Vaginal Atrophy (Atrophic Vaginitis)

Diagnosis

If you are a middle-aged woman, your doctor will ask whether you have started menopause or whether you have been experiencing menopausal symptoms (absent or irregular menstrual periods, mood swings, hot flashes, difficulty sleeping at night, night sweats). If you are a woman of childbearing age, your doctor will inquire whether you are breastfeeding or having irregular menstrual periods, which could be caused by low estrogen levels or by an imbalance in female hormones. Your doctor also will review your medical and surgical history and ask about your current medications.

The doctor may suspect vaginal atrophy based on your age, symptoms and medical history. To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor will perform a pelvic examination to examine your vulva and vagina for signs of dryness, redness and thinning of tissue. If you are menopausal and have bleeding after intercourse, your doctor may want to check for endometrial cancer (cancer of the uterine lining) by doing an endometrial biopsy. In this procedure, a small piece of tissue is removed from the uterine lining, and is examined in a laboratory. The doctor also may want to check for a problem with the cervix by doing a Pap test.

Expected Duration

The condition will continue until it is treated or estrogen levels return to normal.