Are you having issues with vaginal laxity, dissatisfying sex, a lack of sensation, vaginal dryness, or even burning and itching? Have these happened as you age or after the birth of a child? These so-called “natural signs of aging” aren’t something you have to live with any longer. When you experience the amazing benefits of MonaLisa Touch at Shenandoah Women’s Healthcare in Harrisonburg, VA, you’ll wonder why you ever waited so long to experience them!
What’s the MonaLisa Touch?
This fractional C02 laser uses energy to transform the tissues of the vagina. This is a very convenient laser treatment that takes place in our comfortable office in just five to ten minutes. There’s no surgery involved, no incisions, and no chemicals, hormones, or any of the other risks that can come with other solutions for vaginal rejuvenation. And since this is an elective Monalisa Touch treatment, you don’t need a referral from your general physician.
How It Works
When we’re young, our skin and tissue–including vaginal tissue–is healthy, firm, and strong in large part due to the presence of collagen. This is a protein our bodies produce a lot of when we’re young, and it’s responsible for rejuvenating tissues. As we age, our bodies naturally produce less collagen and similar helpful substances. Our skin everywhere starts to suffer the consequences, and our body doesn’t recognize these slow changes of aging as any kind of problem. Therefore, it doesn’t naturally fix the issue.
What MonaLisa Touch does is trick the body into producing more collagen, elastin, and other healing and rejuvenating substances at levels you haven’t experienced since you were thirty. The gentle laser energy goes through the vaginal wall to heat tissues, which signals to the body to send new collagen and elastin to the entire area. This causes fresh, new tissue to grow as well as blood vessels, which improves the vaginal mucosa. The overall result is a tighter vaginal canal, better natural lubrication, firmer skin, and stronger muscles.
What Treatment Is Like
Determining Your Candidacy
Treatment starts when you schedule a consultation to come to talk with us. You’ll meet with one of our qualified, experienced healthcare providers so we can get to know you and understand your concerns and needs. After a pelvic exam to make sure there are no active infections in the area and that you’re otherwise a good candidate, we can proceed. There are no special steps you need to take to get ready for this type of vaginal rejuvenation as you would if you were preparing for surgery!
Treatment Specifics
The first step is to numb the entire area, and especially the vaginal opening and vulva where the nerves are most sensitive. Once these areas are numbed, you lie back much as you would during a normal genealogical exam, and we’ll place a sterile ring at the opening of the vagina. This allows the treatment wand to go in and move around the area without rubbing against the labia.
The treatment wand is small and contains a laser that sends pulsed energy into the tissues. These pulses vary in their strength according to the depth and width of the area being treated. The process is not painful: if you feel anything at all, it will just be minor vibrations. The entire process takes just five to ten minutes.
After Treatment
One of the best things about the MonaLisa Touch is that it’s simple, doesn’t have a lot of side effects like other treatments and procedures, and doesn’t come with days and days of downtime. Most women go back to their normal routines and schedules the next day. The only things we ask are that you refrain from vaginal sex for a week and avoid hot baths or whirlpools for four days. This gives your body the time it needs to rejuvenate tissues.
The Amazing Benefits of the MonaLisa Touch
Some women actually report feeling more sensation and lubrication in the first 24 hours, but most women will start noticing a big difference about three or four weeks in. That’s the amount of time it normally takes for your body to get the signals to rejuvenate tissues and then get to work sending more collagen and elastin to the area.
The results you should expect include better natural lubrication and pleasurable sex with greater sensitivity. The vaginal wall will tighten as well. For most women, the best results come with a series of three to four treatments, each six weeks apart. Once you’ve obtained your final results from these treatments, a maintenance treatment once a year or so will preserve and extend those results.
Other Important Information to Know
Am I a Good Candidate for This Treatment?
This is a good treatment for women experiencing vaginal atrophy or laxity, and especially if those symptoms are being caused by hormonal changes. This is also a good treatment if you’re suffering from vaginal dryness or from pain and itching during intercourse. If you’re experiencing a lack of sensation during intercourse, you should also consider this treatment.
This is an especially useful treatment if you want to address issues that occur after childbirth or with age but you’re not ready for hormone replacement therapy, or if you want to supplement hormone replacement for even better long-term effects. If you aren’t ready for the risks and downsides of major surgery, this is also a good treatment to consider. The best way to find out if this is a good treatment for you is in consultation with us.
