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Hello Aunt Vadge,
I’ve been using tampons for about a month. When my period started I put one in, which I don’t normally do – I usually wait a day or so. I could tell my vaginal opening was dry from using a tampon when I wasn’t fully on my period.
I went to change it, and it was harder to pull out than it had ever been. Because it was so dry, I decided not to put another one in. Then I sat down and sharp pains started – it was horrible. I thought the tampon had broken up, and when I looked in the mirror something was poking out, so I went to the emergency room. They found nothing stuck, but the inside of my vagina was swollen.
I couldn’t even find my vaginal opening at first, but once I could see, something was protruding. I tried to let it heal and gave it a month. The swelling went down and the pain went away, but normally my vagina just had an opening and nothing else.
Now there’s a little bit of tissue sticking out, coming from inside and covering my opening. I can’t really see the opening, so I can’t use tampons.
I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and she said I broke my hymen and that it’s perfectly normal. She told me to Google anatomy, which I did, and I discovered it wasn’t my hymen. My mum looked and said it was still intact. My skin is still tight at the bottom and looks how it did before, but a little skin is bulging out. I really don’t know what it is, and it gets me down not knowing.
I know this is a long letter, but I’m hoping you can help. It’s been almost two months, and while it went down from that first day, something’s not right and hasn’t gone back to normal.
Yours,
Worried
Dear Worried,
The most important thing first: you’ve now been checked twice, at the emergency room and by your doctor, and both found nothing wrong. Hold on to that while I explain what you’re most likely looking at.
Pulling out a dry tampon gave the delicate tissue at your vaginal opening a bit of a scrape, and it swelled up – that’s the sharp pain and the swelling you had on the first day. As the swelling settled over the following weeks, a small piece of normal tissue at the opening became more noticeable than it had been before. That little flap is almost certainly a hymenal remnant or tag – a completely normal frill of hymen tissue that plenty of people have. Have a read of the hymenal ring, remnants and tags and everything you need to know about the humble hymen – the photos there will probably look far more like you than the neat ‘ring’ diagrams your doctor pointed you to.
It makes sense that it looks different now. The swelling drew your eye to a bit of tissue that was most likely always there, just tucked out of sight. Nothing new has grown, and this isn’t damage that won’t heal – it’s normal anatomy that got briefly irritated and is now simply more visible to you, partly because you’ve been looking so closely, which is completely understandable.
Two months on, with the pain gone and the swelling down, there’s nothing you need to do to it. Normal tissue doesn’t need fixing. Tampons aren’t compulsory either – pads or period undies are perfectly good, so please don’t feel you have to force a tampon past a sore, healing spot. If you do want to keep using tampons and the tissue really is in the way, mention it to a gynaecologist, who can take a proper look and tell you whether a small tag is worth anything further (usually it isn’t).
If you’d like to see just how varied and flappy and normal vulvas really are, the Labia Library is a kind, non-judgemental place to look – you’ll see how much ground ‘normal’ actually covers.
Go back to your doctor if you get fresh pain, bleeding, a lump that grows, or if it simply keeps worrying you. You’re allowed to ask for another look until you feel properly reassured.
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
Warmest regards,
Aunt Vadge
