Estrogen is the hormone that drives your reproductive life as a woman. When you reach menopause, your ovaries – the prime estrogen factories in your body – shut down, releasing no more eggs and generating no more hormones. It’s a new and natural time for you. You’re free from concern for unexpected pregnancy, but the substantial chemical changes to hormone balance can create a wide range of physical effects on your body.
In addition to the loss of estrogen, you’re also at a time of life when other body tissues are experiencing age-related change. Skin and muscle tissue lose elasticity and strength. The combination of these changes sometimes takes a toll on your genitourinary systems, both cosmetically and functionally.
Vaginal rejuvenation is a blanket term that covers a range of both surgical and nonsurgical procedures that return your genitalia to a more youthful condition. So it’s no wonder it’s a hot topic among menopausal women.
As you lose skin tone with time, you may have the feeling that you’ve acquired excess flesh in your labia and around your clitoris. You may no longer like the appearance of your genital area, or the lost tone may interfere with or reduce your enjoyment of sex. At Southeast Urogyn, we specialize in four surgical procedures that tighten up the tissue around your vagina, increasing pleasure during intercourse.
Vaginoplasty, labiaplasty, hymenoplasty, and clitoral hood reduction procedures are all typically performed as outpatient surgery, so there’s not usually a hospital stay. As well as improved appearance, many patients report a boost in sexual responsiveness and a rise in libido. You may even experience returned sensation after your procedure.
The accumulated effects of menopause can sometimes cause discomfort and pain during intercourse, a lack of natural lubrication, bleeding after intercourse, or problems with your urinary tract, such as urge incontinence and burning sensations. While you may not associate urinary problems with vaginal tissue, symptoms of both are grouped medically into the genitourinary syndrome of menopause, a collection of ailments that commonly affect menopausal women.
Nonsurgical vaginal rejuvenation techniques take two general forms. The first uses one of several treatment methods, each of which stimulates the renewal of collagen, a support tissue in the vaginal walls. Rejuvenation methods that induce collagen production can improve vaginal symptoms as well as relieve many urinary symptoms. Southeast Urogyn offers several alternatives for their patients, including ThermiVaⓇ and MonaLisa TouchⓇ.
Also on tap nonsurgically is the O-Shot®, an injection treatment that uses your own blood sample to create a serum that’s enriched with a higher level of platelets. When injected around your clitoris and vagina, the O-Shot accelerates your natural regenerative systems in the surrounding areas, improving sexual sensitivity.
Menopause affects every woman differently. If you’re suffering from side effects of estrogen depletion, or if you’re unhappy with the way aging has changed your appearance, call our office or click today to arrange a consultation with a vaginal rejuvenation specialist at Southeast Urogyn.