Type of pessary	Type of pelvic organ prolapse for which pessary is best suited (Table 2)	Daily removal	Difficulty of use	Erosion risk	Intercourse possible	Urinary incontinence aid	Comments
Ring*	All	No	Low	Low	Yes	Minimal	Most commonly used pessary; most practical and acceptable to patients
Ring with support*†	All	No	Low	Low	Yes	Minimal	Less helpful in severe forms of prolapse
Incontinence ring*	All, plus stress urinary incontinence	No	Low	Low	Yes	Yes	—
Donut†‡	All, especially stages III and IV	No	Moderate	Low	No	No	—
Smith-Hodge*	Pregnancy uterine retroversion	No	Low	Low	Yes	No	Used in mid-trimester pregnancy if symptomatic
Gellhorn‡	All, especially advanced stages III and IV; apical (uterine/vault prolapse)	No	High	Moderate	No	No	—
Gehrung*	Anterior and posterior vaginal wall prolapse	No	High	Low	Yes	No	Rarely used
Cube‡	Advanced apical (uterine/vault prolapse)	Yes	High	High	No	No	Usually used as a last resort after trying other pessaries because of need for daily removal, vaginal discharge, difficulty of use, and risk of erosion
Inflatoball‡	Advanced apical (uterine/vault prolapse)	Yes	Low to moderate	Low	No	No	Avoid in patients allergic to latex; preferable over cube as a last resort; easy to insert but difficult to retain; pessary requires inflation