10 years after giving birth, I am still afraid of "gynecological examination"!

Mommy OK

2024-06-03 14:20Posted in Zhejiang Parenting Creator

Recently, the topic of "gynecological examination torture equipment duckbill pliers" has suddenly been on the hot search, swiping all over major social platforms.

In today's current situation where only bloody gossip can arouse netizens to be refreshed, this topic without any melons and materials can quickly get out of the circle, relying on resonance! The resonance of all married women with children about physical pain, shivering, and embarrassing memories!

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Just this thing, the "duckbill pliers", is a "cold weapon" that makes all women who have given birth to babies or gynecological examinations shiver.

The scientific name is the vaginal speculum, and its main function is to open the vaginal wall, so that the doctor can more clearly observe the condition of the cervix, vagina and other parts.

This tool is needed for routine gynecological examinations, postpartum follow-ups, HPV screening, discomfort or inflammation of the vaginal and cervical faces, and gynecological surgeries.

Because duckbill pliers always give people the experience of "being tortured", it is obviously a gynecological examination responsible for a woman's health, but every woman has to show the courage to "go to the execution ground" when she is examined.

As a result, many of us prefer to procrastinate our illness because we resist duckbill pliers. Just like a while ago, my little assistant Xiao C had pelvic inflammatory disease, and he dragged it until it was so painful that he couldn't stand it before going to the hospital, and he was counted down by the doctor: "Why did it take so long to come, and it was all dragged into pelvic inflammatory disease." As a middle-aged woman, she told the doctor that she didn't come because she was afraid of being stuffed with duckbill pliers, not only would she not get the doctor's empathy, but she was more likely to be sneered: "Your baby has been born, and you still put this pretending to be ......."

Alas, why is it that it is the duckbill pliers that bring us pain, but we have to bear the shame and embarrassment. And all women have thought or asked in their hearts: Do you have to use duckbill pliers for gynecological examinations? Is there a more comfortable and user-friendly alternative?

Finally, ushered in an era where this "private matter" can be put on the table to talk about in a big way. I would like to say that not all pain, because we are accustomed to it, because most people experience it, we have to endure it, we have to keep silent.

01

Duckbill pliers, how much does it hurt?

The main reason why "duckbill pliers" can detonate hot searches overnight is that the blogger "Shanshan Goat" posted a video on Xiaohongshu to tell about his confusion about "duckbill pliers".

Usually when we are in the gynecological examination, because we are separated by a certain distance, we can only see the doctor taking it out and burying his head in the operation.

But how did this seemingly daunting device actually "invade the lower body" and then make us "miserable"?

In order to find out what he was going through, Shangoat bought a small duckbill pliers online and demonstrated the inspection process.

Put it in vertically, then rotate it and stretch it out.

After it is opened, if secretions need to be collected, doctors use a long cotton swab and insert it through the middle of the duckbill pliers to take a sample.

Just looking at this process, it already hurts, isn't it?

The "goat" could not hide the fear in his heart, and called the duckbill pliers "a contemporary female torture instrument".

She didn't understand that women's intimate parts were so fragile, but the examination instruments and methods were a bit "rough", was there no other more gentle alternative?

This video has received more than 200,000 likes on Xiaohongshu, which shows that they were treated roughly during the gynecological examination and are the "shadow" in the hearts of all female compatriots.

It's just that before that, few people took this matter out for discussion, let alone presented the process of "pain" so concretely.

Overnight, fellow women poured out their fears of being dominated by duckbill pliers on social platforms.

Being sick is already uncomfortable, and going for a check-up is a huge psychological pressure and physical pain, which can be described as adding to the injury.

02

The "torture instrument" of a hundred years ago is still in use today?

But since it is a well-established fact that the "duckbill pliers" bring unsightliness and pain to female compatriots, is there any other alternative? Can't this device be made more user-friendly?

Let's first understand the "past and present life" of duckbill pliers.

The earliest duckbill pliers were developed in 1845 by American Surgeon General J. Sims. Marion Sims) invented, which at the time looked like this, and was called the "Sims speculum".

Although this invention set a precedent for "gynecology", the process of invention made Sims controversial.

Because, in order to continuously improve the effect of speculumes, Sims "bought or borrowed" enslaved black women, and used them for medical experiments without anesthetics, which was a serious violation of medical ethics.

After Simms, duckbill pliers underwent changes and improvements, but not by a large margin.

In 1870, the French surgeon Édouard-Gabriel Cusco invented the Cusco speculum, which is not much different from the duckbill forceps we use today.

In other words, over the course of more than 150 years, the shape of the duckbill pliers has not changed much, but it has been differentiated in material.

In addition to metal, there are also plastic, silicone and other materials. To be able to use it for such a long time without being eliminated, duckbill pliers naturally have its advantages. The posterior wall of the vagina in women is one or two centimeters longer than the anterior wall, and the two "duckbeaks" of the duckbill pliers are also one long and one short.

When opened, the short blades support the anterior wall of the vagina, and the long blades push open the posterior wall of the vagina, so that the vagina and cervix are fully exposed and the doctor can observe for lesions.

A woman's cervix is almost the size of a winter date, and there are many folds in the inner wall of the vagina, if it is not fully opened, it is difficult for doctors to see the whole picture of the vagina and cervix, which is not conducive to diagnosis and treatment.

