How Your Vagina Changes When You Stop Having Sex
Source: Martin Meyer / Getty
“Girl you better get some soon, or you’re gonna grow some cobwebs down there.” Our friends may tease us about our “sex droughts,” but some women become very concerned about how their vaginas adjust and change after going a spell without some d. Lucky for all us folks with vaginas, our nether regions are pretty dynamic, flexible and adjustable. Even the permanent problems (like loss of elasticity after menopause) can be resolved with some lube and stimulants.
If you have experienced some changes in your vagina due to lack of sex, you’re not alone.
Here are some things that change when you stop getting it on, according to the experts at Prevention.com
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
If You Haven’t Hit Menopause, You May Lose Elasticity TEMPORARILY
“The vagina is an elastic tube,” says Salena Zanotti, MD, an OB/GYN at Avon Pointe Family Health Center in Avon, Ohio told Prevention.
“If it hasn’t been used in some time, then it may get a little tighter. But she says, “It will go back to its original elasticity in a woman who is of premenopausal age.”
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
If You Have Hit Menopause, You May LOSE Vaginal Elasticity
Less estrogen can make your vag lose its bounce back. “It’s really hard to get [the vagina] to stretch out again after menopause,” Dr. Zanotti explained. But some stimulation and lube can make that thing come alive again in no time.
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
You Won’t Grow Cobwebs Or New Hymens
Sorry, once your hymen is gone, its gone forever.
“That is a complete fallacy,” says Dr. Zanotti. “The hymen is a vaginal remnant that’s there from development. It’s something that’s broken through when a woman [first] has intercourse or maybe uses a tampon. That tissue does not regrow. It cannot close up.”
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
You Won’t Dry Up Forever
Let’s not wait until the water runs dry, because it never will, completely. Might be more of a trickle than a waterfall, but it will still come down.
Adeeti Gupta, an OB/GYN and founder of Walk In GYN Care in Middle Village, New York, told Prevention, “Please do not think that ‘everything is going to dry up down there’ because of no activity,” she says.
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
If You’re On Birth Control, You May Experience More Dryness
“Younger women will sometimes complain of vaginal dryness when they’re on certain hormonal contraceptives, and there can be a little suppression of their own vaginal lubrication,” Dr. Zanotti told Prevention.
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
You May Experience Discomfort When You Start Again
“The first few times you have intercourse after an absence, it’s going to be… a little bit uncomfortable,” Dr. Zanotti explained.
But “Again, the elasticity comes back.”
Source: PeopleImages / Getty
Having A New Partner May Spike Your Sex Drive
“Having a new partner is exciting enough that it stimulates your libido,” Dr. Zanotti says. “A lot of couples who have been together for a long time can get into a rut… When you have been abstinent for a little while and you have the excitement of a new partner, that can [increase libido again].”
Source: Delmaine Donson / Getty
How Long It Takes For You To Get Aroused May Vary
“Everyone has a different amount of time to… reach that climax,” Dr Zanotti told Prevention.
“It’s so individualized, not within just the woman but also with that person they’re gonna be with.”
