In Conversation With Dr. Preeti Jindal

Being a gynecologist has been the most exciting part of my life journey, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. Gynecology is one branch where you look after a woman from once she is born till she is alive. It is a branch which looks after a woman from womb to tomb.

Normally a  gynecologist just looks after the pregnancy and delivery or does surgeries for gynecological problems like fibroid or cancer, but there is much more to it.

The care starts from the time when a woman is born i.e. adolescent health, then in pre-pregnancy counseling, cancer prevention with cancer cervix vaccination etc.

But when a woman is not able to conceive, then comes the importance of fertility treatment like IVF, because to help a woman cherish dream of motherhood is something which is a very precious and very noble thing to do, and that inspired me to take up IVF.

Infact I have started a unique collaboration with Ayurvedic and naturopathy doctors to provide Integrated IVF to patients which uses best options of both pathies- allopathy & ayurveda to give best positive results to patients.

As far as cosmetic gynecology is concerned, longevity of life is increasing. So now women are expected to live till 90 years. Menopause in a woman occurs by 50 to 55  years, so 30 years of her life are spent without the estrogen which is post menopausal phase.

During menopause because of the lack of estrogen women suffer from many problems like loss of beauty, Alzheimer’s, pain in the muscles and nerves, osteoporosis, vaginal dryness, urinary leakage, and on top of it they find themselves alone with nobody to talk about it.

My aim of adapting cosmetic gynecology, which is actually an aesthetic and regenerative gynecology was to address this unspoken problem of women and to help millions of women suffering from this problem.

Your career includes prominent roles at esteemed hospitals in both India and the UK. How have these varied experiences influenced your approach to patient care?

Yes, I have been fortunate to work both in India and in the United Kingdom. Both experiences have been very fulfilling, and I have learned a lot from every appointment. In India, because of the sheer volume and the numbers we get, we get a lot of hands-on experience. When I was in the UK, it was more of a super specialization.

I was working in St. Mary’s Hospital, which is one of the most acknowledged hospitals in the United Kingdom, and I was working in the recurrent miscarriage unit, so it gave me more insight into this very common problem of women (around 1% of the women suffer from recurrent miscarriages).

Besides working in the multicultural, multiracial society of the U.K., I had exposure to how to deal with women of different cultures, which helped me in developing new milestones in my career.

The Touch Clinic is renowned for its advanced services in gynecology. Could you share some of the most groundbreaking treatments or techniques you’ve introduced?

The Touch clinic, is a very advanced gynae, IVF, and cosmetic gynecological center. We have introduced many novel techniques to help women. Some of these techniques in the IVF specialty are Pre-implantation genetic screening, Artificial Intelligence & IMSI.

We were the first in north India to do Pre pre-implantation genetic screening in IVF embryos, which helped us in diagnosing genetic problems in the embryos, and this technique helps in choosing the embryos which do not have genetic problems like Down syndrome,Thalassemia etc. Hence we can transfer the healthy embryos only.

This prevents the women from the trauma of getting an abortion  done or having an unhealthy offspring. Also, we were one of the first one in north India to use artificial intelligence in ranking the embryos so that the success rate is increased.

As far as the aesthetic gynecology is concerned, I am one of the pioneers in India and the Touch clinic has introduced many new things in India. The HIFEM (High Intensity Focused electromagnetic vibration chair), which is used for the treatment of urinary incontinence, was introduced for the first time in India through the touch clinic.

Also we have brought a lot of awareness about the aesthetic and cosmetic gynecology in India, through lectures, teaching, courses, seminars etc. We have one of the highest series of vaginal CO2 laser procedures for rejuvenation, and we do lots of educational programs to teach the gynecologist from India and around the world about these new techniques in female rejuvenation, like vaginal lasers, HIFU,RF, etc.

A vaginal Laser is used for treating vaginal dryness, vaginal laxity, unwanted urinary leakage, recurrent vaginal infection and painful intercourse.

We organize lots of conferences to teach the women about their problems. I am also the general secretary of the Indian Society of aesthetic gynecology (InSARG), and we are trying to build up this branch in India, helping the colleagues and juniors to come forward into this very much required field.

Recurrent miscarriage is a heartbreaking challenge for many women. What advancements or treatments at The Touch Clinic have shown the most promise in helping these patients?

Recurrent miscarriage is a very distressing problem, physically, emotionally, and socially for the couple, Around 1% of couples, suffer from three or more consecutive miscarriages. The main treatment of recurrent miscarriage, I learned, was from St Mary’s Hospital, UK, which is one of the most advanced centers for recurrent miscarriage treatment worldwide.

At the Touch clinic, we have a dedicated recurrent miscarriage clinic. The aim is to give scientific knowledge to the couple suffering from this problem. We strive to provide evidence based treatment, along with the very empathetic, tender, loving care to these couples.

