Can your hymen grow back

There is no hard and fast rule here. Not every female is born with a hymen. The stretching of a hymen does not necessarily cause pain - in fact, it can occur without your noticing it at all. Unlike the vaginal opening, once stretched, a hymen does not return to its former shape or grow back. The hymen may or may not be damaged during the rape - and therefore, an examination of it cannot confirm sexual abuse.

Lacerations on the hymen from abuse can not be differentiated from natural changes. A full physical exam should be administered for gathering evidence of an assault. For more information, please read our article on Vaginal Bleeding. Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.

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I had to have it surgically removed when I was 19 because it was much thicker than it should have been. The hymenal ring was there, so everything looked normal, but it was so thick that I couldn't break it no matter how much force I used and it wouldn't stretch to accommodate more than one finger.

However, once I read this article I started to wonder if maybe it was possible that my hymen had been torn when I was a child and then reformed as I was developing.

Since the hymen is not something that just breaks and disappears, I can't help but wonder if maybe the reason my hymen was so thick was because it had been ripped by this man when I was nine and had grown back in an excessive way. I wanted to ask you if you think that this is physically possible? Is it possible for the hymen to heal or regrow, and if so, could a child who was raped end up with a thickened hymen?

The rape of a child would lead to a large amount of physical damage vaginally, and there would be all sorts of tears that would have to heal. It may also be worth noting that I have ended up with a lot of other pelvic problems due to my abuse.

I suffer from vulvodynia and cannot have pain free penetration, I have to use a numbing lidocaine gel if I want to have sex.

So I definitely have the sort of body that reacts negatively to past trauma. Sorry to go on and on, it was difficult to word this correctly. If you don't wish to publish a question like this because it deals with abuse, could you just email me an answer instead? I don't have anyone else to ask. There is so much misunderstanding surrounding the hymen with all the weight that society brings to it with the concept of "virginity.

I suspect a big part of virginity is that men don't want their wives to know what lousy lays most of them are. A young woman who has this procedure will go on to have totally normal vaginal function.

For others, the separation or tear may be more obvious. If your hymen thinned over time, which many do, it may already be history before your first sexual encounter. Activities like biking, horseback riding, and gymnastics, plus using tampons and even masturbating , can all break your hymen, Rosser notes. And again, it may be completely unnoticeable when it happens. Yes, breaking your hymen during intercourse can hurt.

Painful intercourse is fairly common for women anyway, and there are a handful of health conditions that can contribute to it. Also, having sex for the first time comes with a certain amount of anxiety and expectation of pain, plus lack of experience and knowledge about what will make it feel good read: lube and sufficient foreplay. SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.