Labial Adhesion - Kent,WA

My eight month old has this also. Her pediatrician said we could use the estrogem cream if needed, but that there is a good chance things will correct themselves on their own as she becomes more mobile and starts walking and crawling. So for now, we're not doing anything. It's nice to hear how simple this is to correct if we end up needing to go that route.

I am a family practice physician. Labial adhesions can occur in young female infants. It's standard practice to use estrogen cream to help "dissolve" the adhesions. Depending on the severity, it usually resolves rapidly and doesn't usually recur. I haven't seen any short or longterm problems using the estrogen cream since the treatment course is usually fairly short. Good luck!

my daughter had this as an infant as well. her dr prescribed the cream but after researching on the internet, i found many complaints that it was a struggle to put on, painful, and that the labial adhesion reoccurred despite their efforts. basically it could be traumatic and that it doesn't always work. i read that you can wait for their hormones to kick in and it will open up by itself. and it did.

kudos to you for listening to your gut.

My cousin's baby just went through this. Use the estrogen cream. The alternative is horrifying. Ask your doctor any questions you have and if you don't feel right about the answers, find another doctor. This is just too important and delicate an area to not take the best care of.

Hi B.,

My husband is a pediatrician. He put the estrogen cream in this context: Before a baby is born,she is practically swimming in a sea of hormones, including estrogen. The topical application of an estrogen cream is a minor dose compared to that!

I hope all goes well with your little one.

M.

Hi Brenda,

My daughter who is now 2.5 has the same thing. They discovered it when she was around 6-9 months I think. I can't remember exactly when. My doctor said my daughter would eventually outgrow it, but she hasn't as of yet. We continually have to use the cream every few months for a couple of days to get her to reopen, I am careful not to let it close completely. It did one time and it just took a few extra days of the cream to get it to reopen again. But once I notice it is starting to close I use the cream for a day or two and it reopens. She hasn't had any problems so far associated with the cream. I am hoping when she is completely potty trained and doesn't poop in her pants anymore it will stop happening. I have another friend who's daughter has the same thing and she is now 10 months old. She was diagnosed at about 6 months also I think. I am not sure if it has reoccured in her daughter or not. I haven't thought to ask her that. But so far there has been no problems with my daughter and my doctor said it was nothing to be concerned about either.

Hope this helps,
H.

I just went through this with my 2 yr old. At first, the Ped recommended the estrogen cream. I went to fill it at he RX and it was about $120 so I did some online research to buy it elsewhere and came across the side effects of it which you can Google. After expressing my concerns to my Dr. I was told that I could just watch it. It did break open about 3 mos later. My understanding is that you want to watch for a UTI if you do not use the cream but I had no problem. I am glad I did not use the cream but was anxious the few months afterwards while waiting to see if it would resolve itself. Just do some research on the side effects of the cream. Luckily, I have bad insurance which made me look further into the cream and then found the side effects which I would have never done if I had just filled the initial RX (probably the first time I was happy to not have good coverage:) Good luck and hope my experience helps.

I noticed my daughters at around 4 months. We used the cream off and on for quite awhile. I quit using it and used A&D to help kinda keep it open. She was mostly closed until about 3 when she fell off of a stool and landed wrong on her shoe and opened it up(I have no idea how she landed I was not in the room). It hurt her and she was uncomfortable for a few days but it hasn't closed back up since she is now 6. For us estrogen cream worked as long as we kept using it along with A&D.

good luck

My mom said that I had this problem when I was a baby. She used the cream. It worked like a charm and was ultimately fine, i don't think it recurred. My anatomy down there is completely normal and it was really no big deal. Hope this helps.

My daughter had the same thing as a baby. The options we were given were to use the cream, or have the adhered tissues sliced apart. For obvious reasons, we decided to use the cream. It worked within a week or so. My daughter is now 13 and has had no recurring problems.

Good Luck!

www.thosecrazybeans.blogspot.com

I had this happen after I had my son... the doctor sewed me up too much from ripping, and in the wrong way, and it grew together... and nearly shut... when it healed. Mine was extreme enough that I had to have reconstructive surgery, but that was due to it being mostly scar tissue that fused, and that I was "fixed" wrong to begin with. Your daughter is still growing and has fresh, healthy, live tissue to work with so I woudln't concerned about that happening. I would use the cream you were given though... if it's the same thing I used after my surgery, it works. It's not as if you're injecting her with a hormone... you're applying it topically to help the cells grow correctly in that area. Better than the alternative.

I don't have any personal experience, but I do know that adhesion is really common for boys. If I remember right, it's likely to reoccur until age 5 or so. Once they get there, it's not nearly as likely to reoccur for the rest of their life.

No one I know has this, but I too have heard it is not a big deal, though painful if you try to touch it a lot. I've heard it occurs because little girls don't have all of the hormones that would keep the vagina lubricated in an older female, so I guess estrogen cream makes sense.

This happened to both of my daughters...my oldest when she was about 12 months old (she's now almost five) and my youngest (now ten months old) a few months ago. Both times we ended up using the estrogen cream, because the adhesion was severe enough that it made urinating difficult for them. Within a week of using the cream, they returned to normal. I would say that, if it isn't too bad, you could get away with not using the cream and just keep her clean and dry. Also, try applying something to protect the area from moisture (I like Lansinoh lanolin because it's gentle and totally natural). However, if it looks pretty closed up, I'd consider using the estrogen cream until it improves a little. If her urine is pooling down there it could easily turn into a bladder infection. As far as it reoccuring, I think that's mostly a possiblity while they're still in diapers. It's harder to keep the area clean and dry, so they end up with irritation. I had to keep an eye on my oldest while she was in diapers, but ever since she was potty-trained it hasn't been an issue.