Vaginal dryness or atrophy is not normal as some women think when associating it with menopause, and must be treated, as it is a problem that evolves and can interfere with everyday life situations.
Dr. Julio Morfín Martín, obstetrician gynecologist with a subspecialty in gynecological urology, details that this health problem can occur after childbirth, during lactation, due to the use of some hormonal contraceptive methods, as well as in women who received treatment for cancer, mainly for breast or genital cancer.
Indicates that the discomfort caused by this condition causes dryness to increase in the vulvar and vaginal area.
“The vagina will lose elasticity and moisture, becoming shorter and narrower, causing discomfort during sexual intercourse, and bleeding may occur,” he says.
These discomforts can also occur in women with and without sexual intercourse and interfere in various situations of daily life, such as sitting for a long time, exercising or increased urinary frequency, even at night.
Morfín Martín points out that vaginal atrophy is mainly due to a lack of hormones, so the problem must be addressed with hormone replacement, but there are some women who cannot or do not want to use hormones, which is why there are other options such as vaginal moisturizers that relieve most of the symptoms and help to reverse the changes caused by the lack of hormones and to regenerate the affected vagina.
The specialist explains that these types of products are as effective as hormonal therapy, since there are some that contain hyaluronic acid, a molecule that has the ability to retain up to 100 times its weight in water, keeping tissues hydrated, contained within liposomes that they are identical to the covering of the cells of the body, so they can penetrate to bring hydration to the entire thickness of the vaginal wall.
Likewise, some products include vitamin E and “Humulus lupulus”, both with antioxidant effects that prevent tissue damage due to the oxidation or aging process and help in their regeneration, helping to prevent atrophy from running its course and avoiding the symptoms that it causes.
Dr. Eréndira Kunhardt Urquiza, an obstetrician-gynecologist with a subspecialty in gynecological urology, points out that vaginal dryness or atrophy occurs mainly with the decrease in estrogens, and thus decreases vaginal moisture, in the production of collagen and fibroblasts that provide the tension that the vagina needs to.
The most common symptoms are a sensation of dryness, burning and itching in the vulvar area and vagina, increased urinary frequency, sometimes with burning when urinating and a feeling that the bladder does not empty completely, discomfort in sexual intercourse as it can be pain on penetration or deep pain during intercourse.
Eréndira Kunhardt highlights that 65% of women who present these symptoms do not go to the specialist, but tend to hold on and believe that it is normal, and although every woman at some stage of life will present vaginal dryness or atrophy, on everything when reaching menopause, must be addressed because this problem is evolutionary and progressive, but treatable.
The specialists offered a conference within the framework of the International Day of Female Orgasm, which was commemorated on August 8.— IRIS CEBALLOS ALVARADO
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