Vaginal laser treatment
Who should have vaginal laser treatment?
Women with:
- vaginal relaxation (loose or too wide vagina)
- stress urinary incontinence (leaking urine when jumping, sneezing, coughing, running)
- dryness of vagina (or atrophic vaginitis)
- frequent vaginal infections have excellent results with the treatment
FAQS
No, the treatment is not painful. You may feel discomfort on insertion of vaginal probe especially if you have not been sexually active for a while. Dr Novikova uses oil over the vaginal probe to make insertion less uncomfortable. During the procedure you may feel warmness in the vagina. If you feel any discomfort or pain, Dr Novikova will adjust the laser settings to keep you comfortable.
The treatment is done in Dr Novikova’s office.
Yes, if the treatment is indicated in your case you can have it on the day of the consultation.
No, you don’t have to take a day off work. You can do the treatment in your lunch break and return back to work.
- any active vaginal infection
- Active genital herpes infection. If you have past history of genital herpes and do not have lesions you may have laser vaginal treatment
- certain medical disease (for example scleroderma, uncontrolled diabetes)
- taking medications that thin blood
- vaginal bleeding
- pregnancy
- cancer
- pelvic organ prolapse stage more than 2
- unrealistic expectations
- Pap smear should be done within the last 3 months before the procedure
- General medical assessment including breast check
- Pelvic examination
- Pelvic ultrasound
Dr Novikova will take a detailed history, will do medical check including breast check, pelvic examination, pelvic ultrasound and Pap smear before the laser vaginal treatment.
- You should not have sexual intercourse for 3 days
- You should not use tampons for 3 days
- Please phone your doctor or the office if you have bleeding, fever or any other concerns regarding the procedure
- It is very common to experience increased vaginal discharge sometimes blood-stained for several days after the treatment
- Very rarely women develop involuntary leaking of urine for 1-2 days after the treatment. This is very uncommon
Dr Novikova uses CO2 laser called Femilift. This laser is approved by FDA. Alma laser has been on the market for decades and the company is a leader in laser industry. It’s the only vaginal laser that has disposable probe to cover vaginal hand piece which avoids transmission of any infection.
Vaginal skin contains collagen fibers that give the skin flexibility and strength. Femilift vaginal laser gently heats vaginal skin. This heat contract existing fibers. The trauma (very minimal and superficial) caused by heat stimulates the growth of new collagen and healthy vaginal skin. This process improves normalizes the blood flow in vaginal skin, increases lubrication, restores strength and elasticity of vaginal wall.
- Generally 3 treatments are enough to achieve desired result. If the results has not achieved you may need an alternative treatment such as sling procedure for stress urinary incontinence, vaginoplasty for vaginal tightening.
- Occasionally doctors will choose to do more treatments (usually 4-6 treatments every 2 weeks) if a lower energy of laser has to be used during treatments.