Hello, my name is Dr.
Maria Uloko.
I'm a urologist that specializes in comprehensive sexual health,
reconstruction and prosthetics.
Vulvar and female sexual health
is a really important topic to discuss because it affects 50% of the population,
and that number is expected to increase over time.
And it's something—these are conditions that as people age,
they become more prevalent.
And if we aren't focusing on this at this point in time,
there are so many people that will be suffering
from conditions that are easily treatable.
Common signs and symptoms of sexual dysfunction
are difficulty with arousal, pain,
difficulty with desire or orgasm.
Common sexual health concerns
kind of range throughout the life span.
It can range from pain with sex or pain with penetration
all the way to GSM or genital urinary symptoms of menopause,
which can present as recurrent urinary tract infections.
Really common things that I see are pain with sex, hormone management—so
patients that have gone through or going through menopause and the side effects
of the symptoms that come from that, as well as recurrent—recurrent
urinary tract
infections, because those are also kind of tie in with everything.
So anything that can affect the vulva is really where I thrive
and where I focus a lot of my attention to.
The causes of sexual dysfunction in women are varied.
It can range from hormones, it can range from relationships,
it can really range from even just normal stressors in
life.
Varied treatments
regarding female sexual dysfunction
can range from medication, surgical
and as well as therapy and then also physical therapy.
Again, it very much takes a village in order to get people to their
quality of life and really focusing on what their actual goals are.
I make sure that every patient and their initial visit we set
what their goals of care are so that then we can formulate a team approach
to get them to their ultimate goal.
Holistic care is really important in conditions
with regarding sexual dysfunction because it affects all aspects of life.
So I always say that the brain is the biggest sexual organ and I need
someone that's going to address the psychosocial aspects of this
and as well as I am addressing the biologic aspects of this.
But because it the anatomy is very, varied,
the vulva, the vagina does so much, it brings life into the world.
And it also is a sexual organ,
and so we need varied providers that will also provide that care.
So I'm leaning
heavily on my gynecologist, I'm leaning heavily on my urogynecologist
to help with the urinary symptoms associated with sexual dysfunction, too.
So it's very much a team work approach which is why I love this field.
So the
current types of doctors that are experts in female sexual health
are primary care providers, gynecologists and urologists.
But I'm a strong believer that all doctors can be experts in female sexual health
because we're constantly interacting with these patients and constantly
seeing the sequela of what female sexual dysfunction can cause.
And so all providers can potentially be providers
for female sexual health in one way or the other.
I think for people that come in with conditions for sexual health,
there is a lot of stigma around it, and though it's a very important part
of just overall health.
And so I take that approach of sexual health is health.
It's also scientific, there's data behind this and it can be data driven.
And so I always actually tell my patients, let's take away
cultural norms and let's just focus on the science, because
science and health and sexual health all go hand-in-hand together.
Patients should consider UC San Diego Health for treatment
because we're one of the only institutions in the country that has an academic,
trained and fellowship trained urologist that specializes
in comprehensive sexual health.
So not only are you getting a very inclusive
and stigma free approach to your health, you're also getting a very evidence-based
and successful approach to your overall sexual health.
I came into this field
kind of in a very serendipitous way.
I started out as a urologist—I am still very much a urologist,
and I treat all genders, but it wasn't until my fellowship where it opened me
up into the sexual health
aspects of all gendered care, and I got to really see
the disparities and differences in gendered sexual health.
And so one of the things that I really focus on
is how can we make this disparities go away?
How can we equalize the playing field in terms of sexual health?
Because for penile sexual health, we've got a really good market for that.
But for vulvar and female sexual health,
we don't necessarily have the science or the data.
And that is one of my really big career
goals is to make sure that we are all—all
people can have access to this important and life—life saving care.