Let’s start with a simple fact: every human body has a vulva, a penis or a combination of both.
Now is the problem here: society and the majority of medicine still work as if there is no vulva.
When Gillian Anderson was wearing a vulva dress at Golden Globes in 2024The internet exploded, calling it “vaginal dress”. But it was not a vagina – it was a vulva. The fact that the distinction was lost to the general public? It is not surprising. What is shocking, however, is that most doctors will not do it right.
As one of the seven validated urologists who have been trained in medical and surgical management of sexual dysfunction for all sexes, I have attended intense inequalities in sexual health care. I treat everything from erectile dysfunction to composite pelvic pain, menopause and orgasm dysfunction. I created one of the first US sexual health clinics in the US to receive insurance, facing more than 2,000 patients with virtual conditions.
My job has always focused on a critical question: Why can’t people take care of? As “sexual health sherlock”, I specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that many clinicians find very complex, such as pelvic pain or recurrent UTI. What puts my approach outside? A deep understanding of the vulva – it blends its function and historical neglect in medical education. Through years of research and clinical experience, I have discovered a systematic failure: the widespread lack of training of vulva, the lack of research and the deep -rooted social prejudices that have led to a care crisis. This is not just a vacuum-it is a complete emergency for public health.
What is the vulva?
The vulva Includes external female genitals, including several separate anatomical structures that are critical to urinary, reproductive and sexual health:
Mouli pubis: Oily tissue covering the pubic bone.
Labia Majora and Labia Minora: Exterior and internal aspects that protect vaginal and urethra openings.
Clitoris: An extremely encouraging organ necessary for sexual pleasure.
Lobby: The area surrounding vaginal and urethra openings.
The glands of SKENE: Depending on the male prostate, contributing to lubrication and ejaculation.
The glands of bartholin: Secretion mucus for vaginal lubrication.
Perineum: The tissue between the vulva and the anus.
Each part plays a decisive role in maintaining overall genital function, but these structures are often overlooked in medical education and research.
A part of the body without medical specialty
Each important body and body system has a defined medical specialty.
The heart? Cardiology.
The brain? Neurology.
The bladder? Urology.
The uterus, the vagina and the ovaries? Gynecology.
And the vulva? Nowhere to be found.
This means that when one is burning with burning, pain, itching, repeated utis, or discomfort during sexThey were bounced between urologists, gynecologists, dermatologists and primary care doctors – they have not been trained to evaluate the vulva.
Numbers don’t lie:
🔹 1 in 4 people will suffer from chronic pelvic pain at any given time.
🔹 It takes an average of 7 years and 3+ specialists before a patient with chronic vulva pain is diagnosed.
🔹 50% of patients with recurrent UTI, chronic pelvic pain or interstitial cystitis are incorrectly diagnosed at least once.
🔹 The Health Care System spends ~ $ 100 billion per year on maladministration.
Patients pay an average of $ 17k to get a diagnosis of pelvic pain
If you are thinking, Wait, but you are not an expert OB/Gyns on it?– Think again. First of all, it is not just a gynecologist’s job to know about the vulva – it is every doctor’s job. The vulva is a human part of the body And it has to be studied like everyone else. However, preliminary data from the IRB approved study found that up to 75% of current training doctors have never been trained to perform a basic Vulvar exam.
Even the materials used to teach the vulva are not standardized. Research shows that the training of vulva is deeply wrong and inconsistent:
🔹 A study was found 486 Different anatomical terms used to describe the vulva and pelvic anatomy, However, the medical report of gold standard, Anatomical terminologyIt only includes 186 of them – who disappoint the lack of standardization in medical education.
🔹 A review of 30 anatomy manuals revealed that no one provided standardized measurements for Labia Minora or Majora and most included only one indefinite depiction of the vulva.
This lack of standardization in medical education leaves clinicians without a clear context for diagnosis and treatment – directly leading to patients who assume, incorrect diagnoses and waste of health care resources. For most people suffering from pelvic issues, the experts who are turning are gynecologists or urologists. But most gynecologists focus on vagina, uterus and ovaries, while urologists focus on the bladder. The vulva? It falls through the cracks.
