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Here'due south what y'all need to know (Motion picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

If you are a woman and haven't had sexual activity for a while, you may be concerned that things have changed.

Non with the deed itself (don't worry the basics are still the same) but with your body and, in item, your hymen.

Online message boards are filled with concerned women who haven't had sex for several years and are unsure whether their hymen may accept grown back.

Worries include if it means they are technically a virgin over again and if it is going to hurt when they do choose to have sexual activity once more.

The simple respond is no, your hymen will not grow back.

To explicate why, I spoke to Dr Pandelis Athanasias, consultant gynaecologist at London Women's Centre.

Dr Athanasias said many people believed the hymen completely covered the vaginal archway and breaks during vaginal penetration.

However, he said he would describe it as a small tear on a thin layer of tissue which is commonly accompanied by some haemorrhage.

But why doesn't it grow dorsum again?

'The hymen can't abound back as information technology's only stretched and torn tissue without the ability to regenerate,' said Dr Athanasias.

'We occasionally take patients calling and requesting appointments in order to clarify whether they are all the same virgins.

'The hymen stretches and tears non just through penetrative sex only as well during exercise or while inserting a tampon or other objects into the vagina.

'Besides if a woman relaxes, uses lubrication and digitally stretches the hymen, then it might not tear during intercourse.

Lots of women have shared their concerns on online bulletin boards (Motion picture: Oscar Wong/Getty)

'So, y'all tin't definitely tell if someone is a virgin if they take a hymen or is not a virgin if they don't accept a hymen.'

Dr Athanasias said he occasionally has phone calls from women looking to have their hymen restored – particularly if sexual forbearance before marriage is important to their culture.

'In some cultures a woman losing her virginity earlier matrimony can have consequences, hence the requests for repair or restoration of the hymen,' he says.

'This is called hymenoplasty and tin be performed with different surgical techniques under local or general anaesthesia.

'I don't perform those procedures and we don't have reliable statistics regarding the number of women undergoing hymen restoration surgery in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland every twelvemonth.'

Volition sex activity hurt if I haven't had sex for a while?

I of the other things you may be worried about before you lot jump back in the saddle (and so to speak) is if it going to injure?

Yous're not solitary.

Dr Athanasias said he spoke to many women who have concerns when they are resuming sex later months or years of forbearance.

If it volition hurt or not (and how much it may hurt) will vary depending on your age.

What is a hymen?

A hymen is a sparse layer of tissue that partially covers the opening of the vagina – partially not completely.

It's usually institute i-two cm inside the vaginal opening.

When a woman has vaginal penetrative sex for the first time, the hymen ordinarily stretches and/or tears.

It doesn't but happen with sexual intercourse.

The hymen tin stretch or tear during exercise or tampon insertion.

'When the woman is still in her reproductive years she might experience some discomfort because it can take longer for the vagina to swell and get lubricated during sexual arousal and the pelvic muscles aren't used to having sex,' Dr Athanasias says.

'The symptoms normally resolve before long and a vaginal lubricant is all you need.'

Afterward the menopause and due to the lack of estrogen however, the symptoms volition take longer to resolve and will require treatment.

The vaginal lining becomes thinner, drier and after sore because of a status called vaginal atrophy.

Sexual intercourse tin be painful and accompanied by vaginal bleeding.

And, while the average age of reaching the menopause is 51 years old, many women go through the change prematurely.

(Movie: JohnnyGreig/Getty)

These women could be anile in their 30s or 40s and become through menopause either naturally or after surgical removal of the ovaries or possibly after chemotherapy to treat cancer.

'Most all women in this age group will be sexually agile,' said Dr Athanasias (information technology's actually idea to be 87% of 31-45-year-olds).

'As the vaginal tissue becomes dry out and thin, sex can become very uncomfortable and many women even depict information technology as impossible.'

Your sexual activity life doesn't accept to be over – hurrah!

At that place are treatments available which mean you lot and your partner can go on to enjoy a healthy sex life even subsequently menopause.

Dr Athanasias explained that vaginal lubricants and moisturisers can help only it is the local estrogen, which is bachelor in vaginal cream or tablets, that aims to treat the underlying crusade and not simply the symptoms.

'The treatment of vaginal atrophy can be challenging when topical estrogen fails to make a divergence or is contraindicated (cannot be used in certain cases),' he says.

'In the past in that location were not any bachelor treatment options and unfortunately those women had to avoid sexual practice and larn to live with their condition.'

Fortunately, in recent years there have been developments to help make it more than comfortable for women to have sex after the menopause.

At Dr Athanasias'south clinic, he uses the CO2 vaginal laser therapy which, he says, has shown outstanding results in treating women with vaginal atrophy and helping menopausal women to resume sexual intercourse.

It has meant that women have been able to go on their sex life into old historic period.

He added: 'Many of my patients are in their 70s and 80s and the satisfaction rate subsequently the handling is almost xc%.

'I used to exist skeptical regarding vaginal laser treatments but after traveling to the United States and Italy (pioneers in laser treatment) and talking to patients and clinicians I was convinced to introduce the handling in our clinic.

'I'm extremely pleased with the results and the large number of women we are able to help.'

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