What Are the Typical Symptoms of Women Who Seek Treatment?
In addition to the generalized descriptions above, you might be experiencing one or more of these specific symptoms common to those who seek this treatment:
- Loose vagina
- Minimal muscle tone
- Displeasure with gaping at the vaginal opening
- Decreased ability to become stimulated during sex
- Tampons falling out
- Sexual partner slipping out
- Presence of scar tissue around the vagina
- Tissue protruding from the vagina
- Popping sounds from the vagina during sex or when walking
There are only a few things that could keep you from being a candidate for treatment. If you have a systemic disease, we can help you find another treatment better suited for your case. If you have a localized infection, it’s best to wait until it clears up before getting this treatment.
Can I Combine This With Other Treatments?
At Shenandoah Women’s Healthcare, our goal is your overall health and wellbeing, and we offer an array of medical and cosmetic treatments that can help you look and feel refreshed and rejuvenated. In addition to administering this treatment, we offer a full range of OB/GYN services that you might need to address things like urinary incontinence, chronic pelvic pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, or issues surrounding menopause.
On the spa side, we also offer treatments that can help with skin rejuvenation, laser hair reduction, pigment disorders, weight loss and more. We can’t wait to get started helping you feel and look the way you want.
What If I’ve Never Had a Vaginal Delivery?
You can still be a candidate for this treatment even if you’ve never given birth vaginally. Vaginal birth is one of the biggest causes of vaginal laxity, but there are other reasons it can happen. It can be the natural result of the aging process, and sometimes it’s simply a matter of genetics. For others, dramatic changes in weight can cause an issue.
Even something as simple as a chronic cough can cause vaginal laxity and other unwelcome changes. Other possible causes include lifting heavy weights at home or in the gym, or chronic constipation and the resulting strain. Many issues can cause vaginal laxity, but MonaLisa Touch can help with nearly all of them. If you’re interested in whether it can help you, come talk to us.
What if I’m Not Done Having Children?
We recommend that you seek this vaginal rejuvenation treatment once you’ve accomplished your childbearing goals. That’s simply because having another child will undo all your results! That said, if you aren’t sure of your future childbearing plans and are concerned now with vaginal rejuvenation, come to see us so we can discuss all the possibilities.
Does This Hurt?
You should feel no pain at all during this treatment. Most women are fine even without numbing cream, but we can certainly provide one if you’re at all concerned. If you have any questions, reach out to us today to learn more. We’re happy to answer all your questions and want you to only pursue treatments you feel 100% comfortable with!
Can This Help With My Issues on the Outside of the Vagina?
The laser technology used by this treatment can work on the inner vaginal wall and also the labia and vulva. It helps with vulvar itching, burning, and dryness, and it can help you achieve a more youthful appearance to the outer tissues of the vagina.
Does This Help With All the Symptoms of Menopause?
This treatment is designed to help with vaginal laxity and its related symptoms. These are often brought on by menopause, but they can come from other causes, as well. This treatment cannot address other issues that come with menopause, like sleeplessness, hot flashes, or emotional changes. Menopause can be a hard time in life, and at Shenandoah Women’s Healthcare, we are anxious to help you achieve peace of mind by addressing all the symptoms that bother you.
Come talk with and let us help you take charge of your health. You can always count on us to listen and not lecture, and we can recommend many lifestyle changes, hormone therapy options, and other treatments that can give you relief from menopause symptoms. Even if you’re not yet experiencing severe symptoms, we can help you address health problems that arise during this time of life and prevent them before they start.
How Should I Prepare for a Consultation?
Before you come to see us, the most important step is keeping track of all your symptoms. We recommend that you write down symptoms whenever you experience them and that you note how often they occur. We’ll also need a current list of any supplements or medications you’re taking. There is unlikely to be any contraindication, but it’s always wise to have these at your fingertips. Finally, we suggest you start writing down any questions you have about your symptoms or about this treatment as they occur to you.
Experience the Amazing Benefits for Yourself!
If you’re suffering from symptoms of vaginal laxity, dryness, burning, itching, or other discomforts, you don’t have to just live with it. This treatment offers amazing benefits, and we think you’ll be as excited about the treatment as we are when you experience them for yourself. Contact Shenandoah Women’s Healthcare in Harrisonburg, VA today to learn more or to get started!