What is vaginal atrophy?
If you’re suffering from vaginal dryness, rest assured you’re not alone. Up to one in three women will experience it during their lives. While vaginal dryness is common during, and post-menopause, women of any age can experience it.
Vaginal dryness or vulvar dryness occurs when the natural lubricant in your vagina, which normally keeps your vagina moist, decreases.
Vaginal dryness can also result from a number of different causes, and it may seem like a relatively unimportant issue at first. However, dryness in women can have an important and negative effect on their sexual intimacy, as well as impacting their couple life.
The term vaginal atrophy is used to describe the combination of vaginal dryness with associated urinary troubles. For many women, vaginal atrophy not only makes intercourse painful, but also leads to distressing urinary symptoms. If left untreated, vaginal dryness can cause sores or cracking in the vagina’s tissues.
Simple, effective treatments for genitourinary syndrome of menopause — vaginal atrophy and its urinary symptoms — are available. Reduced estrogen levels result in changes to your body, but it doesn’t mean you have to live with the discomfort of GSM.