Health professional advice is important in helping women manage VVA symptoms as there can be a reluctance to discuss symptoms on both sides.^11,16

A European study of postmenopausal women in 2015 suggests that doctors will only raise the question of the impact of VVA symptoms on sexual activity with one tenth of patients during routine physical examinations. Two fifths of women (40%) had never discussed VVA symptoms with a health professional.¹¹

Key reasons women with VVA avoid discussing the subject with a health professional are beliefs that symptoms are just part of aging (43%) and that symptoms do not bother them sufficiently to be considered problematic with no need to see a health professional (26%) When symptoms did prompt the women to seek professional advice, this was at least six months after symptoms started for 36% of women with vaginal/vulvar irritation and 50% with dyspareunia.

However, the study also found that around 45% were using some sort of treatment for VVA symptoms, whether OTC lubricants or moisturisers, prescribed local oestrogens, other OTC medicines, or herbal therapies. Around 32% had not used any such treatment, while 23% had discontinued VVA-specific treatments.