ATROPHIC vaginitis.

Abstract

Atrophic vaginitis is a condition that arises when there is insufficient estrogen, resulting in a failure of the maturation of the vaginal epithelium. This is seen in any condition in which there is a significant decrease in estrogen production. (E.g. breast-feeding, natural menopause, women younger than 50 who have had a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and women receiving progesterone therapy in the absence of estrogen). Atrophic vaginitis can also result from women receiving therapy that suppresses ovarian function thereby causing depletion in estrogen. The patient with atrophic vaginitis typically presents with vulvovaginal burning, itching, dysuria, dyspareunia and vaginal bleeding. The introitus and vagina become traumatized during sexual intercourse. These patients often experience bleeding during and after sexual intercourse. The bladder, urethra and vagina share a common embryonic origin. These organs are all hormones dependent and suffer the same consequences when estrogen is no longer available. The estrogen deprived patient can develop urinary frequency, urgency, bladder irritation and dysuria. The diagnosis can be established by noting that the vaginal epithelium is pale pink to almost white, rugae are absent, and the vaginal walls appears smooth. The pH >5, and discharge is dirty gray to green. In this review an attempt has been made to focus on treatment for atrophic vaginitis condition. As, in countries like India patients are not very open to talk about this condition.