News

By Lauren Streicher, MD Any women who enters my exam room can’t help but notice the colorful box of penis shaped articles that sit on my counter next to my lubricant warmer and mirror. It is the first clue that this visit is going to be different than their usual gynecologic exam. Graduated vaginal dilators are used to evaluate vaginal size and elasticity and also as a therapeutic tool for women who are unable to have intercourse because of tight, tense pelvic floor muscles, vaginal shrinkage due to menopause, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and/or surgery. Often, vaginal dilator therapy is a...

In honor of Cervical Cancer Awareness Month this January, we share with you an invaluable community resource called Cervivor, which gained its start through the visionary efforts of cervical cancer survivor Tamika Felder. When Tamika Felder was diagnosed with cervical cancer at age 25, she felt totally isolated and alone. It was an “embarrassing” and “stigmatized” cancer to talk about, and there were not support groups or patient meet-ups to connect with, learn from and gain support from. Tamika’s treatments were ultimately successful, but the chemotherapy, radiation and surgery left her changed both physically and emotionally. And still, even in that “life...

Soul Source recently donated dilators to the Women Like Us Foundation and Elizabeth Makous, a pelvic floor PT. Together, they have teamed up to help women in Kenya, Africa overcome the pelvic pain and incontinence problems caused by female genital mutilation (FGM) and other trauma. Makous, who reached out to the global nonprofit to create a program after treating one of these victims in California, now extends her generous efforts to many others abroad. “When I was able to help her overcome the physical pain caused by FGM, I knew I was supposed to help more of these precious innocent...

Although you might know some lucky soul who went through menopause never experiencing one single hot flash, it's more likely that you know more who are well acquainted with these heat surges that are the hallmark of menopause. Indeed, hot flashes affect between 75 percent and 80 percent of U.S. women.

Soul Source recently made a five-year commitment to donate dilators to the Kenyan Medical Training College in Nairobi, Kenya. They will be used to help instruct the region’s physical therapists on how to evaluate and treat pelvic floor dysfunction, an area of extreme need in Kenya. Soul Source is donating the dilators through the Jackson Clinics Foundation (JCF) program called Teach and Treat, a charity that works to train physical therapy professionals in Ethiopia and Kenya, and to improve the standard of care to those communities. They also strive to train advanced-level physical therapy practitioners and faculty who can lead...