
As you get older, your skin loses strength and tone, which leads to wrinkles, creases, and lax tissue on your face, neck, hands, and other parts of your body — including your vaginal tissue.
Vaginal tissue is especially prone to atrophy and laxity as you reach perimenopause and pass through menopause itself.
At Viva Health, board-certified gynecologist Dr. Aleksander J. Bodnar offers vaginal rejuvenation treatments that can ease uncomfortable symptoms and restore lost vigor. Here’s what he wants you to know about how vaginal rejuvenation can benefit you.
Vaginal atrophy is a physical condition — the thinning of the vaginal walls due to decreased estrogen levels. It causes a number of uncomfortable physical symptoms that can also lead to sexual dysfunction, including:
Vaginal laxity is a more subjective term, a woman’s self-reported observation of the looseness or tightness of the vaginal tissue.
Vaginal laxity can, however, have physical effects. If the labia are shriveled or enlarged instead of tight, that can lead to decreased pleasure — or increased pain — during intercourse. It doesn’t, however, produce the other symptoms associated with atrophy.
Vaginal tissue can become lax for a number of reasons. The primary reason is the decreased estrogen levels normal during menopause. This genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) affects about 70% of all women.
A second cause is pregnancy and delivery, especially if you’ve had a number of children, if you had large-sized babies, or if the doctor used forceps during delivery.
A third cause is that, as you age, your body normally decreases the amount of collagen and elastin it produces; these proteins give your skin strength and tone.
Many women benefit from bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), which increases the body’s estrogen levels, but it isn't a good fit for everyone. That’s why Dr. Bodnar offers several treatments that can rejuvenate the vaginal tissue.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy is a regenerative medicine technique that can help vaginal atrophy.
Dr. Bodnar creates PRP from your own blood. First, he takes a blood sample from your arm. Next, he spins the sample in a centrifuge, concentrating the platelets in the watery (plasma) component of your blood. The platelets contain numerous growth and healing factors.
Finally, he injects the solution into the vaginal area, where it can heal and restore vaginal tissue.
PRP also stimulates collagen production, giving you back your tissue’s strength and elasticity. You experience increased lubrication and circulation along with tighter vaginal tissue. You may also notice increased libido and improved orgasms.
Votiva by InMode uses radiofrequency (RF) technology to improve sexual dysfunction and vaginal laxity. It’s the only device on the market that addresses both internal and external vaginal issues, using the FormaV® device (internal) and the FractoraV® (external)
Dr. Bodnar places the internal device into the vaginal cavity, where the RF energy triggers increased vascularization (blood vessel growth) and production of collagen and elastin, reversing the effects of decreased estrogen.
The external device tightens lax tissues and increases vaginal lubrication, reducing painful sex. The combination of the two can also tackle urinary incontinence, pelvic floor dysfunction, and perineal scarring from childbirth.
The internal treatment takes about 10 minutes, and the external about five.
Acoustic (sound) wave therapy is a nonsurgical, nonhormonal treatment that helps regenerate vaginal tissue. Applied directly to the vaginal region, it can produce long-lasting effects, enhancing lubrication, sensitivity, and the appearance of vaginal tissue.
If you’re dealing with the effects of decreased estrogen and want to improve the function and appearance of your vaginal tissue, we have rejuvenation techniques that can help.
To set up a consultation with Dr. Bodnar, give Viva Health a call at either of our locations, in Linden and Clifton, New Jersey, or book online with us today.