How Did My Vagina Become So Lax?

It all starts with puberty — your reproductive hormones flood your system, and your body changes dramatically. 

Then, a little bit later, perhaps you have children, leading to some more considerable shifts in your body. Finally, you transition through menopause, and your body changes, yet again, in major ways.

A woman’s reproductive journey is ever-changing, and some of these changes may not be all that welcome, such as vaginal laxity.

At Orange Coast Dermatology, our team of skilled providers prides itself on offering our clients expertise and treatments that improve skin and tissue health from head to toe. 

When it comes to vaginal laxity, we understand the forces behind this common issue, and we’re equipped to help. Let’s take a look.

Vaginal laxity — an issue inside and out

When we refer to vaginal laxity, we mean a loosening in the vaginal tissues, inside and out. So, vaginal laxity can include your external genitalia, as well as the internal walls of your vagina. Vaginal laxity also extends to support systems like your pelvic floor.

Aside from the discomfort that can come with vaginal laxity, there are some considerable risks with internal laxity, namely urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.

The road to vaginal laxity

We kicked off this discussion with an outline of a woman’s reproductive journey through life, and it’s this journey that leads to changes like vaginal laxity.

First, pregnancy and childbirth can greatly affect the strength and tightness of your vaginal walls, pelvic floor, and genitalia. During pregnancy, there's considerable added pressure on these tissues. 

When it comes to childbirth, we don’t need to remind you of the stress these tissues are under during a vaginal delivery. Multiply that by how many times you gave birth.

The other culprits behind vaginal laxity are aging and menopause. Each year in the United States, more than 1 million women enter menopause and are faced with a wide range of side effects — from hot flashes and night sweats to bone loss and vaginal laxity.

Menopause occurs when your ovaries shut down and stop releasing eggs, as well as stop producing hormones. 

These hormones, namely estrogen, are critical for reproductive function but also task themselves with other areas. For example, estrogen hormones encourage optimal health in your vaginal walls to encourage intercourse and help with vaginal births.

With the loss of these hormones, you can encounter:

• Vaginal dryness, which affects more than half of postmenopausal women
• A shortening of your vagina
• Thinning vaginal walls
• More lax genitalia
• Urinary leakage

As you might imagine, these side effects can have no small impact on your quality of life.

Rejuvenating your vaginal health

If you want to tighten and strengthen tissues in and around your vagina, we offer an effective vaginal rejuvenation technology — V-Lase®.

With V-Lase, we deliver CO2 energy into the target tissues to create therapeutic subdermal heating. In response, your body releases fibroblasts that lead to increased collagen production, tightening the targeted tissues.

If you’d like to learn more about how our V-Lase treatments can improve your vaginal laxity, please contact our office in Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, or Orange, California. Or, you can use our easy online scheduler to book an appointment.