Vaginal plethysmography in women with dyspareunia

Abstract

We investigated by means of vaginal plethysmography the extent to which the genital reactions of women with dyspareunia (N = 18) differed from those of women without dyspareunia (N = 16) during sexual arousal. In addition, we used questionnaires to investigate whether the genital reaction was correlated with the women's subjective experience of sexual arousal. In both groups, there was a clear increase in vaginal vasocongestion while they watched various erotic scenes compared with the situation at rest. While participants watched video fragments showing oral sex (cunnilingus and fellatio), the reactions were the same across the two groups. While participants watched video fragments showing coitus, there was a further increase in vaginal vasocongestion in the women without dyspareunia, but a decrease in vasocongestion in women with dyspareunia. The results of questionnaires assessing their perceived levels of sexual arousal while watching the video fragments showed that this reduction in genital response in the women with dyspareunia went unnoticed.