Mona Lisa touch reviews

So true.  We have to manage our own health care.  I heard d of the Mona Lisa here and then researched it and asked my doctor.  

I didn’t get procedure code as operating room was busy with an emergency, have to come back next Friday. Doctor confirmed it would be the appropriate procedure for me, and that it is covered by my insurance. 

Awaiting the code.  That would be amazing in so many levels.  Thank you for doing this

nancy, my upcoming appointment is with a GYN who is available to see me sooner so I've never seen her before. Will have to start from scratch assuming she is willing to. She may just say I need to make an appointment with the woman I saw once before and try to deal with my discomfort on a temporary basis....don't know. 

I did try the Multi-gyn gel women here have recommended and it was rather disastrous for me. I have no idea why. Things are more under control now with just the coconut oil, but I need something to work better than this. Will bring the list of possible options to the new doctor and see how much she will be willing to discuss. Also will be my 1st opportunity to talk about the Mona Lisa with a doctor.

I have been using a combination of organic Castor oil, Olive Oil and fractionated coconut oil for LS symptoms. It helps.

I had my first MLT session today. I am experiencing mild burning, a little bleeding and bladder spasms. It is subsiding a bit now. Side effects are not pleasant. I also thought about trying BioTE bioidentical hormone pellet with estrogen and testosterone. Has anyone tried this? After reading some side effect issues here, not sure if I am continuing the MLT treatments.

L, funny how these conversations come & go. Since getting involved with this one and seeing my newest gyn over a year ago I was actually diagnosed with LS and have had to start using both hormone cream and a steroid. Fortunately, this new dr was very familiar with vulval skin disorders. I did ask her what she thought about the ML treatment and it wasn't overly positive. Said she was following a local dr who was doing it and it was not without problems. She feels burning thin post menopausal skin can create new ones.

Unfortunately for me my improvement with the steroid ended after 6 months and the LS returned and spread. I am now on clob instead of Triamcinolone. Have you not been using a steroid for LS?

To make matters worse my gyn left the group to supposedly open her own practice but that has not happened. I have been researching on my own and have come up with PRP injections as a possible treatment. Only problem is I can find no dr in my area who does it. Commercially it is called the O-Shot which you can get at spas, but I want someone who has medical knowledge re LS.

I have also made dietary changes and take many supplements, neither of which have had any affect.

Let us know what you decide to do. One dr told me to have PRP without having laser treatment was a waste of $. I assumed she meant ML, but she said she used a different laser.

We really are left constantly wondering what the best treatment is. Hope you feel better soon.

Yes, I use clob twice a week and still get flare ups. I also use vagifem 1 to 2 times a week, but the price went up. I have been looking for a treatment that will make it go away. I have tried diet, supplements, stress management and nothing has worked. my Ls started when I started menopause. Due to increase in price of prescriptions I thought I would try MLT, but also discovered that it is a maintenance program too. I hope that the doctor will prorate it, since I only had one treatment. I am not so sure I am doing that again. The bladder spasms stopped, (thank God) but boy am I sore. A friend of mine is using BioTE pellets. she says it has helped tremendously with menopausal symptoms, but she does not have LS. ugh....it is frustrating.

I don't use vagifem. Had estradiol compounded for $80 because with my last insurance co it cost $350 at the drugstore. Have since changed my insurance; it now costs $36. I assume you are in the US? You can see a SHINE counselor and change co's in the fall if you want to shop for a co with a better price for vagifem. Or maybe you can use another type of cream that isn't as costly with your current insurance? It's absurd what we have to go through now for healthcare, isn't it?

I'm now using a little clob everynight. If I don't I get a buzzing sensation which someone here told me was active disease. She was right because when I saw my gyn she told me it had spread. Would love to stop using it as often, but without it the sensation just increases. I don't get the flare ups that women report. Just the slow shrining of tissue.

If only there was one med or procedure that worked for everyone, how much easier this would be.

Thanks so much.  Do you have Medicare or not. I do with a supplement.  

Will let you know if it works.  Let me know how treatments progress for you

I have my next treatment on June 5. Will tell my Dr. about these codes. I also have medicare and a supplement.   Thanks for your effort in getting these!  

Jeanne. Let me know if codes work for you.  I don’t go till end of year.  Would be great  if it does

I already pre-paid this procedure as that is what they require to make the appointment. However I will definitely tell the Dr about the codes and write them down for her to check into. It looks  to me like this Dr. breaks the procedure into parts rather than billing for the "Mona  Lisa" as one procedure. Creative if it works !

