Hormones for your vagina: the key to pelvic health you should never ignore! | Felice Gersh, MD

Video Description

Hormones are key to maintaining vaginal health, starting in the perimenopause and continuing throughout the menopausal years. Vaginal health is an essential part of female health and is something every person with a vagina needs to pay attention to, whether you are sexually active or not. The vagina is a key part of pelvic health that also supports the bladder and other pelvic organs and muscles. Without adequate hormones, the vagina can become dry, the walls can thin, muscles weaken, and its protective microbiome can become dysbiotic. In this talk, I cover: * How the vagina changes in menopause * How vaginal health supports the bladder and urinary tract health * Hormonal approaches to vaginal health, including estradiol, estriol, and DHEA, and my preferred products * The difference between topical vaginal hormones and systemic hormone therapy Watch for my latest Instagram lives at https://www.instagram.com/dr.felicegersh I am a full time practicing doctor. I see patients in my office in Irvine, CA and worldwide via telemedicine. If you need more healthcare assistance than I can provide in a video series, please contact my office: https://integrativemgi.com/​​ ----- Contents of this video --------------------------- 00:00 - What is the vagina and how does it work? 02:20 - What happens in menopause? 05:23 - Pelvic organ prolapse 07:45 - Vaginal microbiome 10:28 - Bladder infections 12:42 - Cervical cancer 15:21 - Why the vagina can stretch 17:47 - Estriol for the vagina 19:37 - Cream is best 20:53 - Systemic levels 23:02 - DHEA for the vagina 25:31 - Leaky vagina 26:25 - What if you are on physiologic HRT? 28:06 - You can start at any age