Labia Adhesion?

[oram]

A girlfriend of mine has a 22 mo dd whose labia are growing together. She says it's gotten worse over time and is now considering hormone cream or surgery. Has any one else gone through this? Can it come apart on its own like uncircumcised boys? She says there is scar tissue building up so I wonder if that would make self separation harder?

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Some choose to go the cream route if it gets so bad it is affecting urine flow. some wait and it does release on its own later as the girl grows. I am not sure exactly what I would do but part of me would rather wait and if it because a problem with urinating worry about it then. If not then it can be delt with when she is older and wants to have it fixed.

[Daisyuk]

How can there be "scar tissue" building up, if there's no wound?

Is she pulling them apart or something?

[attachedmamaof3]

Does her DD also have a bad diaper rash??? I only ask this because we noticed my 2 month old (now 5 months old) was beginning to get a labial adhesion during the 7 WEEKS it took us to realize she was allergic to her disposable diapers (we used sposies during the crazy poo newborn stage and were waiting for her to hit 15 lbs and fit into our diaper stash )....we switched back to cloth, rash gone in 5 HOURS and her labial adhesion gradually seperated back out. Seriously. No adhesion at all anymore, and I think it took maybe 2-3 wks to completely separate, but her adhesion wasn't really extensive. From what I read, labial adhesions can also be secondary to really bad diaper rashes...

[thorn]

we opted to use the premarin cream on catie. it was only for 5 days and the adhesion opened right up.

[orangedaisies]

My Mom said I had this too.

The scar tissue bit sounds unusual. My Mom said the Ped noticed I had labial adhesions as a baby and said "They need to be broken or she won't be able to menstruate". My Mom (yay Mom!) said "Well she doesn't need to menstruate right now so leave it alone". He wanted to lyse them with a tongue depressor!! Very forward thinking. I guess it went away on its own. My guess is that the answer would be to leave it alone...unless she can't pee or something.

[ninasmom]

Hi oram - I had to come out of lurkdom to respond to your post since we are dealing with labial adhesions on my daughter.

The adhesions themselves are scar tissue. From what I have read, the body treats the area as an open wound because little girls don't get estrogen (which helps form vaginal lubrication) until sometime in their second year. They are also a problem for post-menopausal women because of the lack of hormones.

Once her body starts producing it's own hormones it will correct itself.

We use flax seed oil on the area with every diaper change - it has natural estrogen in it. Also, once a day after bathtime we GENTLY massage the adhesion with a q-tip to help soften it up. It hasn't completely disappeard but has dramatically helped open it up.

We do not want to use Premarin simply because of the side effects

(swollen breast tissue and pubic hair growth )

Please let your friend know that unless it is inhibiting urine flow that it should just be left alone. Breaking it open will make it an actual wound and the body will close it right back up - not to mention how traumatic and painful that would be for her little one.

[titania8]

are you using cloth diapers? i have heard that helps improve labial adhesions. personally, i think i would leave them alone unless there is a real problem. but not being in that situation, i can't say 100% what i would do.

[zerby]

We've been dealing with these for a long time now. DD has had them since she was a few weeks old. We have only treated them when they cause UTI's. She was CD'd, and we lubricate them every night. She has had a few rounds of the Premarin, which while I personally despise the stuff, was necessary in her case. She has recently ( 2 weeks ago) had surgery because the adhesions -and their associated UTI's-had caused some damage to her urinary system. I found a pedi uro that I know to be anti circ to do the procedure since her adhesions had to be lysed to do the procedure. I keep waiting for them to resolve, and I am waiting for her to produce enough of her own estrogen to eliminate them.

Best of luck to you!

[vindikate]

ours resolved with 5 days of A&D ointment

Hello, I had to come into this discussion, just as an additional voice to tell you about our experience. When my 2.5 yr old was 15 months, the dr noticed (at a routine exam) that she had a labial adhesion, and it was about 98% adhered. It wasn't always like this, and I hadn't noticed it. I guess they can come on very, very quickly.
They freaked me out at the dr's office, and I left feeling absolutely overwhelmed and terrified.
They prescribed Premarin without even telling me what it was (BTW, it is not FDA approved for use with children). I went and immediately got the cream. I was thinking "my daughter doesn't have a vagina!" It was the weirdest thing! And then I realized what the cream was (cause of cancer for menopausal women, etc.) It especially scared me that the instructions for application were to put a very, very small amount on - and only to put it exactly over the adhesion - not any other part. I called the dr back to freak out and ask about it. The nurse talked to me and told me it was absolutely necessary or my daughter would develop any number of nasty infections (including staph), and that since she was so completely adhered, it wasn't really an option.
I reluctantly used it that night, and she cried about it. The next morning I used it again, and when I went to put it on, she was a bit red and swollen. I did more research and some of my research led me to this board. There was a lot of varied and wonderful advice.
I decided to just use the A&D ointment (the dr had told me to use this between premarin treatments), and to rub it on there with a little pressure, but nothing extreme, just really made sure it got in there. I also tried to watch her pee at least once a day to make sure it wasn't seeping out (I knew she could pee because she had wet diapers as usual). We cloth diaper, btw, and still had this experience.
Within a few days she was opening up -first it looked like a pinhole, and it just gradually opened up. There was no bleeding or anything. It was almost all the way open after 5 days, and then we continued the A&D for probably a few months. It has never happened again.
When I told her dr about it at the next visit, she was beside herself. She had never heard of this method being effective, and she said, "maybe I should advise that people try this first, before the premarin."
Maybe? Yes, I would say so.
From all the research I read, the thing that stood out the most is that many many dr's say to just leave it alone (as long as they can pee) and it will go away with Estrogen. Some people think it is actually a protective barrier, of sorts - not allowing any bad stuff in.
One dr prescribed it to someone, and when they denied it, the dr said, "I don't blame you - I wouldn't use it on my child either."
Anyway - I just wanted to share this here, because much of my decision came from the many posts I read right here. Do a search in the boards for Labia, Labial Adhesion, etc.
Best wishes, everyone (no matter what you need to do or decide to do)>