A familiar story about familiar symptoms: women go to their doctors asking for help with vaginal discomfort and are dismissed in their concerns and/or receive a misdiagnosis.
FemmePharma listens to these stories, which we hear from our clients, friends, colleagues, and family members. These disappointing interactions with healthcare practitioners tend to lead women away from the “medical system” and instead to social media platforms, like Reddit, or good ole’ Google for answers.
Crowdsourcing solutions for our (bodily) concerns is not new, but it highlights the research gap in women’s health, and, in particular, women’s intimate health. A major part of the challenge lies in the foundational education of healthcare practitioners. Medical school curricula are historically based on the “default male.” This means symptom evaluation and treatment protocol stem from male, not female, physiology. As Northwell Health writes, racism and ageism are additional barriers to women receiving the care they need: “Black women are frequently believed to simply not feel as much pain as white women and, thus, are made to suffer needlessly. Older women are made to endure perimenopause and menopause symptoms that could be managed.”
It’s a systematic oversight that leaves many women feeling dismissed, misunderstood, and ultimately unable to get accurate diagnoses and effective treatment. There is also an emotional toll to receiving repeated misdiagnoses and feeling unheard. In addition, a recent Deloitte study identifies that women’s access to medical appointments and their affordability present roadblocks to women actually making it to their doctor’s offices.
While some social media forums are useful and include research-backed information (we have one!), other sources are not as reliable. As with all social media, careful checking of sources is imperative, so you understand where the information you are reading is coming from.
This is why, as a pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company focused on women’s health, we aim to publish helpful content about these issues (e.g. perimenopause, menstruation, menopause, and vaginal discomfort, to name a few areas we discuss). Informed women are empowered women! Our mission is bridging the knowledge gap in medicine by providing expansive, accurate perspectives on women’s health based on our real experiences. FemmePharma wants to support women in understanding their bodies, so they become advocates for their health and others around them.
Vaginal mucosal health, for example, is crucial for protecting against STIs, which are more transmissible if there are tears in the vaginal area. Keeping genitals well-hydrated and intact is an important way to safeguard yourself against these tears—and, this critical information is not only for women over 50. Women at every age deserve to know how they can treat their bodies better and what to expect as they age, so we know how to continue respecting and caring for ourselves. Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men is a great read that talks about the gender research gap in medicine, offering solutions as to how we can begin to close it.
Our commitment to women’s growth is why we are so excited to have Dr. Juliana Hauser chime in! In her words, Dr. Juliana’s goal in working with patients is to “connect people with their essence – their truest self – through uncovering, demystifying, and reclaiming their unique sexuality.”
As a woman-founded and women-staffed team, we understand firsthand the challenges and frustrations women face in healthcare. We will continue to provide content that reflects our mission to serve you! Let us know in the comments what you have been wondering about—what questions do you want answered? What do you want our next blog topic to cover? Our listening ears are on. Improving all women’s lives is the aim of everything we do.