The Female Hymen.

The Female Hymen.

Many of us have wondered what it means for a female to be a virgin and the source of blood that we hear of in stories of girls losing their virginity.

Well today, we are going to talk about the Hymen. Most of us already know what it is, at least if you had paid
attention during “Reproductive System” in Biology Class in School, you would have heard of the Hymen (I did). But I bet you never knew it comes in types. Yes, just as women come in different shapes and sizes, so do the female Hymen come in different types.

Now what is the Hymen?

For the sake of our freshers, the HYMEN is a membrane that surrounds the opening of the vagina. It is practically a thin membrane that covers the vaginal opening.

First time sex is usually quite painful, why?

That’s true and its due to the hymen. The hymen is rich in nerve endings, and since the hymen is usually surrounds or partially covers the vaginal opening, it has to be torn through during first penetration. This can be painful and produce a small flow of blood.

Now there are situations when there’s no blood flow during sex, we will talk on that later for now, let’s see the various types of Hymen.

Now there are actually various types of hymens as each gal has a different kind of Hymen such as eyes, nose, ears are different for everyone and men having varying sizes and kinds of penis. Now the structure of your hymen can be altered or changed depending on the nature of play, stress the female goes through.

Generally, we have the

The Imperforated Hymen; - 

Here, the center part if blocked. A thin membrane completely covers the opening of the vagina and it causes restricted the mucus and blood flood. As menstrual blood can’t flow out of vagina, they accumulate and this could lead to an issue of Virginal obstruction.This type of Hymen it corrected through a minor surgery.

The Septate Hymen; -

 This type of hymen has two separate openings, on the right and one on the left. The Septate Hymn is formed when the hymenal membrane has a band of tissue in the middle that causes two small opening to occur on either side instead of one. This can lead to difficulty in the use of tampons. To treat this, a minor surgery is done to remove the excess tissue to create a normal sized vaginal opening.

The Microperforated Hymen; -

This type of Hymen is almost like the imperforate hymen. I.e., the virginal opening is not completely covered but there is a very small opening in the thin membrane into the vagina. In this case, a woman with a microperforated hymen may not be able to insert a tampon into her vagina, and if she is able to do so, she might not be able to remove it once it is filled with blood.

Treatment for this is a minor surgery to create the normal size opening for menstrual blood flow and easy use of tampons. 

  The Denticular Hymen;- 

This hymen is so called because it looks like a set of teeth surrounding the vaginal opening. hence the name.

The Fimbriated Hymen;-

This hymen has an irregular pattern around the vaginal opening.

The Labial Hymen;-

This hymen looks like it has it has a third set of vulvar lips.

 

 

 The Cribiform Hymen;-

This type of hymen has several small openings. Menstrual blood and vaginal secretion can flow out of the vagina but the use of tampons would be difficult.

The Annular Hymen;-

 This type of Hymen forms a ring around the vaginal opening, and as the hymen starts to erode from sexual or other activities, the hymen becomes less  ring-like.

Now we've said the shape and structure of the Hymen varies. Some ladies might not experience blood flow during their first penetration but do not worry as this can be caused by a lot of things, ranging from playing, exercise, use of tampons, menstrual cups or you not being born with a hymen in the first place.

As one goes through puberty, there is a possibility of the estrogen which makes changes to the ovaries, making changes to the hymen too, making it more elastic. This makes it more susceptible to stretching. And once the hymen is stretched out, it doesn’t grow back again.

Now the fact of your hymen been stretched, or you not experiencing blood flow during first penetration doesn’t mean u were not a virgin.

Though in time past, the virginity of a female was measured by the presence of the hymen and blood during their first intercourse. Recently this is no longer the case as science has shown that some females are not born without one, and those you have one can unconsciously stretch it due to various activities they involve in such as exercise and use of tampons.