the third treatment. Even then I felt like I could have used a couple more treatments. But, my atrophy was really bad. The nurse said it was a 9 or 10 out of 10. Like you the Vagifem did nothing and I was using it 3x a week !  Now I just use it 2x a week despite having the Mona Lisa, but I feel great. I go in for my once a year treatment in April. I  going to ask if I would benefit froma couple of more instead of just the one. All in all I am very happy with the results but it took time and patience. Hang in there. 

Hi Jean,

Thank you so much for the encouragement.  So far I have tried vagifem, estrace, replens, vitamin E oil, Coconut oil and one treatment of Mona Lisa Laser five weeks ago.  I cannot tell you how this is beating me down. I have constant burning and soreness 24/7 with no releif.  It is really affecting my quality of life.

Did you have burning and soreness Jean?  What were your symtoms? I have a little more hoope now in the laser now that you said it took all three treatments to feel better.

It took me over a year to try all these things too an got no improvement. Then I was searching on the internet and found the Mona Lisa.  I still use estriol oil ( a compounded subscription) on the vulva every night. Rather than just treating symptoms the Mona Lisa actually fixes the probelm.

Did you have constant burning and soreness like me?

I agree Jeanne. I had three years of Uti's. None of the hormones helped. Burning itching pain always. Also found Mona Lisa on internet and asked my doctor. She encouraged me to get the procedure done they didn't do it at her office as they didn't have the machine… It was the best thing I ever did. Going for touch up this year. I really feel this is an issue that cannot be corrected through Vagifem or any of the other hormones

Not anymore but I sure suffered with it until I had the three Mona LIsa treatments, and like I wrote before, it took about two months after the last treatment to feel mostly normal.

 

Did you feel better after the 1st laser treatment Nancy?

Thanks for responding Jean.  How can you be certain that it was the laser that helped you and not the vagifem kicking in.  I read on a couple of sites that it can take vagifem up to a year to be fully beneficial for some women.

Who can wait a year for vagifem to kick in. It's misery living with this condition and vagifem is a hormone and has side effects. People who have had cancer can't use it. I don't personally trust it but if that's the only option you have no choice

I did feel better after 1 but took three to stop pain

I was on vagifem for a long time and was using it , with my Dr's consent, 3x a week and even everyday for a few months . Talk about expensive. I am a breast cancer survivor and although my oncologist said it was fine I just didn't like the idea of using so much estrogen. My NP said my atrophy had shown no improvement at all !! And I was still miserable. after the laser treatments I went back to see my NP and she said she couldn't believe how much my atrophy had improved. Instead of a 10 it was more like a 5. She said she was convinced that the laser treatments really helped. I was able to cut back on the vagifem also and only use it once or twice a week if that. 

Doctor putting cancer survivor on vagifem is something I don't agree with. I always question. My doctors then research and make my own opinion. In the 1990s when I was going through menopause my doctor kept insisting I take hormones and I refused ended up firing him… My friend took the hormones ended up with breast cancer induced by hormones and we lost her 10 years agoAfter that the women's initiative came out with findings that hormones cause breast cancer so doctors are not always right.

Dear Nancyo, hello everyone on this thread,

Nancyo I find all your feedback on the ML procedure so helpful, thank you so much for sharing that here and on other threads.

You are so right in saying one should question one's doctor and do one's redearch, always. Absolutely right.

With respect to using hormones though, I havecto differ with your last comment. The study you cited, the Women's Health Initiative, showed many adverse effects from hormones and received much coverage in the press at the time. What has received less notice is that the study was flawed in many aspects. There are many lengthy discussions of how it was flawed, I can look for links if people are interested. But there is one main point I would like to highlight here and that is that the hormone in that study was Premarin, a synthetic estrogen, and a completely different chemical and dosage from Estradiol, which is what vagifem is. Yet another point is taking Premarin orally circulates and affects the body in a completely different way from a tiny dose of Estradiol taken vaginally. It is useful to remember that taking vagifem regularly is equall to one tablet of HRT per YEAR.

There is a useful statement about all of this on the very thoughtful website menopause matters dot co dot uk . That site is sponsored by the British Menopause Society. Doctors warned their patients off hormones for many years until the methods of the Women's Health Initiative study were looked at carefully, and now globally, recommendations are that bio-identical estradiol is much, much safer.

I totally respect your approach Nancyo, and want to repeat my respect for your doing your owb research, its a must, but in summary, want to point out that that study has been recognised by all kinds of researchers as having been seriously flawed.

Best wishes and I look forward always to your posts and feedback 😊

Thank you Kay. The Cleveland Clinic also agrees that the small amount of Estradiol in Vagifem is equal to one HRT tablet per year.  Everyone has to check the facts and do what is right for them personally. And there are so many types of breast cancer. One size does not fit all.

 

Yours too we learn so much here. Respect your choices

Yes Jean, you are very right.

Best of luck and please keep us posted about your progress.

Thanks Nancy.  I will keep plugging along and receive all three Mona Lisa treatments.  I guess I expected results too soon (after only one)  My second laser treatment is in nine days.  I'll let you know how it goes.  :-)

Oh I see Jean.  Thanks for answering.  I'll keep hoping and praying that the last two laser treatments I have upcoming will solve my problems.  Next one is in nine or ten days.

:-)

Hoping for good results for you. This condition is awful

Jean, I read on onther discussion you were also diagnosed with pudental neuralgia. Did the nerve block help you with the burning and soreness? Do you think your symtoms were caused by both conditions?  I have had burning and soreness for a long time now which most doctors think is caused by extremely low estrogen levels (due to hormone treatment for endometriosis) but one gyno thinks the irritated pudental nerve might be irritated after surgery and offers nerve block. I have had one ML treatment with no results yet going for another in a week, and in doubt about if the nerve block could reduce pain, even if it is just for a while

Yes. Treatment or even getting a diagnosis of pudenal neuralgia is a long drawn out process, but your Dr may be right. I had visibly great results with the Mona Lisa but still had quite bad burning on one side. I had 2 nerve blocks. The nerve blocks are only diagnositic. If your pain goes away or lessened you have pudenal neuralgia. My pain went away for two days the first time and got better for two weeks the second. Next I had to go to PT for 6 months ( specialized pelvic floor therapy). Now it runs between 70-100% better than it was but I still have trouble. The final step is nerve abalation which I am scheduled for on March 15. That is supposed to last up to a year and then might need repeating. The whole process will have taken over a year. But with both the ML and the nerve treatments I am so much better than I had been.

I had a bladder sling put on in April and after two months of bladder infections I thought I was on the road to recovery. I had the Mona Lisa touch treatment on Wednesday morning and Thursday I had another bladder infection. Now I'm having trouble urinating. Could the laser have made things irritated?

Ask your Dr. I have no idea. I think most of us on this site can only share experiences and are not able to give medical advice.