I'm wonderkng whether my labia minora is considered normal or whether it has drastically changed over the years and I haven't been aware as I've been asymptomatic and never looked.
The labia minora is considered to be the inner lips (the flaps of skin). I don't seem to have this, just two surfaces of skin on either side. One side you can see some of a lip but that's it. So basically I have two flat surfaces of skin on either side. This can't be normal. If so what happened to the lips. I don't see any seam or scar tissue burying the lips. It's as if they were never there and that's just how I've always been.
Does anyone else look remotely similar? I know we all look so different down there but I'm curious.
I can relate to what you are saying. Mine disappeared years ago. The clitoris got buried a few years or so a go. I can feel it.
You probably did not notice as it would,have been subtle.
Hi Dani, I was at the consultants earlier this year and she told me I no longer have any labia minor! I was shocked as I had not realised they were no longer there. Anyway she told me that was fine and that I did not need them anyway, true or false who knows, they must have been there for a reason In the first place? Evidently they have been re-absorbed! I have no scar tissue or anything like that they have just disappeared. According to the doctor they will not re-appear no matter what treatment I have. I really hate LS and I do feel rather 'open' down there, which I assume is due to having re-absorbed the labia minors. It is so difficult to 'look' at this area of your body, the consultant agreed with me that you need to be almost a contortionist with six Sets of hands to be able to properly examine yourself, also there is no 'normal' looking vagina, we are all different, which makes it harder to work out if you have something wrong/missing/mis-shaken etc. Hope this helps, if you find out anything more I would really love to hear. Best of luck
Same here! My labia minora gradually faded away and I am left with hardly anything at one side and a piece of thin, scraggy skin at the other. The labia majora are still there but somewhat deflated. The problem with losing these protective coverings is that any seams on underwear rub horribly, starting off another bout of LS - and I miss the "padding" when climbing over things! Couldn't possibly ride a bicycle (so there is an up side!).
Oh I can't believe what I'm reading! That feeling of being open as Suzanne said is exactly how I feel! And I also have one straggy bit of a skin on one side. I'm 25 and have this so I'm feeling even more frightened now..
When standing up the labia majora seem to protect the area.
I went to my usual gynecologist for a routine pap last year and she didn't say anything. In fact when she wrote me a referral for a specialist when I first complained of LS symptoms she wrote no sign of architectural changes in the report.
Kathleen I think your right in saying it was subtle. Like I said I had no reason to look down there. The only person who would've picked up is my partner of almost 6 years and he never mentioned anything.
Does the skin get dry more easily as there's no lips to keep it moist?
Hi Dani,
Over 3 or 4 months a section of my left inner labia has vanished and my right has shrunk it is like they are being absorbed by my body also the skin around my clitoris has become tighter and looks to be starting to cover over it! I hadn't noticed a doctors pointed it out, what a shock I got when I got home and had a good look. I felt a fool how could I have not noticed , but you don't study your bits in a mirror every day do you. This was when I was told they thought I had LS! I am back in hospital today for results of biopsies. Hopefully I should know more but I'm not holding my breath.
Hi Dani,
im in a similar boat, I've lost the left inner labia too. I'm wondering if estrangement cream may help as I've read it helps return the skin to its normal condition. But don't know if it helps with shrinkage/disappearance. I was going to ask my doctor in a couple of weeks when I see her.
Samantha
Exactly Debbie, you don't study your bits every day, even more so when you feel normal down there.
I have no memory of what I looked like 5 years ago or 10 years ago down there. So I have no benchmark to compare which is frustrating.
Hi: I used clobetasol for 7 years. I never had any flare ups. I went off the clob about a year ago. The ridges inside my vagina were going away. I started using a product called Licrogel that is no longer made any more. I did not have any flare ups for the last year. I recently have noticed not fusing but the shrinkage of one of my lips, too. I was wondering whether women using clob don't have shrinkage, whether discontinuing the clob allowed that to happen.
I feel very fortunate in having seen a gynaecologist and a dermatologist who actually know about LS and LP. This is my own experience: Clobetasol is the only decent treatment for LS and I was told to use it inside my vagina also, as necessary. So - clobetasol is for gynae areas. For other areas the dermatologist told me that the strongest ointment for this problem is mometasone and, if this doesn't work, there isn't anything else. The clobetasol keeps the gynae areas ticking over well. It doesn't repair anything but it stops the itch and soreness. The mometasone treats itchy patches elsewhere but, in my case, I need to apply it for a few days in a row before I get any relief. Again, it does not repair the skin but does control it. With regard to the LP which I have in my finger and toe nails - there is no treatment. If anybody has hair loss, I can recommend Viviscal tablets which you can buy online and which you need to take for a few months before you notice the difference. Unfortunately, as I have found out, if you stop taking them, the hair fall starts again!
I have been wondering the same: Did I ever have a labia minora? Though just recently I think there must have been something.
I suspect I was your age, Dani, when my labia minora whithered away. I recall a mortifying espisode (this is the seventies when watching movies like Deep Throat was sort of 'cool', yuck) when my husband took photos of my bits, which he described as 'pretty'. I believe he was somewhat of a connoisseur and what he meant was everything was very compact.
We have to be diligent with treaments and looking in the mirror, so we don't get badly flared-up, raw and sticky – it's the sticky skin that can adhere to itself. I had an adhesion (a fold at the edge of my perineum) that made my vaginal introitus quite a bit narrower, but it was only held by a small bit of flesh which I broke when doing strteching (a good thing) and now it's healed open. The friction of intercourse can really irritate LS when it's flared, but using our fingers to keep the vaginal opening a decent size is really worth doing.
Keep an eye on the hood over your clitoris. Lots of women on here have had it zip shut in a matter of weeks or even days (I did, with a big abcess in the bargain). I think if you keep coconut oil on it, you should be able to avoid this.
In all the time I've been treating my LS which is now for 6 months I haven't used clob. I was given betamethasone first for 2 months now using only a potent steroid called Advantan daily before bed.
Like you said Kathryn the treatments are used to control it. All these months I've been applying meds thinking it's like some sort of rash that will go away. As the weeks go on its starting to sink in that nothing's going away. I wonder if I should mention clob to my specialist and see what she says.
Are you using the ointment instead of the cream? I use the ointment because it is absorbed very well. I like this one because it is less potent than most of the others.
Hi Kathleen. Yes I'm using the fatty ointment. Its slightly more thick than Vaseline. Do you rub it into the skin or just smear it on? I usually rub it in but not for 90 seconds. Maybe 10-15 at most.
Hi Morrell. Gosh that sounds like an awful experience. I know what you mean when you say compact. Neat or not much there is another way of describing it.
Thanks for the advice. I try using tampons whilst on my period but have a lot of issues with that. Tampons are too abrasive and even that friction causes discomfort at the I trouts so unfortunately I'm resorting to pads. Lucky I don't get heavy periods. Can only imagine what having intercourse would do! Still holding off.
Sorry that was suppose to say discomfort at the Introitus.
It goes in quite well. I do try to rub it in but it then seems to absorb anyway. No need for 90 seconds!