Sexual Healing

The latest trend in self-care sees sexual health and sexual pleasure combined in a range of new treatments and products. Here is what’s on offer in the world of vaginal well being – and why

- Hannah Ebelthite

Think of all the euphemisms for female genitals –lady garden, ladybits, intimate area,‘down there’ – and it’s clear frank discussions on our sexual health have a way to go. Worrying trends such as a rise in requests for labiaplasty (cosmetic surgery to alter the appearance of the labia) even recently prompted sexual-health charity Brook (brook.org.uk) to produce an illustrated booklet So What Is A Vulva Anyway? to help young women realise we come in all shapes and sizes.

More empowering though, is a new focus on our sexual health and satisfaction. It’s becoming much easier to access treatments, therapies, products and supplements that call a vagina a vagina, while addressing issues that cause women discomfort and distress. And they increasingly offer a viable alternative to surgery for more serious conditions. Take pregnancy and childbirth. ‘These can weaken the pelvic floor, leading to urine leakage, and stretch the vaginal entrance, leading to loss of sensation,’ says Harley Street obstetrician and gynaecologist Mr Ellis Downes. Then, as we start to enter perimenopause in our 40s and oestrogen levels decline, vaginal tissues become thinner and lose elasticity, often causing dryness, itching, inflammation and, at worst, atrophy (which can make sex and everyday movement painful and cause urinary infections).

‘Many women suffer through these common yet miserable conditions in silence, because they believe there’s no solution,’ says Downes. ‘Conventional treatment has been limited. But the past few years has seen major changes in how these conditions are managed, leading to significant improvement in quality of life.’