Hymen? Or a larger problem?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-21-2003
Hymen? Or a larger problem?
2
Wed, 12-17-2003 - 10:56pm
I am 21 and lost my virginity in August, and have had sex (with the same partner) about 12 times in between then and now, when my boyfriend and I see each other on vacation (he is at school a few hours away). After the second set of times we got together, I noticed something that looked like a flap of skin hanging out my vagina. A close friend told me it was likely part of my hymen and that it was completely normal, and that she's seen something like that on herself. So I didn't worry about it. I had always had occasional trouble with tampons, so I figured I had a pretty thick hymen anyway.

About a month ago, a week or two after the last time we had sex, I noticed a small, hard bump just on the edge of my opening. The flap of skin also hangs out a little more than it did before, and looks a litle frayed and feels rough. When I looked closely with a mirror, there are lots of bumpy weird bits of skin inside my hole, and some of them are whiteish looking at the tips. One continues to stick out of my vagina at all times.

I do not have a gynecologist in this state since I am from out of town, and don't know where to get an appointment on short notice (I have left messages at three different doctors offices, but they were not returned. I work during normal business hours.) I had a bad experience with a mix-up at Planned Parenthood and am hesitant to go there or wait in line at a clinic.

My boyfriend is coming to visit me this weekend and I want to figure it out before then. I know he has been with a lot of women before me, but he did not have any STDs the last time he was tested. It's possible, I suppose, that he acquired something from his last girlfriend who claimed to be clean, but I'd like to hope this is something normal to losing one's virgnity and not a symptom of HPV or worse. All the same, I am going to request STD testing once I am able to secure a gynecologist's appointment and go in for my annual pap smear.

Is this a cause to go to an emergency room this week, or should I settle for the first possible appointment, and ask my boy if he's ever seen something like this before? (That's kind of embarrassing, but he's seen more girls' bits than I have.) Any suggestions or wisdom would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Ell




Edited 12/17/2003 10:58:34 PM ET by eloway

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2003
Thu, 12-18-2003 - 12:26am
You got me on this one. I have never heard anything like that before. if i was you i would go to the hospital, and ask for a femail doc. and talk to them at the very lest. But i do think you need to be seen right away. I have never in my life heard of a flap of skin hanging out, ever. I never had anything like that happen the first time i had sex. And with the bumps it sounds like some kind of infection, maybe not an std, but some other infection. Good luck to you. If you find out what is going on , i would like to know because you got me curiouse of what is going on.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-13-2003
Thu, 12-18-2003 - 12:57am
If you're calling gyn offices and leaving messages for just a general gyn appointment, this is probably why you're being ignored. It seems to take FOREVER to get seen for the first time for routine stuff. But if you're leaving messages saying you think you have an infection or something, I would hope they'd return your calls and get you in that day or the next. I would try getting in to see just a general doctor who if he/she can't do something or figure it out, can refer you somewhere...find a walk in clinic or something...not a county health dept thing but just like a walk in place run through a hospital. If that doesn't work, and you have insurance, I'd go to the emergency room just to speed up the process of finding out what's wrong.