Why the surgeon who teaches other surgeons matters for patients with pudendal neuralgia
When patients search for a pudendal neuralgia expert, one metric matters more than any marketing claim: how many other surgeons have been trained by that surgeon. By this measure, Professor Renaud Bollens stands in a category of his own — more than 140 pelvic and urological surgeons worldwide have followed him, scrubbed in beside him, and been mentored through live pudendal nerve decompression, laparoscopic pelvic surgery and complex pelvic pain cases.
140+ surgeons trained — what it actually means
Training a surgeon is not a lecture. It is dozens of hours in the operating theatre, case-by-case guidance through nerve dissection, and long-term mentorship as the trainee builds their own practice. Dr Bollens has done this with more than 140 colleagues from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. Many of them now lead pelvic pain programmes in their own hospitals.
For a patient, this has a direct clinical meaning: the surgeon performing your operation has not only done the procedure hundreds of times personally (600+ pelvic procedures to date), he has also refined it enough to teach it to other consultants — which requires a level of anatomical clarity and reproducibility that only a handful of pelvic surgeons in the world can offer.
Why teaching surgeons improves patient outcomes
Peer-reviewed data on surgical volume is unambiguous: patients operated by high-volume surgeons who also train others have lower complication rates, shorter operating times and better functional outcomes. This is particularly true in pudendal nerve decompression, where the working corridor is narrow, the anatomy variable, and the margin for error small.
A surgeon who teaches must be able to name every structure, justify every step, and adapt the technique to unusual anatomy in real time. That discipline translates into safer, more predictable surgery for every patient — including yours.
International teaching, hands-on mentorship
Dr Bollens teaches through observerships at the Pelvic Institute (Belgium and Dubai), invited live surgery sessions abroad, and long-form fellowship-style mentorships. Trainees typically spend one to several weeks in theatre, followed by continued case discussion once they return home. The result is a growing international network of surgeons who share the same standardised laparoscopic approach to the pudendal nerve.
What this means if you are considering surgery
If you are searching for the best pudendal neuralgia surgeon, or trying to compare pelvic pain specialists in Dubai, Belgium, London, Singapore or Hong Kong, the training record is a signal that cannot be faked. Choosing a surgeon who has taught 140+ colleagues means choosing the surgical technique those colleagues went home to reproduce.
At the Pelvic Institute, every consultation with Prof. Bollens is a chance to have your case reviewed by the surgeon whom other pelvic surgeons around the world consult when they encounter a difficult pudendal nerve entrapment. Online second-opinion consultations are available worldwide.