Vaginal Oestrogen is an effective, low-risk form of HRT. It’s used to treat genital symptoms of menopause including tightness, dryness, pain and recurrent urinary infections. Vaginal oestrogen can be taken alone or alongside systemic HRT (including tablets and patches).
Read on to learn why vaginal oestrogens are a safe and popular option.
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Why does the vaginal area change at menopause?
The tissues in the vagina, vulva and urethra are kept healthy due to how they respond to oestrogen. The presence of this hormone keeps them plump, moist and elastic, as well as resistant to infection. This is especially true throughout your younger adult life when oestrogen levels are high.
As you might expect, menopause can really interfere with this process. As oestrogen levels drop during menopause, the tissues of the vagina and wider genital area become thin, dry and fragile.
This translates into a number of symptoms which are collectively known as genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). These include dryness, vaginal discomfort, itch, pain, tightness, painful sex and urinary changes (including recurrent infection). You may also hear this r
About vaginal oestrogen - Brand names: Vagifem, Gina, Ovesse, Ovestin, Vagirux
Vaginal oestrogen is a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicine that contains the hormone oestrogen. It's used to treat the vaginal dryness and irritation that can happen during the menopause.
Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. It usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55, but it can happen earlier. It affects anyone who has periods.
The fall in the amount of oestrogen your body produces can cause symptoms. Using vaginal oestrogen can help dryness and irritation but it will not treat other symptoms of the menopause such as hot flushes, mood swings or problems sleeping (insomnia).
Vaginal oestrogen comes as a tablet, pessary, cream, gel or ring that you insert into your vagina. Using oestrogen inside the vagina only is called local HRT.
Usually, if you take or use oestrogen you must also use a progestogen alongside it, to protect your womb. But with vaginal oestrogen, little of the medicine gets into the rest of your body, so you do not need to take progestogen.
If vaginal oestrogen is not enough to treat your symptoms, you can also use a highe
How and when to use vaginal oestrogen - Brand names: Vagifem, Gina, Ovesse, Ovestin, Vagirux
Dosage
Your dose of vaginal oestrogen depends on the type of medicine you're using:
- vaginal tablets (Gina, Vagifem, Vagirux) – insert 1 tablet a day for 2 weeks, then 1 tablet twice a week
- a vaginal ring (Estring) – insert 1 vaginal ring into the vagina for 3 months
- vaginal gel (Blissel) – insert 1 dose of gel a day for 3 weeks, then 1 dose twice a week
- vaginal pessaries (Imvaggis) – insert 1 pessary a day for 3 weeks, then 1 pessary twice a week
- Ovestin vaginal cream – insert 1 dose of cream a day for up to 4 weeks, then you can reduce your dose gradually depending on symptoms, for example to 1 dose twice a week
- Ovesse vaginal cream – insert 1 dose of cream a day for 2 weeks, then 1 dose twice a week
How to use vaginal oestrogen
Using vaginal oestrogen tablets
- Wash your hands and get yourself into a comfortable position. You can either stand up or lie down.
- Open the pack and remove the applicator. The tablet should already be inside it.
- Hold the applicator so one finger can press the applicator plunger.
- Insert the applicator carefully into your vagina. You ca
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There are many reasons being a woman in midlife is secretly excellent. You’re wise enough not to do dumb stuff and have way fewer figs to give (go ahead, sub in the correct word). Emotionally, you may well be as well-equipped to handle the chaos of life as you’ve ever been. But there’s no way around it: In menopause (and sometimes later in perimenopause), your vagina isn’t exactly living her best life. She used to enjoy a lavish supply of estrogen, luxuriating in the abundance of lubrication and elasticity. Now, not so much. Which is where vaginal estrogen comes in.
After menopause, your vagina might start to feel itchy and dry. Intercourse might be painful, and even if you made it through pregnancy with no leaking, your bladder might see menopause as the final straw. Oh, and you may start to have more urinary tract infections (UTIs), due to the uncomfortable combo of dry tissue, less mucus, and a weak urethra (1).
All of this is due to the major drop in estrogen once your ovaries have gotten out of the egg production business. “Vaginal tissues are very sensitive to estrogen loss,” says Cynthia Stuenkel, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Calif
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