Dyspareunia & Vaginal Dryness

When women go through menopause, symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats are common. However, other symptoms include vaginal dryness, itching, and painful intercourse can also be present. These symptoms are much worse and have a deep impact on women’s daily lives and intimate relationships. Dr. Karie McMurray offers relief from symptoms with minimally invasive MonaLisa Touch® laser treatments. Patients can visit Dr. Karie McMurray at Conejo Women’s Medical Center, located in Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, California and the surrounding Conejo Valley area.

Dyspareunia & Vaginal Dryness Q & A

What is dyspareunia?

Dyspareunia is a medical term that describes painful intercourse or other types of sexual pain. This is pain that can occur with penetration, during intercourse, or following intercourse; it can be present anywhere in the genital area such as the clitoris, labia, or vagina. Women often describe the pain as sharp, stinging, burning, or cramping.

According to the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), dyspareunia afflicts about 45% of the 65 million menopausal and postmenopausal American women. Dr. McMurray has several treatment options that can alleviate dyspareunia and help women get back to pain-free sex. For example, vaginal dryness can be treated with estrogen through bio-identical hormone replacement. For patients who prefer a nonhormonal option, vaginal moisturizers can be as effective as hormone therapy when it comes to addressing vaginal dryness.

What causes painful intercourse?

You may experience pain during intercourse for a variety of reasons. Your pain may be due to insufficient lubrication or tightness in the vaginal opening. Painful intercourse might also be caused by tears or scarring deeper in your vagina. These adhesions are often due to penetrative sex with insufficient lubrication or when you have vaginal atrophy, a menopausal condition that causes the tissue of your vagina to become thin and dry.

You might also experience pain during sex if you have an infection or local irritation from something as commonplace as a tampon or a minor latex allergy.

What is the MonaLisa® Touch?

If vaginal dryness, itching, painful sexual intercourse, or incontinence are interrupting your quality of life, the MonaLisa Touch can help alleviate your symptoms without causing pain or inconvenient side effects. It’s a specially designed C02 fractional laser that Dr. McMurray uses to relieve some of the most common side effects of estrogen shortage. The MonaLisa Touch technology is similar to aesthetic lasers, but the focus of this treatment is to encourage new collagen production in the vaginal walls. As the cells become revitalized, uncomfortable symptoms will improve as natural gynecologic functions are restored.

What happens during MonaLisa touch treatments?

MonaLisa Touch laser vaginal revitalization is performed as an outpatient procedure in the comfort of the Conejo Women’s Medical Center offices, and it takes less than five minutes. Dr. McMurray recommends undergoing three treatments, spaced about six weeks apart, to achieve the best results. However, many patients have noticed remarkable improvement after the first session.

MonaLisa Touch treatments aren’t painful, but to reduce any discomfort, an anesthetic cream can be applied prior to treatment. Patients should avoid engaging in sexual activity for a few days following the procedure, but can otherwise resume their normal routines without experiencing any downtime.

Contact Conejo Women’s Medical Center today to learn more about how the MonaLisa Touch can help improve your gynecologic health.

What is Vaginal dryness, itching, burning?

Now there’s something you can do about it that really works!

When estrogen levels decline after menopause, many changes occur. Millions of women experience symptoms such as vaginal dryness, itching, burning, or painful intercourse as a consequence of these changes. Many women suffer silently, and those who seek treatment find their options limited to estrogen therapy, which isn’t for everyone.

Now there’s a better way.

MonaLisa Touch: fast, simple and safe

MonaLisa Touch laser treatment is a simple procedure that takes less than 5 minutes.

It delivers both immediate and lasting relief. And it’s clinically proven to work.

In-office, no anesthesia
Simple, painless laser energy
No side effects
No downtime
Thousands of women successfully treated since 2012

A new procedure that patients have called “life-changing”

MonaLisa Touch delivers gentle laser energy to the vaginal tissue wall that stimulates a healing response and enhances moisture levels in the vaginal canal. A typical course of treatment is four procedures over 24 weeks.

Many women report symptom relief after the very first treatment and even greater improvement after treatments 2, 3 and 4.

MonaLisa Touch helps restore vaginal health. That’s something to talk about. Ask our doctor today.