Because of this knowledge gap, doctors lose critical diagnoses. Patients with pelvic disorders such as repeated UTIS, chronic pelvic pain, vaginal infections and painful symptoms of the bladder are usually incorrectly diagnosed – the abolition of about 85 million people – and pay the price.
How did we get here: A look at the story
To understand how we got to this crisis, we must look at the story. Before the 1920s, obstetrics and gynecology were special specialties. The obstetrics focused on pregnancy and childbirth, while gynecology focused on the conditions of the female reproductive system, including the vulva. But when the American Council of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Abog) Founded in 1927, the two fields were merged into a single specialty: Ob/Gyn.
The problem? The training was never expanded to accommodate two separate fields in a specialty. Over time, the obstetric-the sector that deals with emergencies for life or death-is prioritized. Obstetrics pay for more, the differences are higher and hospitals prioritize work and delivery through gynecological care. In the meantime, gynecology, which deals mainly with quality of life, has fallen off the way.
As a result, many Ob/Gyns graduate with minimal or non -training in Vulvar’s health. This systematic supervision has left a huge gap in care, disproportionately affecting patients with chronic pelvic pain, recurrent infections and sexual dysfunction.
The research gap
In addition to the lack of training or standardized curriculum, there is a significant lack of research and innovation in Vulvar’s health. No other structure illustrates this as well as the clitoris. The research dedicated to the Glans penis is 20 times larger than the research focusing on the clitoris, underlining a strong difference. For centuries, the penis has been cut, mapped and studied in exhaustive details. You cannot graduate from Urology’s residence or become certified by the Board of Directors, without knowing the means and outs of the penis. Meantime, Clitoris had not been fully mapped until 2005 by a urologist, Dr. Helen O’Connell-For 40 years after magnetic resonance imaging technology. But here’s the real kicker:
By 2023, no one had ever published the number of nerves in the human clitoris.
He took my team -Dr. Paige Isabey, Dr. Blair Peters and myself – to finally fix it. And what did we find? Clitoris has over 10,000 nerve endingsmore than any other human structure. To date, accurate depictions of the clitoris are not well documented or discussed in medical and surgical manuals. This lack of research directly affects clinical care, as many vulva conditions have not been diagnosed, treated or rejected as psychologically and not normal. Without a powerful scientific institution, clinicians are deprived of knowledge to diagnose and cure accurately and cure vulva disorders, perpetuating medical neglect and leading to patients.
If science ignored something as basic as the number of nerves for centuries, what else have I not been able to study? Although the anatomy and neniating of the clitoris have now been set, large gaps remain in understanding its physiology, including its hormonal reaction and functioning in sexual health. This extends to much of the structures of the vulva.
Vulvai: bridging gaps in care with technology
How do we train a whole medical workforce that is actively practicing and still training? This is where technology comes. AI and digital tools can help bridge the huge educational gaps in Vulvar’s health, providing clinical doctors with real -time knowledge that was never taught in Medical School. At the moment, the medical sector remains sadly inadequate for understanding the vulva and vulva, leading to persistent incorrect diagnoses and inadequate treatment.
As a urologist, I know how men’s health has long benefited from state-of-the-art technology-imaging, erectile dysfunction medicines and testosterone treatments. Meantime, The health of vulva has been left in the dark.
So I founded Vulva-A AI platform designed for:
✅ Train in real time in vulva conditions
✅ Provide diagnostic support For situations such as Athousania, recurrent UTIs and vulva pain
✅ Strengthen patients with knowledge and defense tools based on evidence
We create the future of Vulvar health care, ensuring that both doctors and patients have the knowledge they need to support the best care. But now? The drug is immovable 100 years back. It’s time to cover the difference.
Conclusion
Despite his crucial role in the urine, sexual and reproductive health, Vulva remains one of the most overwhelmed and undervalued organs in medicine. This neglect is deeply rooted in historical prejudices, the outdated structure of medical specialties and systematic failures in research funding. The result? Extensive incorrect diagnoses, inadequate treatment and unnecessary hassle for millions. Treating this knowledge gap is only to improve medical education – it is the restoration of a century of neglect and to ensure that each patient receives up -to -date, effective and compassionate care.