The approach is to find the cause and try to make couple achieve a healthy pregnancy in future. The many causes of recurrent miscarriage are genetic abnormalities, thrombophilias, uterine defects etc. It is very important to find the exact cause and timely treat it for a successful outcome.

Cosmetic gynecology is a relatively new field. What motivated you to integrate this into your practice, and how do you see it evolving in the future?

Cosmetic gynecology is definitely a new field, and I was intrigued about this field because it is the need of the hour. Now a days many women are peri or post-menopausal, and they have so many problems, starting from beauty, bone health, heart health, mind health, vaginal health and sexual health.

They do not know where to go for with these problems. One main problem which tempted me to come into this field,is the involuntary urinary leakage in the women, which affects many women.

We know that nowadays with the longevity of life the need for the adult diaper is much more than the baby diapers because most of the women after the age of 60 suffer from the involuntary urinary leakage.

This happens because of the pregnancy, aging, childbirth, etc and women don’t know what to do about it. In cosmetic gynecology, we have so many devices to provide painless noninvasive management for these problems like laser, HIFU, HIFEM ,PRP, etc.

Also who suffer from loss of libido and vaginal dryness, and vaginal laser CO2 laser is a very good tool to help these women to overcome vaginal dryness.

Besides this there are many other things starting from the head to toe where the cosmetic gynecology can help the women, so the touch clinic provides these services to take care of  unspoken problems of women.

You’ve written several books aimed at different aspects of women’s health. Which book do you believe has had the most impact, and why?

Yes, I have been fortunate enough to get my books published by the renowned publishing houses. My first book which came out was Aesthetic and Cosmetic Gynecology, which was published by Springer Nature, and the second book, again, was on cosmetic gynecology, and it was published by JP Publishers.

Besides this, I have written small booklets like menopausal health, Young Forever, pregnancy guide, your pregnancy companion, etc, to help women in different phases of their lives.

All of these books are unique in their own and they all have been very impactful. There is also adolescent health book to give knowledge about the adolescent health to the young girls.

Also to help women with their pregnancy related questions . This book was written “Your pregnancy companion” in which I had put anecdotes from my own pregnancies.

There is a book “My Lil Preg campanion “ in which there are many questions which all pregnant women wants to ask, but is hesitant to ask the obstetrician because many times there are small problems, just like a heartburn or something like what time a movement will be felt or how to take care of stretch marks or what to do when you are feeling emotional, such things, many times you cannot ring your doctor every time to ask for every small thing.

So this is a very good book and everyone must read your own pregnancy companion. Then for the perimenopausal and menopausal women, I have written a book for staying young and healthy at this age, which tells them about the latest developments to help these women.

Then the books on the aesthetic and cosmetic gynecology are basically for the doctors to learn who want to embark in this field of cosmetic gynecology. They provide them the evidence based scientific insight into different techniques, which are done like lasers, HIFEM, energy based devices, PRP, surgical techniques for labiaplasties, vaginoplasties, for dyspareunia, hymenoplasties, etc. So all books are unique and are gems in themselves.

Your clinic was the first in North India to offer Pre implantation Genetic Screening (PGS) in IVF. How has this service improved pregnancy outcomes for your patients?

PGS is (pre-implantation, genetic screening) and the touch clinic was the first in north India to introduce this technique. PGS is very important in IVF because there are few couples where both partners are thalassemia carriers. 

Thalassemia is a genetic defect in the hemoglobin and the Hb is not formed properly. So if both partners are carriers of thalassemia, there is a high probability that the of child will be a thalassemia major. These babies do not have normal hemoglobin and they need frequent blood transfusion. 

So by doing IVF, PGS we can identify healthy embryos and transfer that one only. Besides this many time the parents are carriers of different abnormalities.  PGS involves the laser biopsy of the one cell of the embryo, the genetic makeup of the embryo can be determined. If the embryo is genetically normal, it can be transferred. 

And if it is not normal, it can be discarded after the consent of parents. So PGS is very important. Not only it improve the success rate,as the most common cause for IVF failure is a genetic abnormality in the embryo,it also saves the misery of undergoing miscarriage. 

So by the PGS, the couple can detect the abnormal embryo earlier, and can choose whether to transfer that embryo or not. So PGS is definitely something very advanced and very good to help couples who do not want to have abnormal babies. 

As a mentor and teacher, you’ve trained many young gynecologists and embryologists. What advice do you give them about succeeding in this demanding field?

The advice I would like to give to youngsters is that have patience, follow ethics, read a lot, follow academics, and provide scientific and evidence-based advice to your patients. Provide tender loving care to patients. Be a good doctor with a mind of esteem and a heart of gold.

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