At the same time, duckbill forceps can also play a fixed role, when the doctor does cervical screening, you need to scrape the inside of the cervix, if it is fixed, the sampling will be smoother.

The medical community has also tried to make changes to the duckbill pliers, such as installing soft silicone or propellers on them, but in the end, it was found that they would skew the accuracy of the inspection, so they were not implemented.

In addition to the good clinical use effect, duckbill pliers also have a significant advantage - cost-effective.

Gauze, cotton swabs, speculums, etc. are all medical consumables, which are included in the hidden costs of the hospital and will not be charged to patients.

Metal duckbill pliers, which can be reused after sterilization; Plastic duckbill pliers only cost a few dollars each, and the cost is very low.

Other alternatives are either ineffective or too expensive.

For example, colposcopy, without speculum placement and cervical dilation, can achieve true "painless and non-invasive", and can also show the vaginal wall and cervix clearly.

The only downside is that it is expensive. The approximate cost of a colposcopy is between 800 and 1500.

Therefore, in terms of "cheap and easy to use", the duckbill pliers have no rival on this track, and it has been used to this day.

03

Even more terrifying than the "duckbill pliers" is it

In fact, if the doctor uses the duckbill pliers according to the standard and communicates gently with the patient, the pain caused by the duckbill pliers can be greatly reduced.

What leaves a psychological shadow on most patients is not the duckbill pliers themselves, but the doctor's rough methods and unfriendly attitude.

There is a group on Douban called "Representing the Moon to Eliminate the Shadow of Gynecological Examination", and more than forty percent of the posters talk about their "shadow of gynecological examination".

Imagine being in an unfamiliar environment, where a patient is going to take off their clothes, completely expose themselves to an unfamiliar doctor, and be nervous about being examined, and naturally feel scared.

And in this environment, when you show nervousness, embarrassment, and discomfort after being "invaded" by the instrument, the doctor is impatient, because he feels that you are not cooperative, too hypocritical, and every word that comes out of your mouth will make us feel very hurt.

"Aren't you sexually active?"

"Married people, does it hurt so much?"

"You've given birth to a baby, and you're still afraid of pain?"

"Everyone else checks like this, why can't you?"

The most frustrating thing is that gynecological examinations often seem to be associated with "sex".

Some doctors and nurses, as soon as they hear that the patient has sex, show disdain, as if the patient has done something immoral and does not deserve respect.

No wonder some people say: to break the self-esteem of an adult woman, you only need to go for a gynecological examination.

But in reality, there is no difference between the reproductive organs and other body organs, such as the liver, stomach, heart, etc.

Gynecological examination has nothing to do with whether or not private life is checked.

Everyone's tolerance to pain is different, and even having sex or even having a child doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore.

If the pain is accompanied by the doctor's suspicion and contempt for "scrutiny", the patient will be more resistant to gynecological examinations.

The most serious consequence of this is that he is aware of his physical discomfort, but he is unwilling and afraid to go to the hospital for examination, and the minor illness becomes a major illness.

According to the 2022 Research Report on the Reproductive Health of Women of Childbearing Age in China by the Institute of Health Communication at Fudan University, 70.6% of women with gynecological symptoms such as irregular menstrual cycles, genitals and vaginal discharge were surveyed among 3,153 women aged 15-49 from 31 provinces and cities.

However, with such a high prevalence, the patient visit rate is not high. Among all respondents, a whopping 70.6% of women had at least one gynaecological symptom in the past year, of which only 57.8% chose to seek medical attention after the onset of symptoms, and more than 60% of women were eventually diagnosed with gynecological diseases.

Among those who did not see a doctor, 19.4% did not deal with it, and 80.6% chose to deal with it on their own.

It turns out that the pain of having a gynecological examination has become an obstacle for female patients to see a doctor, which is something that doctors do not want to see.

04

The apparatus is cold, but the man is not

All this is not said to condemn doctors.

We all understand that doctors deal with a large number of patients every day, and in order to improve the efficiency of examinations, there are many times when it is not possible to do it perfectly.

It's just that the gentle attitude of the doctor can indeed make "invasive" medical devices like duckbill pliers less unbearable. Sun Yi, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Shanghai Tongren Hospital, often shares relevant knowledge of obstetrics and gynecology on station B and Weibo.

In 2019, a patient approached Sun Yi and asked her to do a gynecological examination for herself because she was "very gentle".

The patient made a vlog of the experience, which has 15,000 views on the Internet.

Soon after, an old man walked into Sun Yi's consultation room and said with a smile: "My granddaughter had a check-up with you before, and she said that your technique is good and it doesn't hurt at all. ”

Sun Yi also met patients with menstrual cycle disorders, because of the shadow left during the previous gynecological examination, the patient did not dare to have an examination for up to seven or eight years.

After Sun Yi was found for cervical cancer screening, the patient was diagnosed with early-stage cervical cancer. If it is discovered a little later, the consequences are unimaginable.

It is no exaggeration to say that removing the patient's fear is often prolonging the patient's life.

Gynecological examinations have a code name, "gentle gatekeepers", and the doctors guard the health of the girls and their dignity.

Seeing a specific person, not just an organ, is especially important for gynecologists.

The instruments are cold, but the examiner's blood is hot.

Sometimes healing, often helping, always comforting. The power of help and comfort is greater than we can imagine.

I hope that all women who face gynecological examinations will be treated gently.

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Personal opinion, for reference only