What are the abnormalities of menopause?

When women reach a certain age, they will experience menopause, and the period of menopause for women is generally called menopause. Menopause mainly refers to women's temper becoming irritable, and their bodies will also age faster at this time. However, these phenomena are all symptoms caused by the internal organs of women. So if a woman is in menopause, what abnormal reactions will her body have?

1. Reproductive system

The female reproductive system is affected by the estrogen secreted by the ovaries. As the age increases during menopause, estrogen gradually decreases and eventually disappears, resulting in physiological and pathological phenomena such as cessation of menstruation, gradual atrophy of the reproductive organs, and decreased function.

2. Ovarian changes

The volume of the ovaries gradually shrinks and decreases with age during menopause, and is only one-third the size of a young woman. The atrophied ovarian cortex becomes thinner, with a smooth and tough surface covered with only a single layer of flat cells. The ovarian medulla is almost entirely connective tissue, and the blood vessels in the medulla and ovarian hilum also harden and completely lose their function.

3. Decreased follicles

The number of follicles in the ovaries of menopausal women decreases with age. After the age of 50, there are only a few follicles left in women, and they are all aging follicles.

4. Changes in ovarian hormone secretion

The secretion of progesterone decreases, and then the secretion of estrogen also begins to decline a few years before menopause. After menopause, the ovaries basically stop secreting estrogen and progesterone.

5. Uterine changes

During menopause, women's ovaries ovulate less frequently and their uterus is only stimulated by estrogen. Lacking the effects of progesterone on the uterus, endometrial hyperplasia can easily occur, leading to menopausal functional uterine bleeding or the occurrence of uterine fibroids. As menopause continues, the myometrium gradually degenerates and fibrosis, the uterus gradually shrinks, becomes smaller in size, loses weight, and the endometrium also begins to shrink.

6. Vaginal changes

The vagina of menopausal women will also undergo atrophy, which often occurs several years after menopause. The clinical manifestations are thinning of the vaginal wall, reduction or disappearance of wrinkles, decreased elasticity, decreased secretions, shallower or disappearance of the vaginal vault, causing the vagina to become narrower and shorter, and the acidic environment in the vagina to become alkaline. The local physiological defense mechanism is destroyed, and the resistance is reduced.

7. Vulvar changes

Vulvar atrophy can be manifested by the pubic hair falling out and becoming sparse, short and thick, the labia majora and minora, and mons pubis becoming less elastic, the fat decreasing, the entire vulva losing its fullness, the mucosa becoming thinner, the elastic fibers in the blood vessels degenerating, the glandular secretion decreasing, and the vulva becoming dry and wrinkled.

8. Skin and hair changes

As we age, our skin and hair also show signs of aging and degeneration. The secretion of estrogen decreases, which slows down the proliferation of skin basal cells and concentrates the elastic fibers and collagen in the dermis. The skin gradually becomes dry, inelastic and loose, and wrinkles increase.