Vaginal excisions can leave debilitating strictures. (Shortening of Vagina also a Problem).

BALTIMORE -- Thousands of women have severe vaginal shortening or strictures resulting from "surgical misadventures," speakers said in separate presentations at a urogynecology meeting sponsored by Johns Hopkins University.

"Unfortunately somewhere along the way someone taught doctors to remove excess' vaginal mucosa during hysterectomies and during anterior and posterior repair procedures," said Dr. Clifford Wheeless of Johns Hopkins.

"General surgeons don't resect skin when they do inguinal hernia repairs. We don't resect 'excess' skin when we do a C-section. We know that isn't 'excess' skin--that tissue is stretched from pregnancy and will tighten up later," he said.

"But some doctors are excising the vagina during pelvic surgeries to the extent that there are now thousands of women who have no vagina to speak of. I see one to two patients every month who have no vagina because they've had one too many repairs,'" Dr. Wheeless said.

Another contributing factor is an "epidemic" of lichen planus. "We're seeing more of this condition. It will cause strictures that look like someone has put [liquid adhesive] in there," he noted.

Shortening or stricture of the vagina due to oncologic surgery or radiation treatment also adds to the problem.

"All in all, there are a lot of very short vaginas out there. And the tragedy is when this happens to women who are around age 40, by the time they come in to see us, they've been bounced around from one HMO to another trying to get this treated. That means years and years of being unable to have sexual intercourse, and that has all kinds of domestic and societal impact," Dr. Wheeless said.