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ArticlesTopic 02
Odor, discharge, dryness and comfort down there. What’s normal, what isn’t, and what actually helps.
Intimate HealthEvidence check
After a first genital herpes outbreak, the big question is how often it will return. In a study of 664 people, those with newly caught HSV-2 had a median of 5 outbreaks in the first year and those with HSV-1 just 1, and rates usually fell in later years. Women had fewer recurrences than men. But the virus can still shed without symptoms. Here is what the long-term studies show.
Intimate HealthMyth buster
WHO says so-called virginity testing has no scientific merit and should not be performed.
Intimate HealthExplainer
In a Swiss study that measured 657 women aged 15 to 84, the inner lips tended to be shorter in older women. Lower estrogen also changes the skin of the vulva. Most of that is expected, but itchy white patches, lumps and sores are not. Here is how to tell the difference.
Intimate HealthEvidence check
Before deciding your inner labia are too big, look at the measurements. Across 10 studies, inner-lip length ran from 5 to 100 mm and width from 1 to 60 mm, and lips that show past the outer ones were more common than not. In a London clinic, every woman who asked for labia reduction measured inside the normal range. Here is what the studies found and what to ask a surgeon.
Intimate HealthEvidence check
Low desire gets more common with age. In one study of women aged 20 to 70, 53% of European women in their 60s reported it, but most of them weren't bothered by it. Doctors only call low desire a disorder when it causes you distress. Here is what the surveys found, and where to start if it does bother you.
Intimate HealthGuide
Pelvic pain that lasts six months or more is called chronic pelvic pain, and after menopause it's often not gynecologic at all. The bladder, bowel, back and pelvic muscles can all be behind it, and sometimes more than one. Here is what the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says about causes, the pain journal to keep and treatments that help.
Intimate HealthExplainer
Yeast growing in a vaginal culture does not by itself establish an infection needing treatment. Bring the species name, symptoms and treatment dates to the ordering clinician.
Intimate HealthExplainer
If you rarely feel a sudden urge for sex but often enjoy it once it's underway, you may have responsive desire. In 2000, physician Rosemary Basson proposed a model in which desire can follow arousal instead of leading it, partly so this pattern wouldn't be mistaken for a disorder. Here is what the model says, where the evidence stops, and what group mindfulness trials found for low desire.
Intimate HealthEvidence check
Many women worry their vulva doesn't look 'normal'. Researchers measure this as genital self-image. In a survey of 1,937 women, a more positive genital self-image went with better sexual function and with having had a gynecological exam in the past year. In a small Dutch experiment, simply seeing photos of many natural vulvas made women feel better about their own, and it lasted two weeks. Here is what the research shows.
Intimate HealthExplainer
A national survey of over 3,000 U.S. adults aged 57 to 85 found that many stay sexually active, and about half of those who are have at least one bothersome problem. Low desire, dryness and trouble reaching orgasm topped the list for women, yet few had talked to a doctor about it. Here is what the numbers show and what can help.
Intimate HealthWhat to expect
A common fear before hysterectomy is that sex will never feel the same. In a study of more than 1,100 women, sexual activity rose and painful sex dropped sharply in the two years after surgery. And a Cochrane review found that keeping the cervix didn't improve sexual function compared with removing it.
Intimate HealthEvidence check
Squirting and female ejaculation are often treated as the same thing, but researchers describe two different releases. In a French ultrasound study of seven women, the bladder filled during arousal and emptied with squirting, and the fluid was chemically close to urine. Female ejaculation is a few milliliters of thicker fluid from glands near the urethra. Here is what the studies show and how both differ from leaking during sex.
