Elderly patients with vaginitis should be treated actively

Aunt Xu, 58 years old, is healthy, optimistic and cheerful, but she has recently been troubled by a disease that is difficult to talk about, that is, vulvar itching, a noticeable burning sensation, a dull pain in the lower abdomen, and a large amount of yellowish secretions in the vagina. At the same time, she also has symptoms of urinary tract irritation such as frequent urination and painful urination.

Aunt Xu wanted to go to the hospital, but she found it difficult to talk to the doctor, fearing that the doctor would misunderstand her for still doing that at such an old age. But after a few days, she developed purulent leucorrhea. This time she was scared, worried that she had some serious disease, so, accompanied by her husband, she went to the hospital. After examination, the doctor diagnosed her with senile vaginitis. The doctor prescribed 1% lactic acid solution for daily vaginal flushing to increase vaginal acidity, and then inserted 200 mg of metronidazole deep into the vagina for 10 consecutive days. In view of Aunt Xu's serious condition, 0.25 mg of ethinyl estradiol was also given deep into the vagina for 7 consecutive days. After the treatment, all of Aunt Xu's discomfort symptoms disappeared.

Senile vaginitis is common in postmenopausal women. Due to the decline of ovarian function, the decrease of estrogen level, the atrophy of vaginal wall, the thinning of mucosal folds, the decrease of glycogen content in epithelial cells, the increase of pH value in vagina, the decrease of local resistance, the easy invasion and reproduction of pathogenic bacteria, and the inflammation. It is very different from the vaginitis in women of childbearing age and is mostly unrelated to sexual life. The treatment principle of senile vaginitis is to increase the acidity of vagina to improve resistance and inhibit the growth of bacteria. For those with severe inflammation, estrogen preparations should be used in combination. For patients with recurrent senile vaginitis, small doses of estrogen preparations such as nialestradiol can be used systemically.