We were lucky to catch up with Teresa Irwin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Teresa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style. Do you have an interesting story from that stage of your career that you can share with us?
In my third year of residency, we came back from our honeymoon and my breasts were extremely sore, so it occurred to me that I should check a pregnancy test. Sure enough I was pregnant. I couldn’t believe it, and sat on the toilet crying incredulously, and paging 911 to my new husband. There were 3 reasons for this. First of all, I had polycystic ovarian syndrome, which means that your ability to get pregnant is significantly lower than the rest of the population w/o PCOS. Secondly, we were on our honeymoon at an all inclusive resort and we drank wine each night. So I thought I had caused major complications in the fetus. During the first four weeks of pregnancy, it is the “all or nothing principle.” In other words, nothing will happen, or you lose the pregnancy. Luckily, it was the former. Keep in mind, that I already knew that, but since it was ME, I forgot that very important information in the moment. Thirdly, I was the 3rd resident to get pregnant (there are only 12 residents per year). You can imagine how angry the rest of my peers must have been!
Teresa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a urogynecologist (at Caring Center for Women) that treats disorders of the pelvic floor through medical therapies and surgical procedures. There are 5 main categories that I treat: urinary dysfunction, bowel dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, pelvic pain, and sexual dysfunction. I am the only urogynecologist between Austin and San Antonio, Texas. There are only approximately 3000 of us in the nation (vs. 55,000 obstetrician-gynecologists). MORE THAN 50% of women will develop urinary incontinence at some point in their lives! Approximately 25% of women will have surgery for pelvic organ prolapse! These problems are abundant that can significantly affect women’s quality of life.
My professional world vision is to drastically reduce the amount of vaginal, bowel, and bladder dysfunctions through early education to empower women to take control of their reproductive health. This education will increase the quality of life for women all around the world! For this very reason, I have established “The Vaginacologist” company that provides this education through social media, website PDFs, and an on-line master-course.
I also own the practice named Aesthetics of Central Texas, which provides non-invasive methods to treat some of these conditions, that are not covered by insurance.
Before attending medical school, I was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of nursing and worked as a nurse for many years. I have served as an expert witness on female pelvic dysfunctions. I was voted one of ‘Texas’ best doctors by Texas Monthly in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2020, 2021 and 2022, as featured in www.superdoctors.com. The Consumer’s Research Council of America awarded me as “America’s Top Obstetricians and Gynecologists” in 2008 and 2010.
I provide women of all ages essential education, female empowerment, advanced female pelvic medicine, reconstructive surgery of the pelvic floor, and gynecologic aesthetic surgery. My philosophy is to present extraordinary healthcare throughout a woman’s life by treating the whole person (body, mind, and spirit). I want to provide the information that will empower women to take an active role in their own reproductive health, during all stages of their lives.
My own personal experiences inspire my passion for helping women reclaim control over their lives. I described my experience in my chapter in the internationally best selling book, Ignite Your Health and Wellness.
I am married to a brilliant family physician, Dr. Richard Laue, and have been blessed with three kind, and gorgeous sons. Additionally, I has been gifted with the most adorable granddaughter. I have participated in several missionary trips as a medical volunteer. I am bilingual in English and Spanish.
As an exercise enthusiast, I keep my body in shape with walking our four dogs, strength training, and belly dancing, as well as prior obstacle course races with my family. I was also a prior physique competitor. I am considering doing this competition again, as a 60 y/o woman (4 years to go!)
In January 2020, I founded “The Vaginacologist” because after years of working as both a surgeon and expert witness on female pelvic dysfunctions, I realized many of the issues my patients were experiencing were due to a lack of education. I now have a following of over 150,000 across social media platforms. I provide educational resources to help women understand their anatomy and implement preventative measures to reach their full potential. As a speaker, I provide education that will drastically reduce a woman’s risk of developing vaginal, bowel, and bladder dysfunctions. This information will increase the quality of life for women all around the world! In November of 2020, my company received the GOLD winner award for Startup of the Year – through Women in Business and the Professions World Awards.
If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?
Absolutely! The only other profession I wanted to do was to be a rockette dancer. However I am quite vertically challenged and would have needed to retire at 1/2 my current age, thus I chose a different path… Because I did not know anybody in medicine when I was in college, I decided to become a nurse first, that way I could learn about the profession of medicine. Thus, if I ended up not wanting to become a doctor, I had an excellent profession to fall back on. Luckily, I was enamored by medicine and became a doctor in 1996. I very much love what I do. I love to have to dig deep into my knowledge and other sources to determine what is going on with the patient. Then technically, I get to use my hands to surgically correct the problem. The best part of my job, is when my patients return and sincerely thank me for their improved quality in life. I am also in 4 different places 5 days a week, providing me variety: I operate at 2 different hospitals, am at my urogynecology clinic 2 days per week, and my aesthetics clinic another day!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I guess you could say it is not exactly a pivot in carrier, but that I have come full circle in my current career life. When I finished residency in 2020, I became board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. As a new physician, I established a very heavy urogynecology clientele early on. And over time, that is where my passion developed. My husband and I decided that when our oldest son became a teenager, I would stop delivering babies and be more available to our family. I became board-certified in what was known as female pelvic medicine, and reconstructive surgery in 2013. It is now back to the old term of urogynecology. The reason I say I have come full circle is because of obstetrics is the primary cause of many of the pelvic floor dysfunctions that I treat. And now I’m in the specialty of treating all of those dysfunctions. That truly brings me much joy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thevaginacologist.com/ https://caringcenterforwomen.com/dr-irwin https://www.aestheticsofcentraltexas.com/
- Instagram: @thevaginacologist
- Facebook: TeresaIrwinMD
- Youtube: The Vaginacologist
- Other: TikTok: @Dr.Teresa.Irwin