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Hither's what you lot need to know (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

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

Not with the act 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 have grown back.

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

The elementary reply is no, your hymen will not grow dorsum.

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

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

Nevertheless, he said he would depict it as a small tear on a thin layer of tissue which is usually accompanied by some bleeding.

But why doesn't it grow back once again?

'The hymen can't grow dorsum equally it's just stretched and torn tissue without the ability to regenerate,' said Dr Athanasias.

'We occasionally accept patients calling and requesting appointments in order to analyze whether they are still virgins.

'The hymen stretches and tears not just through penetrative sexual activity but as well during exercise or while inserting a tampon or other objects into the vagina.

'Also if a woman relaxes, uses lubrication and digitally stretches the hymen, and so it might non tear during intercourse.

Lots of women have shared their concerns on online message boards (Picture: Oscar Wong/Getty)

Lots of women have shared their concerns on online message boards (Picture: Oscar Wong/Getty)

'So, yous can't definitely tell if someone is a virgin if they take a hymen or is non a virgin if they don't have a hymen.'

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

'In some cultures a woman losing her virginity before spousal relationship can accept consequences, hence the requests for repair or restoration of the hymen,' he says.

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

'I don't perform those procedures and nosotros don't have reliable statistics regarding the number of women undergoing hymen restoration surgery in the UK every year.'

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

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

You lot're not alone.

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

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

What is a hymen?

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

It's ordinarily found 1-ii cm inside the vaginal opening.

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

Information technology doesn't only happen with sexual intercourse.

The hymen can stretch or tear during practise or tampon insertion.

'When the woman is still in her reproductive years she might experience some discomfort considering information technology tin can accept longer for the vagina to cracking and become lubricated during sexual arousal and the pelvic muscles aren't used to having sex,' Dr Athanasias says.

'The symptoms usually resolve soon and a vaginal lubricant is all you demand.'

After the menopause and due to the lack of estrogen however, the symptoms will accept longer to resolve and will crave handling.

The vaginal lining becomes thinner, drier and subsequently sore because of a condition called vaginal cloudburst.

Sexual intercourse can be painful and accompanied by vaginal bleeding.

And, while the boilerplate historic period of reaching the menopause is 51 years old, many women go through the change prematurely.

(Picture: JohnnyGreig/Getty)

(Picture: JohnnyGreig/Getty)

These women could exist aged in their 30s or 40s and get through menopause either naturally or after surgical removal of the ovaries or possibly afterward chemotherapy to treat cancer.

'Nearly all women in this age grouping will exist sexually active,' said Dr Athanasias (it's actually idea to be 87% of 31-45-year-olds).

'As the vaginal tissue becomes dry and thin, sexual activity can become very uncomfortable and many women even describe it as impossible.'

Your sex life doesn't have to exist over – hurrah!

In that location are treatments available which mean you and your partner can go along to enjoy a good for you sex life even after menopause.

Dr Athanasias explained that vaginal lubricants and moisturisers tin can help simply it is the local estrogen, which is available in vaginal foam or tablets, that aims to treat the underlying cause and not simply the symptoms.

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

'In the past there were not whatever available treatment options and unfortunately those women had to avoid sexual practice and acquire to live with their condition.'

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

At Dr Athanasias'due south dispensary, 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.

Information technology has meant that women have been able to go on their sex life into sometime age.

He added: 'Many of my patients are in their 70s and 80s and the satisfaction rate after the treatment is almost 90%.

'I used to be skeptical regarding vaginal laser treatments but afterward traveling to the United States and Italy (pioneers in laser treatment) and talking to patients and clinicians I was convinced to innovate the treatment in our dispensary.

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

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