Isn't pre-paying just to make an appointment a bit unusual? Is this a gyn doing the procedure?

I don't have dental insurance and have to pay at the time of the work with a check or charge, but they certainly don't ask for payment before doing the work. Sounds odd.

Just the policy at the Cleveland Clinic for any non-covered procedure. I have had six treatments and it is the same everytime. It probably has to do with making sure they get their money. Things such as plastic surgery which is not covered also need to be paid in advance or a payment program set up. Doesn't bother me.

Unfortunately I think the Mona Lisa is in the plastic surgery category. Still think women should wage a campaign to have it covered by insurance. I certainly don't look forward to using hormones which is all the doctor has suggested so far. After all, impotence does not cause physical pain or impair a man's ability to function outside of sex, whereas women can suffer terribly due to atrophy. Yet men get their pills for impotence covered by insurance, don't they?

Maybe time for the MeToo ladies to get involved. 

I would wage a campaign if I knew where to start.  Any suggestions.  I am in California 

The Dr. I see at the Cleveland Clinic finished a study trying to show the effectiveness of the Mona Lisa in comparison to the hormones as she said there has to be definitive medical studies ( more than they already have!) to prove the case. She said hers was submitted but due to budget cuts all over the gov't at whatever level is needed, she thought it would be a long time before hers was even reviewed. I will talk to her about this again at my appt June 5, and will also give her those codes which Mimmee sent a few days ago.

I have been googling, but can't find specific info. A state rep or senator's (particularly a female one) office may be able to help by steering you in a direction. I came upon a site on bariatric surgery for obese people re getting new procedures and devices approved. https://asmbs.org/pathway-for-approval-for-new-devices-and-procedures .Obviously these are complicated steps that doctors or maybe researchers have to take, but that got me thinking about motivation. Why do the doctors do it? Just to help their patients? What if it were patient driven? Seems it would pack more punch, particularly for a politician.

Why is any surgery approved for obesity? If the rationalization against the ML is that patients can be treated with hormones instead, the same argument could be applied re obesity being resolved by dieting. I should think wanting to avoid hormones because of the risks involved would carry quite a bit of weight, rather than saying I just don't want to use hormones. (In my case my sister recently died of breast cancer).

I will be in MA mid week. Maybe I'll try Sen. Warren's office. If anyone is committed to helping "the people" she is. You could try Kamala Harris maybe?

Collecting signatures from constituents might help. I wonder if contacting the AMA would be helpful re advice. 

I sent a reply to nancy about this, but it's being "moderated". I wanted you and others to be able to read it so did not send it privately. Very annoying. 

Not an easy process. I am going to call Medicare to ask how a code is applied to new treatments and what they suggest.  My doc says it is considered a cosmetic processwhich is crazy as people suffer with vaginal atrophy.  Will keep you informed. 

I believe it is the same type of laser that is used on the face to stimulate production of collagen for cosmetic purposes. Clearly it occured to some gynecologist that it might work vaginally and the Mona Lisa was born. 

Will see what info I can get once I return home and will post it.

I see my above comment finally was approved. Guess we have to communicate in code.

I have my treatments with my gynecologist or his wife who is a family physician and they also ask for pre-payment of all treatments. Don't know why they want the cash before the appointments?????

I've never encountered that. Even at the dentist they wait till you're leaving to get paid. It's all about the money nowadays. I remember being sent a BILL by the doctor, do you?

Whenever you have to pay for a treatment up front, it means it's either cosmetic or it is unproven and insurance won't pay for it.

I'm SHOCKED that people will risk their delicate vaginal tissue to a procedure that is not FDA approved. The top Mona Lisa researcher at Stanford still has not given his thumbs up on this procedure, because there isn't enough research on adverse events.

Some people have wound up with long-term pain from this procedure!

That was pretty much my gyn's opinion. Wait and see...and what she was seeing wasn't a procedure she would recommend because of the problems cases. I realize it has helped some people and that's wonderful but I've become skittish about burning thinning skin that I already have problems with. Hearing that some women have had poor results that pretty convinces me to take a step back. At first I thought it would be the final solution if nothing else worked. Now I'm leaning toward PRP injections, but I can't find enough info from medical sources re its efficacy for AV and LS. I do think it's probably a safer option, but re any long term issues encountered, I have no idea.