Early Signs of Menopause
Menopause might be a natural occurrence, but that doesn't mean it’s a walk in the park. If you don’t know what to expect, it’s easy to feel concerned. Here are 10 symptoms you might experience as you near menopause.
Put an End to Painful Sex After Menopause With MonaLisa Touch®
Menopause can bring many changes. While menopause affects every woman differently, many women develop vaginal atrophy — also known as genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) — because of their changing hormones. This condition can make sex painful.
If this condition sounds familiar, the MonaLisa Touch® may be able to help you. Patricia K. Brougher, MD, and her team at Bluebonnet OB/GYN can restore vaginal health with this advanced system.
The effects of menopause and aging
Declining estrogen production
Following menopause, you can develop vaginal atrophy due to changes in your hormone levels. As your ovaries shut down, so does estrogen production from your ovaries. Even though estrogen is still made elsewhere in your body, overall levels can drop significantly, resulting in the physical changes that can accompany post-menopausal life, such as hot flashes and other common symptoms.
For some women, a decrease in estrogen can lead to their vaginal walls becoming thinner, more fragile, and less flexible. Because of this, sex can become uncomfortable or even painful as the natural lubrication process and overall environment within the vagina declines.
Declining collagen production
Your body has the ability to regenerate tissue after an injury. Unfortunately, your body treats menopause as the natural process that it is, and so vaginal atrophy isn’t perceived as an injury, and no healing process begins.
The walls of your vagina have a deep layer of tissue that, prior to menopause, normally contains plenty of collagen. Collagen supports and nourishes the vaginal lining. Due to age and menopause, collagen stores in the vaginal region can become depleted.
Restore Vaginal Health with the MonaLisa Touch
Fortunately, there’s a way to get new supplies of collagen. With the MonaLisa Touch, laser light from a probe penetrates the surfaces of your vaginal walls and warms the depleted collagen layer below. This starts the collagen induction process. Since your body now sees this warmed tissue as damaged, your body flushes out the old tissue and simultaneously generates new collagen.
With this new tissue comes moisture and nourishment. And as your new tissue forms, your vagina can regain the ability to lubricate, and it can return to a more youthful condition. Sex can become pleasurable again, and other symptoms of GSM may vanish.
The MonaLisa Touch system is drug- and hormone-free, so there’s little risk of side effects. All you’ll feel is a gentle warmth. After your treatment, you can go about your daily routine without the need for downtime.
To learn more about the MonaLisa Touch system and how it may be able to help you, book an appointment over the phone with Bluebonnet OB/GYN today.
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