Dr. Betty Murray explains how hormonal changes during menopause thin vaginal tissues, causing painful sex, burning, and frequent UTIs. The condition affects many women but goes undertreated because many won't use vaginal estrogen therapy.
So here's the thing. We get vaginal atrophy. It's a terrible name. So basically what happens is the tissue in our vulva and vagina area dry up, get very, very thin. We lose collagen production, we lose elasticity, we lose moisture, and that ends up causing painful sex and burning and other pain. And it can be extensive and quite painful, not to mention increased for genital urinary syndrome symptoms and UTIs and yeast infections. So when we look at genital syndrome of menopause, it affects a large share of menopausal women, and it's undertreated partly because some women can't or won't use vaginal estrogen.
