Whether you’re dealing with postpartum urinary incontinence or loss of enjoyment or pain during sexual intercourse, you’re not alone. Now, there are a slew of new technologies being targeted at making things more comfortable down there for women of all ages. “This once-taboo subject was something women just lived with,” explains New York City dermatologist Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank, founder of PFrankMD. “Now, there is more research and development in this area and over the last 10 years, we went from almost nothing on the market aside from surgery to lasers and devices like Emsella and Emsculpt to address these issues.” At Dr. Frank’s New York City offices, the doctor offers a “Core to Floor” treatment using the Emsella chair with Emsculpt NEO on the abdomen. Emsculpt NEO uses high-intensity focused electromagnetic technology (HIFEM) stimulation that causes contractions of the abdomen and the pelvic floor muscles, which also helps to repair abdominal separation. Emsella uses electromagnetic energy to cause contractions of the supramaximal muscles. Emsella is a breakthrough treatment for strengthening the pelvic floor muscles, which aids in increased friction during intercourse and is a solution for incontinence. A patient sits dressed on the Emsella chair for 28 minutes while the machine effectively performs 11,000 Kegel exercises, causing deep pelvic floor muscle stimulation. “Using both of these technologies strengthens the muscles to help with urinary incontinence, while also allowing for increased blood flow, which can increase lubrication and vaginal wall tightness,” says Dr. Frank. “Whether you are postpartum or looking to improve balance, Emsella works to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which leads to better bladder control, core strength and posture. Emsella combined with Emsculpt NEO offers the ultimate in core-to-floor therapy. It is the first preventative and corrective solution to address the whole core and can improve strength, balance and posture while potentially alleviating back pain.” Dr. Frank recommends four sessions of Emsculpt NEO and five treatments of Emsella to see the intended results.
At Vspot Sexual Health Spa in Midtown Manhattan, founder and CEO Cindy Barshop focuses on all the normal stages of a woman’s life: pregnancies, the natural aging process, menstruation and menopause with a focus on sexual health and wellness. Vspot’s nonsurgical, results-oriented sex-enhancing treatments paired with high-performance technology—think vaginal rejuvenation lasers—offer intimate, transformative and medical vaginal healing treatments for issues you didn’t know there were solutions for. Herself a mother of twins, Barshop created this medical spa after feeling “a lack of support for myself and my body during the postpartum journey that, in a medical setting, typically ends after the six-week checkup. At the time there was no destination that would welcome and offer noninvasive treatments, let alone guidance, for women who needed vaginal rejuvenation. I was on a mission to modernize vaginal health and rejuvenation. Our clients are shocked at the solutions we offer because they couldn’t imagine that they’d even exist.” Barshop enlisted the help of renowned New York gynecologist Dr. Anita Grover to oversee the staff of female gynecologists and providers who focus on internal and intimate wellness to drive sexual health and confidence back into their clients’ lives. According to Barshop, one in four women suffer from leakage and 80 percent of women say they have difficulty orgasming.
Magellan PRP Centrifuge (O-Shot) at Vspot Sexual Health Spa
Feminine health and sexuality have become more mainstream recently, and these topics no longer have a stigma associated with them. “By becoming more open and candid in discussions around sex and pleasure, we are able to empower people to take back control of their bodies and their confidence,” says Barshop. “Anything that moves our industry along and allows for women to set their intimate health as a priority is overwhelmingly positive.” Vspot’s offerings include Emsella, which strengthens the pelvic floor muscles to increase friction during intercourse and is FDA-approved for urinary leakage (after four to six sessions, women typically report an increase in lubrication and a decrease in urinary incontinence). Other popular offerings at Vspot include the the FemLift fractional CO2 laser, which relieves vaginal dryness, painful sex and vaginal laxity by applying concentrated thermal heating to the inner layers of vaginal tissue while creating collagen formation, which increases elasticity in the vaginal wall; Ultra Femme 360, a radio frequency treatment that helps improve vaginal laxity and urinary incontinence while preventing vaginal dryness and thinning muscles; and the O-Shot, a treatment to help women climax more quickly and intensely by stimulating stem cells, collagen and blood vessels, using PRP platelet-rich plasma injected into the clitoris. One writer who tried the O-Shot treatment and a series of Emsella treatments “felt practically virtuous sitting atop that ‘Kegel throne.’ As someone who has consistently made empty promises to herself to ‘get started on those Kegels tomorrow,’ it turns out taking the easy way out is exactly my speed. I definitely feel a tightening in that region and sex definitely feels better after vaginally delivering two children.”
