I started my small gynecology practice and began blogging for the Skinless Project in the same month almost one year ago- January 2012.  With the holidays and new year approaching, I cannot help but reflect on the lessons that the year has brought me- both personally and professionally.  Opportunity and challenge seem to come knocking together most days, but the risks- and rewards- have been worthwhile.  I ...

I was talking to one of my young patients the other day during an annual exam, and she asked me what she could do to strengthen her vagina.  I reviewed Kegel exercises and she said that she had already done those and that her vagina still didn’t feel “as tight as it used to be before I had my daughter”.  So we had the conversation about how childbirth can cause permanent changes to the pelvic floor and how ...

Periods can be weird. Some women are regular as clockwork and can tell me the exact date and time of day that their periods will arrive. Others have a range of normal, somewhere between 28 and 30 days, for example, that they mark the calendar by. Then there are periods that don't follow the rules. These are periods that set in with a vengeance, causing heavy bleeding never experienced before, or an "extra" ...

For the past month, there has been a tremendous interest in the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  As it turned out, the Supreme court upheld the law as constitutional, and we are now moving forward in shaping healthcare to uphold the law and its mandates. To be perfectly honest, I am not sure how the ACA will affect the everyday practice of medicine- ...

Imagine a typical scenario- a young woman who is sexually active but needs to finish school. And then has to get a job. And then has to find Mr. Right. She has spent years of her life carefully taking contraception to make sure that a pregnancy doesn't happen. Every month brings a period and a huge sigh of relief. Then the time comes where work is good and she is settled and ready to start a family. She sto ...

As a gynecologist, I discuss birth control options with women a dozen times a day.  This past month brought several women who specifically were looking for non-pill options.  It was in counseling these patients that I realized that a lot of women have only a vague idea of what non-pill options exist out there.  So here is the skinny on birth control that is not The Pill: NuvaRing:  NuvaRing is a small plast ...

I have had the HPV conversation with a lot of women in my office this month as pap smear after pap smear has come back abnormal and we move to the necessary steps of follow up. My patients are mostly young women, and my discussion of HPV (human papillomavirus) is usually the first time that they are really learning about this little virus. I am always surprised at how little women know about why we do Paps ...

I encourage every woman who walks into my office to take a moment to love her own heart.  Yes, I'm talking about the flesh and blood heart that is beating away in your chest.  This heart has faithfully served you since you were a wee embryo, and continues to beat tirelessly day in and day out, asking little in return. The human heart beats at an average rate of 70 beats every minute.  Think of it...that's 4 ...

As a physician whose specialty revolves around taking care of only women, I am continually amazed at how much women accomplish on a daily basis. Women are the backbones of their families, and they keep everyone on track. Yet I am not surprised when women ignore their own health needs. After all, there are only so many hours in a day, and most women will address the needs of their family members before their ...