Dr. Rachel Rubin

I had a patient come to see me.

She was 16 years old.

This was quite a few years ago.

I think she graduated college at this point.

And she said, Dr. Rubin, I need a specific vulvar surgery for pain.

She said, I need a vestibulectomy.

And I said, oh, nice to meet you.

Like, tell me more.

And she said, I watched a show called Sex Education.

And in that show, there was a character who had vulvar pain and she saw a doctor and she learned about X, Y, and Z. So I went on Google and I looked this up and I found a doctor and I've examined myself and I think I might need a vestibulectomy.

And I said, holy shit, am I excited for the future?

Because we did a whole history.

We did a whole physical exam.

We tried a few conservative therapies.

But ultimately, she actually did need that surgery.

She was completely right.

What was so cool about her case and her surgery is she didn't have all the mind drama of years and years and years of being dismissed.

She didn't have the relationship.

She was a swimmer who wanted to wear tampons.

She wasn't having sex.