02.16.23
A California company is taking a novel approach to stop urinary incontinence with the Lady Patch, the only drug-free feminine patch to prevent bladder leaks and the frequent urge to urinate.
When the Lady Patch is applied to the clitoris, the company believes it stimulates the nerves throughout the pelvic region causing the bladder to relax while strengthening pelvic muscles at the same time. According to Lady Patch, the product is working like a kegel to enhance the muscle tone of the pelvis. This provides more bladder control which means less leaking and fewer urges to go.
Made in California, the Lady Patch incorporates spunlace nonwoven and an acrylic-based adhesive that’s safe for skin contact.
Cindy Santa Cruz, the company’s founder, says the story of Lady Patch starts with her mom. “In the late 1970s and early 1980s my mom started doing aerobics. All of a sudden, she did a jumping jack and she’s shocked; she can’t run in place, she can’t jump in place, she was peeing all over. It was humiliating because she never had an incontinence problem. So, she tried using tampons, pads, paper towels, and nothing stopped the leaks at all. Wearing pads was great but it didn’t stop the leaks.”
A religious woman, Santa Cruz said her mom prayed for a solution because she didn’t want to stop doing aerobics. Then, before her next class, she grabbed a pantyliner, cut a one-inch strip from it, went to the bathroom, placed the adhesive part of the liner onto her clitoris, got dressed, went to class, and was floored that she didn’t have any bladder leakage during the class, according to Santa Cruz.
Since this solution continued to work so well for her mom, Santa Cruz’s parents tried getting a patent in the 1990s, which ultimately didn’t succeed. When Santa Cruz began contemplating going back to work in 2009 after having her own kids, she asked her mom to tell her what had helped her bladder leakage issue since she never knew what she was using.
“She told me what she had been doing for years and I said, ‘You can’t be the only person with this problem,’” she recalls. “So, I did my own research, looked up incontinence and women with incontinence, and I was blown away by the number of women who have this problem because no one was talking about it, especially in the early 2000s, and back when my mom was doing aerobics, no one said a word about it. So, my thought was, we can help someone. What if this works for more than just her?”
In 2009, Santa Cruz and her parents started their first provisional patent, and the next step was to find a doctor or scientist who could back up their theory that Lady Patch works to prevent bladder leaks. It took three years of contacting doctors and departments of urology up the west coast when, finally, a doctor recommended doing a study of feasibility where a prototype of the Lady Patch would be tested on at least 30 women. The small study was enough to get the attention of Dr. Benderev, a urologist in California.
Dr. Benderev already had experience developing incontinence products and helped Santa Cruz start the business. After putting together a company, raising money and hiring employees, they conducted a clinical trial which found that about 70% of women in the trial saw less leaking and had less urge incontinence.
After this, another team was hired to help with branding and bringing the product to market. At this point, the company conducted another study with over 100 women asking them to try the Lady Patch and to see if they liked the branding. This study also found that around 70% of women saw less leaks.
Lady Patch did its first beta launch on Amazon in 2016, which did well, but the company soon ran out of money and shut down in 2017. Then, at the end of 2018, Santa Cruz and her family decided to give it another try and see where they could take it. Since then, the Lady Patch has been selling online on its own website.
As the company looks to expand, Santa Cruz hopes to conduct another study confirming the “how and why” Lady Patch works. “My plan is to grow the business in whatever capacity that is,” she says. “The goal is to help women.”
When the Lady Patch is applied to the clitoris, the company believes it stimulates the nerves throughout the pelvic region causing the bladder to relax while strengthening pelvic muscles at the same time. According to Lady Patch, the product is working like a kegel to enhance the muscle tone of the pelvis. This provides more bladder control which means less leaking and fewer urges to go.
Made in California, the Lady Patch incorporates spunlace nonwoven and an acrylic-based adhesive that’s safe for skin contact.
Cindy Santa Cruz, the company’s founder, says the story of Lady Patch starts with her mom. “In the late 1970s and early 1980s my mom started doing aerobics. All of a sudden, she did a jumping jack and she’s shocked; she can’t run in place, she can’t jump in place, she was peeing all over. It was humiliating because she never had an incontinence problem. So, she tried using tampons, pads, paper towels, and nothing stopped the leaks at all. Wearing pads was great but it didn’t stop the leaks.”
A religious woman, Santa Cruz said her mom prayed for a solution because she didn’t want to stop doing aerobics. Then, before her next class, she grabbed a pantyliner, cut a one-inch strip from it, went to the bathroom, placed the adhesive part of the liner onto her clitoris, got dressed, went to class, and was floored that she didn’t have any bladder leakage during the class, according to Santa Cruz.
Since this solution continued to work so well for her mom, Santa Cruz’s parents tried getting a patent in the 1990s, which ultimately didn’t succeed. When Santa Cruz began contemplating going back to work in 2009 after having her own kids, she asked her mom to tell her what had helped her bladder leakage issue since she never knew what she was using.
“She told me what she had been doing for years and I said, ‘You can’t be the only person with this problem,’” she recalls. “So, I did my own research, looked up incontinence and women with incontinence, and I was blown away by the number of women who have this problem because no one was talking about it, especially in the early 2000s, and back when my mom was doing aerobics, no one said a word about it. So, my thought was, we can help someone. What if this works for more than just her?”
In 2009, Santa Cruz and her parents started their first provisional patent, and the next step was to find a doctor or scientist who could back up their theory that Lady Patch works to prevent bladder leaks. It took three years of contacting doctors and departments of urology up the west coast when, finally, a doctor recommended doing a study of feasibility where a prototype of the Lady Patch would be tested on at least 30 women. The small study was enough to get the attention of Dr. Benderev, a urologist in California.
Dr. Benderev already had experience developing incontinence products and helped Santa Cruz start the business. After putting together a company, raising money and hiring employees, they conducted a clinical trial which found that about 70% of women in the trial saw less leaking and had less urge incontinence.
After this, another team was hired to help with branding and bringing the product to market. At this point, the company conducted another study with over 100 women asking them to try the Lady Patch and to see if they liked the branding. This study also found that around 70% of women saw less leaks.
Lady Patch did its first beta launch on Amazon in 2016, which did well, but the company soon ran out of money and shut down in 2017. Then, at the end of 2018, Santa Cruz and her family decided to give it another try and see where they could take it. Since then, the Lady Patch has been selling online on its own website.
As the company looks to expand, Santa Cruz hopes to conduct another study confirming the “how and why” Lady Patch works. “My plan is to grow the business in whatever capacity that is,” she says. “The goal is to help women.”
