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Vaginal Lacerations Article
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What Causes Non-obstetrical Vaginal Lacerations
The most common non-obstetrical vaginal laceration is caused by the female’s very first experience with sexual intercourse.
The hymen, the layer of tissue that partially covers the vaginal orifice tears away and sometimes bleeds with the first sexual intercourse experience. This is normal and heals very quickly.
Non-obstetrical vaginal lacerations can be considered fairly minor, requiring little or no treatment to the very serious requiring emergency measures to stop blood loss.
The minor cases of vaginal lacerations can be associated with normal sexual activity, in which the vaginal wall is too dry during intercourse. Small nicks may be generated by the friction of intercourse.
Unless a woman experiences a severe laceration to her vagina that causes bleeding, she may not even be aware there is a problem. Upon performing pelvic examinations, many physicians find vaginal lacerations of which the woman wasn’t even aware. These areas may be the source of vaginal yeast and other vaginal infections.
For these less serious lacerations that accompany vaginal type infections, the lesions will heal as the vagina clears of infection.
The more serious form of vaginal lacerations may cause heavy bleeding and become life threatening; these serious forms of vaginal lacerations can come from many sources. In some cases women have lacerations caused from sexual abuse from their spouses or partners.
Sexual abuse can come in the form of having foreign objects forced into the woman’s vagina, as well as violent thrusting of the penis into the vagina. This abuse may go on and on without the woman ever reporting it or getting medical intervention until there are life endangerment issues.
Vaginal lacerations caused from forced trauma can cause severe injury and haemorrhaging from the vagina, which may lead to hypovolemic shock.
Many women that have endured vaginal lacerations through sexual abuse have had to be treated within the confines of the hospital. In many cases there is so much blood lost that their blood volume has to be replaced through a transfusion.
In many instances these women have to have surgery to stop the bleeding and to repair the lacerations.
Serious vaginal lacerations can also come from blunt force injury to the abdomen, such as in a pelvic fracture caused by some kind of accident. Half of all auto accidents involve pelvic fractures.
The bones of the pelvis are held together by ligaments, but in the case of a high impact injury, the pelvic bones are very unstable and could easily cause trauma in the form vaginal lacerations.
In cases of pelvic fractures, the internal structures within and near the pelvic area will have to be examined by a physician and treated as medically or surgically indicated.