The strange case of ... the vanishing labia minora

[2JFDIYOLO]

I'd seen several random things recently on Insta by women worried because they'd heard the labia minora can shrink and disappear after menopause.

I'd never heard of it. At 62 I'm through and out the other side and I've read a LOT of lists of peri and meno delights and recognised loads of them.

This has to be one of those windups, like women doing videos on shedding skin like lizards to freak men out ... Surely ...? I thought.

This is silly, I thought. I'll have a feel ...

Anyway. They used to be two different sizes, with the left having a rounder frilly edge.

Not any more ...

Both have definitely got smaller and the frilly bit has ... gone.

Anyone ...?

😳

@LabiaminorasayonaraI feel exactly the same and I’m so grateful you posted this thread. Help from my GP is non-existent…you can’t even get an appointment so I’ve taken the plunge and signed up with My Menopause Centre for a consultation.

Aged 32, I sought help with vaginal dryness and painful sex and was told I had the vulva of a post menopausal woman. I wasn’t offered any help and was made to feel ashamed and inadequate. This has greatly affected my sex life with my long term partner…12 years later I’m sad and really angry (for both me and him) to find out that I could have had meds all along. Thank you for your post - the comments have made me realise I needed to take action!

I'm so lucky - my new Dr surgery has a specialist in HRT and I went in yesterday after reading this thread. There's a questionnaire they can text/email to you to check symptoms which really helped me recognise that I am peri, despite still having periods. After a good chat about all the options and why it's good to be pre-emptive about getting levels right before they become an issue, I've decided to start my HRT prescriptions. I was recently put on proprananol for migraines which makes me loose my hair, which she thinks are hormonal and should go away with HRT. The over medicalisation of peri symptoms, while Dr's treat individual symptoms rather than the cause, is real!

Good question here, can anyone advise?

I better ring the GP. I ca. Imagine my appointment
Gp: yes what can I do for you today @NautilusLionfish
Me: I need a curated gash stash
Gp: huh? 🤔

I have the gel, pessaries and cream. I'm post menopausal. The cream and pessaries have dealt with the dryness and the gel has given me my energy back. I also take progesterone at night. I feel fantastic on this combination.

I'm so glad this thread is helping people! (I started it a while back, then somehow lost my Mumsnet connection and rejoined with nearly the same name ...)

Has anyone found it easier to lose weight on HRT? I am gaining weight like a duck being force-fed foie gras for a royal banquet. Every week my size is increasing especially around the waist. Am only 48! waaah waaah waah!

Yes, decreased appetite, no sweet tooth and lots more energy means I've dropped weight without effort.

Thanks for responding. I hope I get that benefit, among others includinga libido boost. Am waiting for an appointment so fingers crossed I get the right combo

Slime suspect What caused your atrophy at such a young age?
I had early meno and I wish I'd have taken localised estrogen too. Have you got a prescription?
I take ovestin jts a cream to use internally and externally. Hope it helps to restore

Jesus! Sounds like your fanny can start growing moss!

I also had a smear (has to be done at hospital as cervix is tilted) and he put in notes "moderate atrophy". Not even minor! I am 45 and peri, when did this happen? How can he see that and no one else has mentioned it and how long has it been like that? And what is it?

It’s not to do with your labia it’s to do with your cervix becoming thinner with age..

I googled it and it said it directly affects the labia, the loss of "padding" and loss of volume, as was the cause of the thread.

VA affects the whole vagina, vulva and bladder area and is directly caused by reducing oestrogen levels. All women will develop it to a greater or lesser extent due to menopause.

But fear not, it can be easily treated with local oestrogen creams/pessaries etc

I've been using little oestrogen pessaries a year now and definitely feel the benefit. No discomfort, itching, soreness these days.

I would bet my lunch that the applicator was designed by a man tho.

What is funny is that even with that in my notes from the gynae no one has offered me anything for it.

I guess we now have to check clinical notes and research and request our own meds on NHS?

FWIW I am on the estrogen patches, but they are 50mg so maybe not strong enough to have any effect and not directly applied to the vulva, obvs.

Thank you for this thread, I have been aware that I need to do something about all the changes I had noticed, but just hadn’t got round to it and I am overdue a smear. I wish this thread could pinned to the top of the topic as it has such a lot of useful information and is so supportive and funny.

So after reading it I sent off an eform to the GP, had a text back the same day telling me to come in. Saw a lovely male GP who was super well informed and sorted me out some pessaries, picked them up and booked my smear too. Very efficient! Edited to say, he actually diagnosed my lichen sclerosus a couple of years ago after seeing 3 separate GPs (2 of whom were female) and being fobbed off each time.

@2JFDIYOLO agree about the applicator, wtf! Maybe there is a knack I will develop!

I also bought myself some fem fresh and need to go back and check up thread for the fancy oil. In for a penny…

Coming back to this thread as despite being on hrt and oestrogel for my Fanny, this week the entire padding seems to have packed up and pissed off from my clitoris. Now, any direct contact is like pressing an electrified devils doorbell and it very very unpleasant. I never thought I’d say this sentence ever - but I’ve heard about clitoral fillers that can help to restore the protective padding aspect. Had anybody ever done this? I know it’s extreme but the sudden shooting pain is like a lightening strike and the only thing I can think to compare it to is like stabbing shingle pain but I’m my poor clitoris.

@OnyourbarksGSG how are you using the vaginal oestrogen and what type do you have? Best thing you can do is just a dollop of cream in and around err everywhere each day and using the applicator to shove a good dose up your hoop once or twice a week. I also alternate this with Naydaya victory oil and I’ve managed to reverse the discomfort that I was experiencing last year. It took a little while but being really consistent helped

Your advice is spot on but I’m just here amusing myself at inserting your username into that sentence.

‘Shove a dose up your badger’s suitcase’

Surprisingly versatile 🤣🤣

@SoScarletItWas oh stop it 😂😂😂😂

I have a cocktail of 25 Evorel oestrogen patches, a progesterone iud (I keep wanting to call it an ied but that would have a VERY different effect) and oestrogen pessaries. Tho the labmins haven't grown back, everything else feels pretty much normal bar one thing ... (TMI alert 👇)

Discharge. It used to be jellylike and uniform consistency. Now it's a much thicker yellowish affair with a wetter edge and a slightly 'chalky' feel. Sorry. No itching, discomfort, redness, smell or pain. I wonder if the pessaries are dissolving and causing this?

I started HRT( both systemic and topical) at 43, now 52 and literally have no labia, if I orgasm, I barely feel it.

Been celibate for years as literally nothing works.

So I’ve been put on the pesaary/pill type vaginal stuff as it’s a bigger dose but also been referred to the menopause clinic as I skipped my last withdrawal bleed and this one still hasn’t turned up. I’m only 46 but I did spend 6 months on hormone blockers due to fibroids. So before they tittate me up they want a specialist to look at me which I’m good with.