PROMOTION
THE ÔMONALISA TOUCHÕ : A NEW FRONTIER
T HE PROCESS OF
becoming older is genetically determined and environmentally modulated. Oestrogen deficiency occurring
with the menopause is a central factor in the life of women as it determines systemic modifications which involve the pelvic floor muscles. The presence of oestrogen receptors has, in fact, been demonstrated in the lower urinary tract, in the genital tract, and even in the rectal canal. Functional symptoms related these organs have a prevalence that increases with age, although it is difficult to determine the proportion related to oestrogen deficiency or the ageing process per se. In other words, the progressive loss in oestrogen levels in the peripheral blood of women during the menopausal transition can cause different degrees of vaginal hypertrophy.
Unrivalled techniques and performances Different authors have described the morphological and histological changes experienced by post-menopausal women, including the loss of vaginal trophism, tone, support and function. As stated by Dr Stefano Salvatore, Head of the Urogynaecology Unit, IRCCS San
Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy: ‘Connective tissues, collagen constituents and architecture play an important role in this ageing process. With age, collagen fibrils lose their reticular spatial disposition, and the Type I/III ratio is altered compared to pre-menopausal state. The clinical effect of all these changes are: shortening and narrowing of the vaginal barrel, reduced vaginal blood flow, pale colour of the mucosa, loss of glycogen content with increase of vaginal pH from 4.5–5.5 to 7.0–7.4, and consequent reduction or absence of Lactobacilli easily replaced by pathogenic bacteria.’ This often leads to vaginal dryness,
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causing painful or uncomfortable sexual intercourse. Furthermore, many patients will show signs or symptoms associated with atrophic vulvovaginitis such as burning, itching and vaginal bleeding, and approximately 25% of these patients will seek medical help. While the use of oestrogen in the treatment of atrophic vulvovaginitis is the appropriate treatment, we consider that the search for a non-hormonal option for this condition represents an important alternative to the well-known limitations of hormone replacement therapy. Ultra-structurally, the vaginal epithelial surface is flattened and there may be a superficial keratinisation. The symptoms related to this include a sense of vaginal laxity, vaginal dryness, and vaginal irritation or itching. In recent years, many methods and machines have been introduced and used in aesthetic, regenerative and ageing medicine, in order to repair tissues and to give them — or to restore — some biochemical, mechanical and functional properties that have been lost. Histological modifications as a
April/May 2012 |
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result of the ageing process have been successfully treated both in other human body compartments and in animal models through the use of a CO2
fractional laser.
Professor Alberto Calligaro, Head of the Experimental Medicine, Histology and Embryology Unit at the University of Pavia, Italy, mentioned that ‘in the last years, lot of devices and procedures have been introduced in aesthetic, regenerative and anti-ageing medicine with the aim to repair the tissues, giving back to them the structural, biochemical and functional properties lost during the ageing
D-pulse on vaginal mucosa
Postoperative fibroblast activation
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