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Walking into Womanhood
Her First Gynecological Exam
By Lisa Marie Metzler
Mandy Sullivan* of East Stroudsburg, Pa., is 12 years old and will be visiting her gynecologist for the first time this summer. Her mother, Judy*, decided to make an appointment for her when her periods were lasting more than a week.
"I have spoken at length with Mandy in trying to prepare her for her first visit," Sullivan says. With the help of Mandy's pediatrician, Sullivan found what she hopes to be a suitable and friendly gynecologist. "I have been told that this doctor is very gentle," she says. Although Mandy will not have her first internal exam at this time, it is important to prepare teens before their first gynecological visit.
Carolyn Henderson, a mom from Alberta, Canada, would agree that preparing your daughter would greatly relieve the anxiety that accompanies the first gynecological exam. She vividly remembers her first visit at 14; the experience wasn't a positive one. "I felt so invaded," Henderson says. "I was terrified. I don't recall him [physician] being gentle at all. He didn't warn me about the speculum and didn't explain what he was doing."
"Pain and embarrassment are what your daughter will probably be most worried about," says Dr. Charles Farris from the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, La. "That is the reason for the introductory talk – to relieve them of their fears. They do not know what's going to happen."