what is this?!

Body: 

Hi everyone. Just wondering if anyone can shed any light on what this might be. TMI alert - just at the entrance of my vagina a have a hard rough bulgy bit of flesh about the size of my thumb nail. I guess it doesn't make a difference but just want to know if this sounds like rugae or a uretracele (spelling). I just wanna know so that I can get it straight in my head and know what I'm dealing with. Docs have been very vague and only said I have a prolapse of some sort. I'm pretty sure its a cystocele, rectocele and maybe a slight uterine prolapse. I know only a doc could tell me for sure but they are so unhelpful! You guys are so knowledgeable just thought I'd pick your brains!

Many thanks

Nicki : )

Where is it in relation to where your urethra comes out? ie where your pee comes from. Can you identify that bit?

I second Louise's question ... Can you find a diagram of a vulva online that helps you identify the area? Also, what do you mean by "rough?" Ridged? Bumpy? Like sandpaper?

My pee hole seems to be where it always was and the rough bump is about a cm away (towards my bum) just coming out the entrance. When I say rough I mean sort of ridged, not smooth like the cystocele. I'm sorry I'm not very good at explaining things. Does this help at all? Many thanks guys x

It sounds like rugae, the ridges that the vagina has when it is relaxed. When you have cystocele appearing it will stretch out all the rugae into a smooth anterior wall. I doubt that you will feel this rough skin *and* cystocele further in, or vice versa. It will be one or the other. If you can only feel rugae, that means that your bladder is well forward and not impinging on your anterior vaginal wall. Congratulations! This is major progress, even if it doesn't stay there.

The only time that might not apply is if you have a seriously retroverted uterus like I used to have, where my cervix came out of the back vaginal wall, pointing up towards my navel. I had rugae on the back vaginal wall and a very smooth anterior wall because the anterior wall had to stretch right up and over the top to reach my cervix coming out the back. I had a smooth anterior vaginal wall, whether my cystocele was impinging on my anterior vaginal wall or not!

Having said that there is also a kind of rough bit of anterior vaginal wall which used to feel quite different from the rest. It felt about 3/4 inch across and roughly round or oval. That I think is where the G-spot is (or was). It had a texture like the upper surface of a dog's tongue, kind of not smooth or slippery, but not hooky like a cat's tongue. I cannot find it these days, but menopause has intervened, and it is quite hard to find anything different in my vagina these days! It didn't seem to have that slippery mucous membrane texture.

You will feel different things in your vagina every time you have a feel, and if you are in different positions. It is the ultimate in a changing landscape!

Don't ever let anyone tell you that your prolapse will be the same grade tomorrow that it was yesterday. It is quite normal to get completely different diagnoses from the same doctor on different occasions, or from different doctors, even on the same day, if they have different examination technique. Different times of the month you are almost guaranteed to get quite different diagnoses.

It is good that you are taking notice of what is where in your vagina. You have every right, and a responsibility to yourself to have an idea of your internal landscape. That is the only way you will know it it changes.

Louise

Thank you for you reply! I don't know if it's my babybrain or not but I'm still slightly confused, sorry. The rough skin sits in the entrance of my vagina all the time and never really moves. My cystocele sits at the entrance of my vagina but never bulging completely out although I feel it there. I wear a tampon for support. It holds my cystocele in place but not the rough skin. Does this still sound like rugae? I'm sorry for my ignorance, just trying to get my head round this whole thing! Thanks again : )

Ah I've just re read your last post and I think I get it! Let me see - the tampon is holding my cystocele in place so therefor the rugae is relaxed and sitting in the entrance rather than being stretched out with the cystocele? You guys have been a godsend to me, thank you a million times over : )

Jellybaby, I think you are right. That is what is happening. Don't dump on yourself for not knowing what is going on in there. I didn't have either the time or the inclinaton to go ferreting around in my knickers to find out what was inside my vagina while I was in 'babies mode'. There didn't seem to be any point in it.

When my body started to not function properly and get uncomfortable it was time to go exploring! Now you know, you will never be ignorant again. The more you understand the better you can manage it.

Louise

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to me. I feel mentally stronger with all this valuable information I'm gaining.
Nicki