Lisa Megginson endured more than a decade of pain before discovering the root cause now she wants others to know about it

A Scots woman who endured agonising complications from a surgical mesh implant is set to have the tape put on display at a museum in Edinburgh.

Lisa Megginson, 51, a member of a Scottish mesh survivors group endured more than a decade of pain before discovering the root cause.

Doctors thought her pelvic pain was the result of viral illnesses, her age, and even the menopause before they finally removed her transvaginal mesh tape in April. It is a complicated procedure which leaves patients with long-standing pain problems and hair loss.

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She is among thousands of British women to experience similar issues with the procedure which is used to treat vaginal prolapse after childbirth, UTIs and bladder problems. It's use was later stopped in Scotland after hundreds of women were left with painful, life-changing side effects.

Now the 25cm piece of plastic that turned Lisa's life upside down is set to go on display at the Surgeons' Hall in Edinburgh in its Wohl Pathology museum. She told the BBC: "This is fantastic to see but it's a horror story to me.

"That little 25cm piece of plastic has devastated my life and my family's lives," she said. "It's not just like it's removed and you're ok, I have still got a surgical journey to go on and you never recover."

She was referred for treatment in 2018 but waited more than three years to have the mesh removed at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she took the unusual step of choosing to have the surgery awake.

The Surgeons' Hall Museums said although it has not taken any human remain specimens since the 1990s, the mesh tape is symbolic of a "significant period in women's health".

On donating it Lisa said: "I just thought – it can't just be they can take the mesh out of me and that's it. I would hate to think it's just somewhere on a shelf in a lab or it was disposed of. I thought somebody needs to see the explanted mesh.

"You know women will request their medical records and they will get a photograph but it's not as powerful as physically seeing it."

Museum curator Louise Wilkie said: "We haven't accepted a new human tissue specimen in about 20 years because the collections have changed in their use.

"However we have made this exception for Lisa because it's such a unique specimen, it represents a significant period in the history of medicine and allows us to tell that story, without the specimen we can't really tell the story.

"I think this is the first time in the museum's history that we've had a specimen donated directly from a patient and what that allows us to do is tell a much more personal narrative."x

It comes as women in Scotland have this year been given the option to request for referral to one of two independent providers for mesh removal surgery abroad.

The Scottish Government announced a contract has been agreed between the NHS and Gynaecologic and Reconstructive Surgery Ltd in Missouri, USA.

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