What Is Vaginal Laser Therapy & Why Is It Done?

There can be vaginal atrophy when a woman’s estrogen declines. With vaginal atrophy, there is drying and irritation that may cause pain during intercourse. There may also be some other symptoms that are not just comfortable. In some cases, the symptoms of vaginal atrophy may hinder the quality of life in the affected individuals. There are several ways of treatment methods and a new laser treatment known as vaginal laser therapy provides many affected women with relief. Let us know more about this therapy in the following array of the article.

Vaginal atrophy causes a lot of discomfort and it also leads to dyspareunia, more commonly known as painful intercourse. Untreated vaginal atrophy can also lead to itching and burning. Lubricant can help ease the pain while having intercourse with vaginal atrophy, yet a proper treatment is required and this first course of treatment should be estrogen. Along with these hormonal treatments, a relatively new treatment method that has been getting some attention in recent times is a vaginal laser therapy. Mona Lisa Touch is a laser therapy that is used for treating both vaginal atrophy and also the urinary incontinence that often comes along with vaginal atrophy.

During the treatment for vaginal atrophy using vaginal laser therapy, a wand is inserted in to the vagina of the patient, where the laser makes minuscule injuries to the vaginal walls. The pin pricks cover only about 8% of the surface of the vagina, however the body responds by making new collagen and encouraging blood flow, which actually elicits a healing response. This in turn leads to thickening of the vaginal walls, and it serves the secondary purpose of propping up the urethra and the bladder, which often aids incontinence problems.

Unlike laser tattoo removal or laser skin resurfacing, this vaginal laser therapy is not very much painful. Moreover, vaginal laser therapy takes only about 10 minutes. It must be mentioned that those patients who choose to use the Mona Lisa Touch vaginal laser therapy, are advised to sign on for a course of three treatments, placed 6 weeks apart, and the entire treatment process may require to be repeated each year; although results may vary.

The best thing about vaginal laser therapy is that there are no hard side effects of the treatment. However, we must also mention that this treatment does not work for everyone and it is also very much expensive.

Below are some of the reasons why vaginal laser therapy is done.

• Women with a lot of gynecological problems may benefit from vaginal laser therapy.
• Some women suffering from vulvovaginal atrophy after menopause may also be benefited from vaginal laser therapy.
• In some cases, women with vaginal atrophy cannot have intercourse at all. In such a case, vaginal laser therapy may be beneficial.
• The vaginal laser therapy may also be ideal for women who cannot take or do not want to take vaginal estrogen, or who have not responded to it or a similar therapy. This includes women who have not experienced vaginal atrophy after breast cancer or after ovarian cancer, for whom vaginal estrogen may not be the appropriate treatment.
• Vaginal laser therapy is also used for treating lichen sclerosis, or a chronic problem of thinning and irritation of the vulvar skin.

Now that we are known to the process of vaginal laser therapy and also know why it is used, if you are one of the patients who might be benefited from this type of treatment, then do talk to your doctor and know more about it so as to take up this treatment and get yourself treated well.