Global Vagina Health

You’re probably pretty familiar with cervical cancer and ovarian cancer, but there’s another cancer of the female reproductive organs that doesn’t get a lot of attention: vaginal cancer. Why haven't you heard about it? Well, vaginal cancer is pretty rare, especially in young women. According to the American Cancer Society, only about one out of every 1,100 women will develop it in her lifetime, and only 15 percent of cases happen in women under the age of 40. (Roughly half of all cases of vaginal cancer occur in women older than 70.) But it does still happen. About 4,810 new cases of vaginal cancer will be diagnosed this year, and an estimated 1,240 women will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. So, yeah, it's serious.And, no, vaginal cancer isn't the same as cervical cancer. With cervical cancer, the cervix, a narrow structure that connects the uterus to the vagina contains cancerous cells, while, with vaginal cancer, those cells threaten the actual vaginal canal. However, the American Cancer Society points out that if a woman has cancer in both her vagina and cervix, it's usually referred to as cervical cancer. After all, everything's connected; cancerous cells can readily spread from the vagina to the cervix and vice versa.(Kick-start your new, healthy routine with Women's Health's 12-Week Total-Body Transformation!)Doctors aren’t totally sure what causes vaginal cancer, but it’s been linked with HPV and exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) in utero, says Jack Jacoub, M.D., a medical oncologist and medical director of MemorialCare Cancer Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California. (DES is a synthetic form of estrogen that was prescribed to pregnant women between 1940 and 1971 to prevent pregnancy complications.)So how can you reduce your risk of vaginal cancer—and if cancerous symptoms do strike, spot them ASAP? Here, ob-gyns and oncologists share everything you need to know about vaginal cancer.

-Learn about the safety and effectiveness of the vaginal ring, aka the Nuva ring.

-Learn about vaginal rejuvenation from plastic surgeon Robert J. Morin, M.D.

-Learn about the vaginal ring, aka the Nuva ring.

-Learn about the possible side effects of a birth control sponge.

-Learn about the possible side effects of the vaginal ring, aka the Nuva ring.

-Learn about the four main risks of vaginal plastic surgeries from plastic surgeon Robert J. Morin, M.D.