The Journal of the American Medical Association posted one pension in 2021, in which gynecologists advocated the discontinuation of these devices. “These results suggest that the use of vaginal laser technology for the management of genitourinary symptoms should be limited to a research setting until high-quality evidence supports both efficacy and safety,” they wrote.
But strong words from organizations like the FDA and ACOG haven’t dampened the appeal, or the big business, of these treatments. You can still go to medical spas and practices (including gynecologists, but also dermatologists and plastic surgeons) around the country to “rejuvenate” your vagina. “There’s money to be made doing it,” he says Howard SharpMD, chief of general obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah and head of their Pelvic Pain Clinic.
This can be confusing for patients. “It’s a buyer-beware market,” he says Mary Jane MinkinMD, gynecologist, clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine and co-director of the Sexuality, Intimacy and Menopause Clinic for Cancer Survivors at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Health.
So how did vaginal resuscitation devices first become available?
Let’s back up for a second. The answer to that question has nothing to do with multiple orgasms, and everything to do with tattoos and crow’s feet. The specific types of lasers (carbon dioxide or CO2 and erbium-YAG) and radiofrequency rods promoted as vaginal miracles were first approved by the FDA to reverse skin problems such as dull ink, wrinkles, and acne scars. They were soon approved by the FDA for use further south. Not for orgasm enhancement, though: “For removing HPV warts and precancerous lesions,” he says Cheryl Iglesia, MD, FACOG, FPMRS, obstetrician-gynecologist and female pelvic floor reconstructive surgeon, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and urology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, director of the Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, director of the National Center for Advanced of Pelvic Surgery at MedStar Health and a leading researcher in energy-based devices. “The problem now is that they are being pushed for indications for which they have not been cleared—the claims that fall under ‘vaginal resuscitation’.”
The FDA’s statement from 2018 “stressed that while the FDA is aware that devices such as lasers are used for a variety of surgical applications, the agency has not approved their use for specific [“vaginal rejuvenation”] clue,” he says JoAnn Pinkerton, MD, obstetrician and gynecologist, professor of obstetrics at the University of Virginia and executive director of the North American Menopause Society. Instead, the FDA said, so-called vaginal rejuvenation procedures “use lasers and other energy-based devices to destroy or remodel vaginal tissue. These products carry serious risks and there is insufficient evidence to support their use for these purposes. We are deeply concerned that women are being harmed.”
What are the risks of vaginal resuscitation devices?
In theory, lasers “rejuvenate” the vagina the same way they make skin look younger: By making small holes in the tissue of the vagina and vulva, they’re supposed to stimulate the tissue’s natural wound-healing process. Radiofrequency devices use heat in deeper tissue to activate fibroblasts. In both cases, collagen production and blood flow to the area increase, making the vaginal walls thicker and better lubricated, respectively. “But lasers work by targeting water in the tissue,” says Dr. Iglesia. “If you’re using one to treat vaginal dryness and there’s no water to aim for, that could cause a burn.”
