Couple intimacy: how not to compromise it in menopause and heal from Vulvo-Vaginal Atrophy
Vulvo-Vaginal Atrophy (AVV) consists in the progressive modification of the structure of the vaginal and vulvar tissue as a consequence of estrogen deficiency. The reduced exposure to estrogen in fact causes a thinning of the walls of the vagina, which therefore become more fragile and less lubricated: irritation, burning, itching, inflammation and pain during sexual intercourse are the main symptoms.
It is a little known disease (here you will find complete and detailed information: www.ilmiopiccolosegreto.it) and underdiagnosed, which affects about one in two postmenopausal women. It is estimated that in Italy about 7 million women are affected, over 50 million in the European Union.
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From a recent EU REVIVE study, conducted in 4 European countries including Italy, on 1,000 Italian postmenopausal women with at least one symptom of Vulvo-Vaginal Atrophy (VAV), it emerged that the most frequent symptom is vaginal dryness. (78%) together with pain during intercourse, considered the most annoying (76%).
Women reported that the symptoms of AVV have a significant impact on their intimate life (69%) and their ability to have pleasurable sex (74%), as well as their feeling of sexual spontaneity (70%). It follows that many prefer to give up the intimacy of a couple, under these conditions.
The solutions
Until now, there have been basically 3 ways to treat Vulvo-Vaginal Atrophy (AVV) and the resulting disorders: hormonal treatments based on estrogen, with known pros and cons, lubricants, which prove to be uncomfortable to applying and insufficient from the point of view of the relief obtained, and some phytoestrogenic preparations, such as the isoflavones of soy and red clover, which in any case exert effects of an estrogenic type.
From today, however, a fourth solution is available, announced by Shionogi; it is ospemifene (Senshio®), a new oral and hormone-free therapeutic option - and therefore also usable by women with breast cancer who have completed hormonal treatments - for the treatment of symptomatic vulvar and vaginal atrophy (AVV) from moderate to severe in postmenopausal women.
Although not a hormone, ospemifene acts in a similar way to some beneficial effects of estrogen and helps to improve the symptoms and causes of vulvar and vaginal atrophy.
This results in an improvement in the symptoms related to this pathology, such as vaginal dryness and consequent dyspareunia, i.e. the pain caused by excessive dryness during intimate intercourse.
"The availability of an oral treatment such as ospemifene is important as it not only reduces symptoms by promoting intimate couple, but also significantly improves the quality of life of the woman suffering from AVV, a chronic condition in half of the women who enter in menopause. " - declares Alessandra Graziottin, Director of the Center for Gynecology and Medical Sexology H. San Raffaele Resnati, Milan.
