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Sexual Health Patient Advocate Sue Goldstein explains what you can expect when you visit a sexual medicine doctor.
Sue Goldstein:
Hi, I am Sue Goldstein, program coordinator at San Diego Sexual Medicine. What that really means is I am in charge of the educational programs and clinical trials unit at our facility.
Part of what you would do when you come to San Diego Sexual Medicine or to any sexual healthcare facility would be getting educated on your particular problems, which is why I am involved.
When you come you could expect to receive a bio-psychosocial evaluation. What that means is you will be evaluated by a sex therapist as well as a physician.
There will be a conversation in the room with the sex therapist first typically and then with the physician. After the conversation, based on your particular health problem you will be brought into an exam room for a series of tests.
It’s hard for me to be specific on tests because there are quite a few and it really depends on what your problems are.
But of primary importance would be a vulvoscopy. When you go to the gynecologist who puts a speculum into your vagina to examine inside.
When you go to a sexual medicine physician he is looking at the area covered by the speculum, that’s your vulvar vestibule.
We typically would take a photograph of that before treatment and then throughout the course of your treatment we would be able to take further photographs to document your improved health.
Other tests might be sensitivity tests for hot, cold and feelings, vibration. This would have to do with your nerves what you are feeling.
For some women they can only feel their partners if they have true driving sex. We can discover that perhaps you have an issue with your nerves and you just have problems with feeling and that’s why you need that kind of hard sex which ultimately is giving you pain.
We can do ultrasounds of your clitoral area if that’s a problem. It really depends on what your particular problem is. We also do a pH test, which is a very benign, putting a piece of pH paper into your vagina.
We can take swipes and look at the sides to see if you have any kind of bacteria.
There are typical tests - we would of course take your blood pressure, your height and weight, all of these because we want to follow you each time you come to make sure there are no major changes that way.
About Sue Goldstein:
Sexual Health Patient Advocate Sue Goldstein serves as program coordinator for San Diego Sexual Medicine, where she coordinates with the Sexual Medicine program at Alvarado Hospital and the University of California at San Diego.
Mrs. Goldstein combines her knowledge of sexual medicine, her writing skills and her years of fund-raising for non-profit organizations in this position to create educational programs for health care clinicians, industry and the public while raising funds to support The Institute for Sexual Medicine, Inc, a charitable corporation dedicated to research and education in the field.
Mrs. Goldstein earned her bachelor's degree in American Civilization from Brown University. She has experience as a lab technician in endocrinology, teacher, musician and technical writer in the field of sexual dysfunction.
View Mrs. Goldstein's Book:
When Sex Isn't Good: Stories & Solutions of Women With Sexual Dysfunction