What are the symptoms of vulvar atrophy? Will the shape of the vulva change?

When women reach a certain age, they will experience vulvar atrophy. We divide vulvar atrophy into three types according to its severity: stage I atrophy, stage II atrophy, and stage III atrophy. The symptoms are not very obvious when it comes to stage I atrophy, but when it comes to stage II or stage III atrophy, the morphology of women's vulva will change significantly.

Vulvar atrophy is a type of vulvar atrophy that causes significant changes in vulvar morphology and has a greater harmful impact on patients. The vulvar skin becomes dry and thin, its elasticity decreases, and the clitoris and labia majora and minora atrophy. In severe cases, the vagina may also atrophy, causing pain during sexual intercourse or even difficulty in sexual intercourse, which is extremely harmful to women's physical and mental health. The main symptoms are as follows:

Stage I atrophic type: The main symptoms are not obvious. Some patients have mild itching. No white lesions appear, and the vulva has atrophy that is not easily visible to the naked eye.

Stage II atrophic type: The typical symptom is mild visible atrophy of the vulva, usually starting from the labia majora, minora, and clitoris. The elasticity of the labia majora and minora decreases, the surface wrinkles decrease or disappear, and the vulvar itching is relatively mild. Due to atrophy, there may be dryness of the vulva, discomfort during sexual intercourse, etc. Localized hypopigmentation occurs on the vulvar skin, in the form of multiple dots or flakes.

Stage III atrophic type: The labia majora of the vulva are flat, the labia minora disappear, and the clitoris shrinks and becomes smaller or adheres. The urethral opening atrophies, and in severe cases, urinary incontinence occurs. The vaginal opening atrophies, and sexual intercourse becomes difficult. Some patients develop anal leukoplakia and atrophy, causing the skin around the anus to become wrinkled and less elastic, which can lead to anal fissures during defecation. About 50% of patients have large areas of hypopigmentation on the vulvar skin.