You Don't Have to Live With It
Urinary Incontinence
Urinary leakage affects millions of women and men, and the average person waits years before bringing it up. At Texas Regional Urology, our board-certified urologists treat all forms of incontinence, including surgical repair, at our offices in The Woodlands, Tomball, and Kingwood.
What is urinary incontinence?
Understanding Urinary Incontinence
Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine, and it takes several distinct forms with different causes and different treatments. Stress incontinence is leakage during coughing, laughing, sneezing, lifting, or exercise, caused by weakened pelvic floor support or a weakened urinary sphincter — it is the most common type in women, particularly after childbirth and menopause, and the most common type in men after prostate surgery. Urge incontinence is leakage accompanied by sudden urgency, arising from involuntary bladder contractions. Mixed incontinence combines both. Overflow incontinence is constant dribbling from a bladder that never empties, often due to obstruction or nerve damage. Identifying which type you have determines everything about treatment.
How would I know which type I have?
Symptoms of Urinary Incontinence
Stress incontinence leaks with physical exertion and no warning urge — coughing, laughing, sneezing, lifting, jumping, or standing up. Urge incontinence brings a sudden overwhelming need to urinate followed by leakage before reaching the toilet. Mixed incontinence produces both patterns. Overflow incontinence causes frequent or constant dribbling, a weak stream, and a persistent sense of incomplete emptying. Volume varies from a few drops to complete bladder emptying, and severity does not determine whether treatment is warranted — the effect on your life does. Many people quietly restrict exercise, travel, and social activity long before they mention the problem to anyone.
How is incontinence diagnosed?
How We Diagnose Urinary Incontinence
Evaluation begins with a history covering the pattern of leakage, what provokes it, how much, prior pregnancies and deliveries, prior surgeries including prostate surgery, medications, and other conditions. A bladder diary tracking intake, voids, and leak episodes over several days clarifies the type substantially. Physical examination includes a pelvic exam in women to assess support and prolapse, and a cough stress test can demonstrate stress leakage directly. Urinalysis rules out infection, and post-void residual measurement identifies incomplete emptying. Urodynamic testing, which measures bladder pressure and function during filling, is used when the picture is unclear or when surgery is being considered.
Why Choose Texas Regional Urology for Incontinence Care?
Why Patients Choose TRU
Here is what we can do
Incontinence Treatment Options at Texas Regional Urology
Nearly everyone with incontinence can be improved, and many can be effectively cured. Treatment follows the type: stress incontinence responds to pelvic floor strengthening and, when needed, surgical support, while urge incontinence responds to bladder retraining and medication. Conservative measures come first for most patients and succeed often enough to be worth a genuine attempt before considering a procedure.
Pelvic Floor Muscle Training
Correctly performed pelvic floor exercises significantly reduce or eliminate stress leakage for many women and help men recover continence after prostate surgery. Technique instruction matters — a large share of people perform them incorrectly on their own.
Behavioral and Lifestyle Measures
Timed voiding, fluid adjustment, reducing bladder irritants, weight loss, and managing constipation all measurably reduce leakage. These are unglamorous and genuinely effective.
Medication
Medications that relax the bladder muscle treat urge and mixed incontinence effectively. Topical vaginal estrogen improves tissue quality and symptoms in some postmenopausal women.
Female Sling Procedures
A sling provides support beneath the urethra to restore continence during exertion, and it is the most common surgical treatment for stress incontinence in women. It is typically performed as an outpatient procedure, with most women going home the same day.
Answers to your Incontinence Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Common, yes — but not something to accept.
Pregnancy and delivery weaken pelvic floor support, making stress incontinence frequent afterward, but frequency is not the same as normal. Most women improve substantially with pelvic floor therapy alone.
For most men, largely yes.
Continence improves substantially over the first several months and continues improving for up to a year, aided by pelvic floor exercises. Men with persistent leakage beyond that point have effective surgical options.
They manage it; they don't treat it.
Pads are a sensible bridge while you pursue treatment, but relying on them indefinitely means living with a condition that is usually correctable. The cost over years is also considerable.
No — most patients avoid it.
Pelvic floor therapy, behavioral changes, and medication resolve or substantially improve leakage for the majority of patients. Surgery is offered when conservative treatment has not achieved what you need.
Yes, with an experienced surgeon.
Sling procedures are among the most studied treatments in urology, with strong long-term success rates and a low complication rate in experienced hands. Your surgeon will review the specific risks and alternatives with you.
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