MonaLisa Touch is a Health Canada approved treatment for the genitourinary symptoms of menopause.
In this video, Anelia hosts a Q&A with her doctor about the MonaLisa Touch treatment for menopausal symptoms such as dry vagina and painful intercourse.
Aniela: 00:04
We are here with Dr. Fink And we are going to be talking about MonaLisa Touch for us post-cancer, surgical menopause, hormone blocking menopause. All that dry vagina. A friend of a friend told me that it turned her vagina into a bouncy castle. So do you find that?
Dr. Fink: 00:27
In my experience, MonaLisa Touch changes people’s lives. It really does. It gives back something that was lost that many people thought they’d never get again. MonaLisa Touch is a laser treatment for the vagina. And basically what laser light is, is a particular wavelength of light that stimulates a new growth of collagen, right? So collagen is what makes up our skin. So what we’re doing is building new skin and with that comes a new blood supply and nerve supply. And so vaginal health overall changes to what it was before.
Aniela: 01:05
Is it painful?
Dr. Fink: 01:09
What MonaLisa Touch feels like inside the vagina is a vibration. It’s not uncomfortable, it’s a sensation. Basically we go all the way into the vagina, we start treating from the back, the device rotates around so that it treats circumferentially in the vaginal skin. So kind of all the way around the circle and then we gradually withdraw it. So we’re treating the entire length of the vagina. The nerve supply that’s in the front part of the vagina is different than what’s in the back. As we start to approach the outside of the vagina, it starts to feel a little warmer. And eventually when we get to the skin around the opening, it feels like you’re getting snapped with a little rubber band. It’s something that you feel, but for what you feel there around the opening, it’s well worth it.
Aniela: 01:58
Yeah. Cause I know that from cancer. And so if I try to have intercourse, I ended up getting those microtears and I’m sore for a day afterwards. So if I can have a little bit of snapping now for some “snapping” later….
Dr. Fink: 02:10
I like that, there you go. But you’re onto something that’s very important because for a lot of people, they may not so much feel the changes to the vaginal skin that happened on the inside as the estrogen levels drop. The problem may be right there at the opening. And if you can’t get past the opening, you’re not going anywhere.
Aniela: 02:29
That might still need some dilating to allow that area to loosen up.
Dr. Fink: 02:33
Dilating is an important thing to talk about. There’s only so many times that I can poke you in the eye. And if I keep poking you in the eye, eventually you’re gonna turn your face away and you’re going to put up your hands because you know that that eye poke isn’t going to feel good. So take that metaphor and apply it to other parts of the anatomy. There’s only so many times you can do that, hurting, before you’re just not gonna want to do it anymore. And so sometimes the muscles will tense up and spasm. So what MonaLisa Touch will do is that it will absolutely make a difference in the vaginal skin, but the muscle part may still need some work and that’s where dilation comes in.
Aniela: 03:15
Good to know. I think knowing that still doing those in combination can really help get our bodies back. Does this work for every woman or are there certain people who are better candidates?
Dr. Fink: 03:27
Well, the original data on MonaLisa Touch was done in breast cancer graduates. So we can feel pretty confident that is a group of people who will certainly benefit. In my clinical experience, having treated probably between 2,500 and 3,000 patients with MonaLisa Touch, it’s really physically impossible that this laser doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do to the skin. The question is, are there other issues? Are there muscle issues? Are there bladder pain issues? Are there other things that cause people discomfort? And certainly, there are, but from the standpoint of treating the skin that is deprived of estrogen absolutely.
Aniela: 04:14
Does this work for people who had ovarian cancer or other types of cancer?
Dr. Fink: 04:19
Anybody who is in an estrogen deprived state absolutely would benefit from this treatment. The other thing about that is what are some other common things that people don’t even think about? Breastfeeding Moms! Breastfeeding moms are low on estrogen and they very much can have a vaginal situation that feels like menopause. Typically, one treatment for them in my experience, does the trick there too.
Aniela: 04:42
And as well for menopausal women who are in menopause, we’re not leaving you out. I know I was on an estrogen and testosterone cream that was super messy that I have to put in once a week. So I wouldn’t have to do that with this?
Dr. Fink: 04:55
Since we first got a MonaLisa Touch, which was pretty much right when it was approved in the United States, I don’t think I’ve written a single prescription for a pharmaceutical because there’s just no need to be putting those chemicals in your body when we can treat this mechanically and really a very brilliant way. So no, there’s no mess with creams and the creams are not inexpensive creams. You have to use them continually on an ongoing basis. With a MonaLisa Touch treatment, you do three treatments six weeks apart and that lasts you really for at least a year. The original protocols that we recommend are that people do a once yearly touch up a single one time treatment, as opposed to having to continue to use a hormone cream twice a week for as long as you want the response. So I think there’s actually some data that shows that even at 18 months after the initial treatment, women are still getting the results from the initial series of MonaLisa Touch treatments.
Aniela: 05:49
How long does it last? So about a year to 18 months and then one treatment is needed. So you don’t have to go through the whole three again?
Dr. Fink: 05:55
One single 90 second treatment. No more than three minutes.
Aniela: 06:10
So even if you are uncomfortable with the outer area of the rubber band clicking, it’s for such a little period of time?
Dr. Fink: 06:19
It’s for seconds, compared to the year to a year and a half of results that you get from it.
Aniela: 06:27
This improves sensation for me or for my partner? I know that was an issue that came up recently where breast cancer graduates, I’ve been told that their reconstruction was going to feel like real breasts. But what was meant was that they were going to feel like real breasts to somebody else feeling them, not to us. And so I want to make sure to clarify, does this improve sensation for me or for my partner or for both?
Dr. Fink: 06:52
So this is a treatment for your vagina. This is about your sensation and what you feel. Now, obviously, the better you feel when you’re having physical or sexual intimacy with your partner, the better your partner is going to feel as well. So some people will use coconut oil or Astroglide or whatever kind of lube they can hold up, but what they’re doing with that is they’re just really covering up a problem. They’re trying to improve something in the physics of friction of something sliding past as opposed to really treating the problem, which is treating the skin itself.
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