EP 9 - Vagina Health with Dr Oliva Hum

So, what symptoms do women assume are just part of ageing or life when they actually aren't? So what we

see after menopause is that the whole sort of structure of the vulva and vagina changes for some women.

And this gradually sort of progresses over life.

And so sometimes we see these changes even happening in perimenopause.

So just even just for a few days a month as your oestrogen level starts dropping.

But what happens after menopause is that there's some real structural changes in the skin and the cells in the vagina and vulva.

often people find that the skin becomes more sensitive it becomes thinner it is less stretchy and less moist so you stop producing if it's most women will have some kind of vaginal discharge which is just normal and that will stop and for some women that doesn't really affect them I mean it's one of these things that will just carry on through life and often get sort of the changes get worse and worse but it doesn't really affect them but for some it can be a really really debilitating symptom so in our clinic we sometimes see women who can't wear trousers or they can't ride a bike anymore or really importantly that they find it really difficult to have sex and that is one of the things that we we see a lot of so um a lot of women will think it's just normal yeah they'll feel they think it's just normal and it's just part of getting older but actually there is lots we can do about it

yeah that's what i think they're gonna say because i think a lot of people don't realize that a lot of these symptoms are actually treatable and even within the last sort of five ten years Things have become more treatable and the procedures have changed.