Many women feel undereducated about our bodies. How much do we know about the special healthcare we need throughout our life as the owner of an XX chromosome?
In recognition of National Health Education Week, let’s learn about MedGyn’s flagship product: LAMINARIA.
Few people have heard of it, even though laminaria has been used in women’s healthcare for over a century.
What is laminaria?
Laminaria is made from 100% natural dried, pressed, seaweed. This plant creates underwater forests of long, swaying leaves and grows in the oceans of the Northern Hemisphere.
How is laminaria used?
Think of laminaria as an all-natural tampon for the cervix (the birth canal that connects the uterus to the vagina). A physician will insert a tiny “stick” as small as 2mm in diameter and 2.5 inches in length. Over time, the laminaria swells up, just like a tampon, naturally opening the cervix. Depending on the situation, the physician may use a larger laminaria, or even several laminaria until the cervix has been slowly, gently opened to the needed width.
When is laminaria used?
Laminaria is used in women who need to undergo procedures that require access to the uterine cavity (the womb). Procedures where a physician may choose to use a laminaria include IUD placement, inducing labor, and dilation and curettage.
The Story of Laminaria
– Mr. Agadi, President, CEO, & Founder of MedGyn Products
Many years ago, I came to know about a company that made laminaria. I contacted the International Trade Organization and told them what I was looking for. They did research and found a man who produced laminaria and I met him at the Trade office. Soon after, I got my first shipment.
I knew the doctors in the area from selling diaphragms before they went out of fashion. Later, I went to a gynecology conference and met one of the doctors who had been buying from me, buying twelve dozen laminaria at a time. (That was big in those days.) He came and told me, “Your laminaria works better. I have been using laminaria for 15 years. I don’t know what you’ve done, but yours is better. If any other doctors want to know about it, give them my name as a reference.” I will never forget him for the rest of my life. He was a great doctor.
Then came another doctor. He had two clinics: one in Wisconsin and one in Michigan. He had been a pilot in the Korean War, so he had his own small plane and that’s how he traveled between his clinics. One day he landed at DuPage airport and he called me. “Agadi. I want to meet you. Come down here.” So, I met him at the private airfield, and he told me the same thing. “Your laminaria works the best. It dilates faster and better than anything we have ever used.”
It was then that I realized this was a great product.
I went back several times to secure our production. Unfortunately, the gentleman I had been dealing with had passed away. He was a real gentleman. Before he passed, he told his wife, “Make sure you honor Mr. Agadi’s commitment. You cannot sell to anyone other than Mr. Agadi.”
Years before, this gentleman took me to the place where the laminaria grows. Only there it grows. People have tried to grow it in other areas, but they did not succeed. You see, the reason why it grows there is because it needs a certain depth of water. It needs to be clean without contamination and it must have strong wind. That is where laminaria grows abundant beneath the ocean.
Laminaria has one stem and long leaves. Because of the constant wind moving the water and the depth, the stems are very strong. That is why they can withstand cervical pressure. (This was discovered a hundred years ago by Japanese doctors.) This is laminaria japonica.
Women would put a basket on their back, dive down and use a machete to cut laminaria, place it in the basket, and come back up. But then I learned that these women were hard to find because constant diving causes heart problems. They were not using oxygen! I immediately invested in them and bought everyone an oxygen tank to use. They had never used an oxygen tank before in their lives.
I decided to sell internationally. I went to Stockholm, to the Karolinska Institute. There I met the doctors who were using laminaria for induction of labor. Dr. Olson and Dr. Jonasson published a research book called The effect of cervical dilation by Laminaria tent on fibrinolytic, collagenolytic and contractile activity in the uterus and on post abortal pelvic inflammatory diseases and used my laminaria in their research.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital had a doctor that loved the laminaria so much he would buy about 24 dozen every month. That’s how I met many other doctors around the USA. They spread the word. The product was so good it became an instant success. Our booth was always busy at conferences.
Doctors in Paraguay, Israel, and Egypt were all using our laminaria. Some doctors were helping the poor and others were treating the wives and daughters of politicians.
That is how we came to serve so many countries around the world. It was an exciting product for me. I was one of the only laminaria salesman in the world!
I thought to myself, half the population of the world is female. The need is big. People don’t think like that. It is only male dominated, but that’s not true. There are a lot of women who need this kind of product and cervical cancer treatment. So many young mothers die because of lack of women’s healthcare.
I was lucky and blessed to meet so many excellent doctors. They took me around to see the patients. I had a lot of knowledge because I went to the source and understood how it was made, how it works, and that made me an ambassador of this product.
That’s the story of laminaria.
To learn more about laminaria, visit the Wikipedia page.
To learn how to purchase laminaria for your medical practice, visit MedGyn at https://www.medgyn.com/product/medgyn-laminaria/.
