gynecologist

Do you really need that pelvic exam? Here's a quick primer of how to figure out if you do and how to talk to your healthcare about it, including if they say you do when you think you don't or just don't want one.

One of the first things you generally want to think about in terms of any problems during or after sex such as you’re having with irritation, is when was the last time you were in to see your gynecologist? I can see from your question that you’ve been to a doctor about the UTIs, and that’s good. But...

For folks who have experienced any kind of sexual violation--including medical experiences that have felt violating--it makes some sense that you might have anxiety or fear about pursuing further care. I don't know that I have The Answer for you when it comes to how to best manage this, but I do...

Dear Scarleteener, congratulations on being such an active participant in your own health care, and for doing your best to take care of both your physical and emotional well-being. That can be hard to do, particularly when life and school get crazy (as they tend to). I'm hoping that the gynecologist...

If you are obsessively scrubbing and scrubbing like Lady Macbeth, that in and of itself may be a big part of this issue. The vagina is a self-cleaning organ. It's also an organ that doesn't tend to respond well to soaps, douches, and other cleansing agents, because those things can knock off the...

My experience with sex-negativity and ignorance in the medical world. Adventures in having an ovarian cyst, coming out in the ER, enduring bad gynecological exams, healing my relationship with my anus and finally finding a good doctor.

Hi there, I am so sorry you had such a negative experience for your first PAP test. I promise you, it is not always like this, and it certainly doesn't HAVE to be like this. First off, your doctor TELLING YOU that you have to have a PAP test is wrong. A nurse practitioner (NP) cannot tell you what...

This is actually a question that we see very often around here, and it’s understandable that you’d be worried about this if you don’t want your mother right now to know that you’re sexually active. Doctors actually have an ethical responsibility in keeping what’s called doctor-patient...

The answer to this depends entirely on exactly what you're talking about here. If you're wondering whether a gynecologist can tell if a woman has ever had an orgasm, then the answer is no. Orgasm does not permanently change the state of the genitals in any way. There would be nothing special for the...

Probably not, no. There are a few reasons why this is the case. One of them, particularly in clinics which also provide abortions, is an issue of simple security. It is dangerous to work in these clinics because of a history of in-clinic violence, and some time ago, one way people who did violence...